UNDATED (WJON News) -- A Minnesota author and game designer was inspired to create her first game by a lunchtime conversation. Nicole Fende was taking a lunch break at the Protospiel Convention in Madison Wisconsin when a designer described their apartment.

Nicole Fende, PHOTO courtesy of Nicole Fende
Nicole Fende, PHOTO courtesy of Nicole Fende
loading...

Fende says everyone thought the apartment sounded like a place a serial killer would live in and one thing led to another:

"Which then led to the hardest part about being a serial killer is getting rid of the body so we talked about how hard it would be to get rid of the bodies and that would make a great game and that's how it got started."

How long did it take her to get the game ready and published?

Fende says another designer and her wrote out the game right at that convention and play-tested the first draft right there.  It still took almost 5 years to get the game ready and published.  Fende Joined Table Talk, WJON"s show about board gaming on Saturday to discuss "Body Be Gone" as well as her books "Prosperity Dimension," a resource book for small business owners disguised as a Sci-Fi story, and "How to be a Finance Rock Star: The Small Business Owner's Ticket to Multi-Platinum Profits."

SuperiorPOD_BoxTop_BBG
PHOTO courtesy of Nicole Fende
loading...

"Body Be Gone" is a light-hearted family card game where people take on the role of "cleaners" trying to dispose of bodies in the most creative and funny way possible. The game features 20 stories by different authors covering a wide range of cities and scenarios. Fende says she reached out to her different writers' groups to get authors who were willing to contribute a story to the game.

How did she market Body Be Gone?

She says once the game was ready she took a different road to help get the word out about "Body Be Gone"

"I wanted to make it something where people would want to go to a launch because otherwise you hear oh their launching whatever, okay I'm bored so I rented the historic Mounds Theatre in St. Paul, which is from the 1920s and is an art deco theatre that's been restored so it fit perfectly with that, it was in October, so I did costumes, I dressed up as a flapper, we had a costume contest during it, there was prohibiation era inspired cocktail, there was horderves, it was a party."

PHOTO courtesy of Nicole Fende
PHOTO courtesy of Nicole Fende
loading...
PHOTO courtesy of Nicole Fende
PHOTO courtesy of Nicole Fende
loading...

Fende says she got sponsors and people could try the game, there was a hide-the-body photo booth and people had so much fun. Fende also discussed her "Creatopia" company and her background in finance. Fende and Table Talk co-host William Pankratz are hoping to get her up to the St. Cloud Games By James store to demo her game soon.

AM 1240 WJON logo
Get our free mobile app

When can I listen to Table Talk?

You can catch "Table Talk" every other Saturday opposite the "Woods Garden Show" at 8:10 a.m. We hope to have Fende join "Table Talk" again on January 25th live from "Protospiel Minnesota" in St. Paul.

Untitled-187
PHOTO courtesy of Nicole Fende
loading...
PHOTO courtesy of Nicole Fende
PHOTO courtesy of Nicole Fende
loading...
Untitled-1
PHOTO courtesy of Nicole Fende
loading...

READ MORE FROM AUTHOR PAUL HABSTRITT:


 

KEEP READING: 10 classic board games that will take you way back

LOOK: How Many of These Classic Summer Toys Do You Remember?

If you grew up in the Wild West of the '60s, '70s, or '80s, summer toys were a lifeline because many of us were locked outside (until the street lights came on). Inside was no place for a kid! Check out these classic summer toys that kept us cool, kept us busy, and always seemed to add a dash of danger.

Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz

Pac-Man Facts: 40 Easily Digestible Bits of Arcade-Game History

From his arcade-game fame to his own TV show and appearances on all kinds of collectibles, a look back at Pac-Man.

Gallery Credit: Corey Irwin

 

More From AM 1240 WJON