Dave Beck, a video game design professor at University of Wisconsin-Stout, discovered board games after receiving one as a gift from his wife. While touring Scottish distilleries, inspiration struck for "Distilled," a whiskey-themed board game. The project raised over $500,000 through Kickstarter. Now, Beck is developing a second game about orchestral instruments.
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How a distillery tour inspired a hit board game
[gentle acoustic music] – Angela Fitzgerald: When we first came across Dave Beck on Wisconsin Life, it was along the Saint Croix River. The spot became the inspiration for Tombeaux, a computer game where players explore the Saint Croix’s ecological history. – Dave: As the player navigates through this game, they’re gonna see more and more that these towering white pines start to disappear. [electronic beeping] – Angela: Like many children of the 1980s, Dave grew up loving video games. – Christmas of 1988, I received my first Nintendo Entertainment System from Santa. Playing Zelda, the visuals, the complexity of being able to play that game, exploring worlds. That’s really what changed my life forever, that caused me to want to become someone who teaches video game design. [bell chiming] – Angela: And that’s what Dave did at UW-Stout. – Dave: A couple announcements and then we’ll get right to it. So we can start thinking about what you guys want to do with your games after you’re done here. – Angela: Now, Dave finds himself on a new path, one that also started with a gift. – Dominion. So this is the first-ever game I received from my wife. I unwrapped the game and I looked at it, and I kind of laughed, like, “I don’t know why you’re giving me a board game. I have really no interest in this.” I didn’t say that, but I smiled, and that’s it. And I played it, and it was kind of like this, like, I don’t know, something happened. My whole mind just opened up to realizing, “These exist out here. “I’ve walked by these, these walls of games. There’s hundreds of these types of games out there.” And I just fell deep, deep, deep into a hole. [dice shaking] Come on! [Dave gasping] [group chuckling] [Dave roaring] – Angela: Now, a wall of games forms the backdrop for Dave to play with family and friends. – Dave: Every time I’d sit down at the table with these games was just such a joyous experience. – I won! [Dave laughing] – All the while, two very important things happening: surrounded by friends at a table… – One, two, three. – Dave: …and not dealing with digital technology. Okay, so now are we at the end of the round? That was it. That’s what sold me on the idea of that becoming a hobby that I wanted to pursue. And, little did I know, eventually become a way of life for me. – Angela: A way of life that’s becoming a livelihood. – Dave: When I get into something, I just go deep into that. I really jump into it and it kind of consumes me in a good way. The players would have lots of different cards. Water cards… – Angela: Once again, Dave has gone from player to maker. – My wife says to me one day, “You know what, Dave, I think the next thing you’re gonna do is you’re gonna design a board game.” And I said, “No way. “I have no interest in that whatsoever. I’m making video games.” After that, we’re over in Scotland and I had been touring distilleries, sampling some whiskeys, and one night, I couldn’t sleep. And this idea came into my head about a board game that I could make that had to do with maybe running a distillery, making whiskey. This is one of the first prototypes of Distilled. – Angela: Again, Dave immersed himself, this time into the world of game creators, taking Distilled to gatherings called protospiels, where games in development are tried out. And he crafted a social media network of followers, culminating in a crowdfunding campaign to cover Distilled’s creation. – So I set the funding goal for Distilled at $18,000. We raised over half a million dollars for this campaign, and I never expected to even come close to that. – Player: One, two, three, four, five. – Angela: The extra cash meant Distilled could be what Dave calls a top-shelf game, with quality components and special touches game players love. And it’s been paying off. – Dan Leeder: Distilled has been doing really well, actually. It’s a very popular game. It’s doing so well, actually, that it’s currently out of print. – Angela: Soon, Dave will have another game on the market. Luthier, a game based around an orchestra where players make and sell the instruments. – Dave: The golden age of classical music in Europe, where you’re making instruments for the likes of Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, other patrons. [dice clacking] – Angela: All because Dave Beck rolled the dice… – Dave: One, two, three. – Angela: …and set off in a new direction. – Dave: From creation to it sitting on a shelf, it was a brand-new experience. It was quite the journey. [bright classical music] Oh, baby.
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