Today we’d like to introduce you to George Berns.
George, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I graduated college back in 2014 and after a bit of a struggle, finding a decent , I found myself in a contract position for a bank doing internal media communications work. That position finished in December 2016.
I decided at that point to go back to graduate school for business (my undergrad was communications). That was set to start in the fall of 2017.
In January 2017 I got a terrible knock off of Cards Against Humanity for my sister. I had some time on my hands between the contract finishing and school starting, and I told her we could do something better just for fun. We started working on it together and she got bored after a half hour.
I kept going with it, and at around 300 cards, I realize I could fix a lot of things that annoyed me with the original game. It became a challenge for me where I wanted to be my prior best.
This led to innovations like making the grammar between the question and answer cards work together, despite being verbs or nouns, adding a board game component that allows the board to affect the cards and the cards to affect the board, little witty explanations at the bottom of the cards, and adding 24 pages of optional rules that you can mix and match for a different experience every time.
By the time graduate school started, I noticed that the quality of my work went down as I pursued school. This led to the difficult decision to take a gamble on my business, which hadn’t even been published yet. I channeled the emotions. I was feeling at this difficult decision into a new expansion, which became the best selling Depression Pack eventually.
The first game didn’t launch until 2019, two years after the original work began. That’s when I learned that even though making a game is extremely challenging, it pays in comparison to the more challenging thing which is making people care.
I tried a bunch of different tactics; SEM, investing in SEO, reaching out to over 2000 influencers, contacting all the big distribution companies, compiling a list and reaching out to every mom and Pop shop that would be interested in the country which came out to over 2000 stores. There were many more tactics too. Eventually, the one that worked was comic and anime conventions. This led to the campaign that would’ve lasted a year that was set to start in March of 2020.
One week before the first campaign that would’ve been the start of back-to-back campaigns for the entire year is when Covid was declared a global pandemic. I also got married, and had to get a job doing marketing for a real estate company.
All the conventions I paid for got pushback or canceled. From the start of the process, I never stopped making cards. I had the philosophy just keep moving and eventually you’ll get there.
The conventions began in August 2021 and it was clear immediately that this was a good business to pursue. I had an understanding boss who hired me with an understanding that the conventions would eventually happen and he allowed me to do a bunch of shows since it mainly was on the weekend.
In May 2022, I took a gamble and quit my job with two major six week trips of conventions planned and a bunch of others in between. Very early on it was clear this was going to go well and all the cards I had been creating paid off because I was able to make the first batch of expansions that came out in November 2022. At this point, I probably had about 6000 to 8000 unique cards to pick from. When the game was originally published, only just shy of 2000 were made. New expansion started coming out every six months from that point forward as well as new products. At this point there are over 11,000 unique cards made of which only 2000 are published.
The vision for the brand is not just be a party game, but a game that goes into different game genres. All the games connect together if the players wish allowing for new integrations and ways to play each game. At this point, one of those games has been published and connects to the main product. In this spirit, the game didn’t just stay game company, but went into different product lines as well. Pins, plushies, stickers, squishies, art and many other products are now covered by our brand. We like to say the HAMpire continues to grow!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It was extremely difficult. Unless you have the persistence to push through difficult difficulties without an end in sight, don’t even bother starting is what I tell people. I heard a quote. I like that really sums it up, which is starting a business is like chewing on glass and staring into the abyss.
Struggles included production line issues, scheduling and communication problems, personal issues involving health and a divorce, brand awareness, budgeting, marketing, being able to manage multiple things that all require your attention at the same time, and many more things I can go into.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
To be able to start a business, requires a certain amount of courage and a significant amount of determination. Many people talk about what they’re gonna do, but those who actually do it are set apart. I’m most proud of the product I created because of the amount of brain power involved to create something that works and has been popular enough to be able to make a living off of.
Persistence as well as the ability to adapt to an ever-changing situation are unique qualities that I have as well as other entrepreneurs. When I’m given a difficult situation, I pivot and navigate it.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Persistence, adaptability, and creativity
Pricing:
- Our main game is $50
- Our second game is $40
- Our expansions are $20
- We have 2 con exclusive expansions
- Our store is at gameofham.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://gameofham.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gameofham?igsh=cDR0dDF3cmlvMWwz&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/17uVbwaucn/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Twitter: https://x.com/gameofham?s=21&t=h27GlSBOc6aslx00Q_x-Eg
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@gameofham9651?si=S0aIVwW2Qjh-U38G
