NamaO, Alta. – Farmers don’t get to spend much time at the lake, but Alberta farmer Larry Bokenfohr made good use of his break one weekend. That was when the seed was planted that he could create a better board game than the one he was playing.
When Bokenfohr said he could do better, his cousin challenged him to go beyond the bravado and come up with a game.
Over the next year Stubblejumper grew into a real game that might turn into the best crop on Bokenfohr’s farm.
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He has more than 1,000 orders for the first games made and he just has to decide how large his next printing will be.
“There’s days I dream about it and I think ‘what if it really takes off,’ ” said Bokenfohr from the kitchen table at his grain farm north of Edmonton. He has already earned back the original $20,000 investment it took to create the game.
Bokenfohr is now at a crossroads. He’s too busy hauling grain to travel the Prairies promoting the board game, yet the next few weeks are when most stores set their Christmas orders. While he sells through mail-order from his home, he’s thinking of hiring a distributor to market the game or possibly licensing it to a distributor who will pay him a royalty.
Stubblejumper is available at several Edmonton area game stores and farm equipment dealerships willing to promote a homegrown product. The chemical companies Bayer and Monsanto have taken several games to give out at farm shows as family-based promotional tools.
“They were looking for something unique to get farmers’ attention at farm shows.”
Bokenfohr is hoping the unique prairie-based game will be a universal attraction for both rural and urban people. His goal wasn’t to educate people about farming, but to create an enjoyable game everyone can play.
“You don’t have to be in real estate to play Monopoly and you don’t have to be a farmer to play Stubblejumper.”
During the game, players roll dice to go around the board where they land on squares and can either buy cattle, hogs or land or sell their livestock and grain for prices determined by the roll of the dice.
“It’s easier to play the game than farm,” said Bokenfohr.
But also around the board are the tricky weather and doom and boom squares where players can win or lose thousands of dollars depending on the weather, disease or the markets events printed on the cards.
The events on the weather and doom and boom cards have happened to either Bokenfohr or his neighbours.
In the weather cards are scenarios like:
- Hot, dry fall. Perfect harvest weather. Collect $10,000.
- Canola flower blasting due to heat wave. Pay $20 per acre owned.
- Lightning strikes. Hog barn burns to the ground. Pay $400 per hog owned.
In the doom and boom cards are scenarios like:
- Cattle infected with BSE. Slaughter your herd and return all cattle cards.
- Seed your crop too deep. Pay $10 per acre owned.
- Good calving season. Only lose two calves. Collect $10,000.
To make the game more interesting, Bokenfohr threw in more doom cards than boom.
“That’s where the fun is. Part of the enjoyment comes from watching others’ misfortune.”
Unlike the real thing Bokenfohr wanted to make it easy to amass a large amount of money quickly. The winner usually makes about $1.5-$2 million in about an hour.
For information on buying the game, contact Bokenfohr at RR4, Edmonton, Alta., T5E 5S7, phone 780-973-6042, or e-mail boken4@telus.net.
