Daily Skiff

Issue date: 2/22/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Bluebonet Games Scott Kuehn, class of '91, and his wife, Julie, class of '94, show their award-winning board game Looney Laundry. The game was originally created as an ice-breaker for Scott's involvement with Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

During the week, TCU alumni Scott and Julie Kuehn are an ordinary married couple, but on weekends and evenings, they are board game entrepreneurs.

Scott Kuehn graduated from TCU in 1991, and Julie Kuehn graduated in 1994 - both of whom were radio-TV-film majors, Scott Kuehn said.

Scott Kuehn first created his game, "Looney Laundry," as an ice-breaker for his involvement with Big Brothers Big Sisters.

"I was thinking of ideas to make the children feel more comfortable," Kuehn said. "It made sense, and the kids loved it."

When Kuehn saw that children enjoyed the game, he sent his idea to Grand Prix International to produce a Looney Laundry prototype.

"We produced 5,000 games for the Kuehns," said Michael Fisher, president of Grand Prix International. "We try to make the product as inexpensive as we can. We just create their idea, they go and sell it."

The Kuehns created their own Web site, bluebonnet-games.com, and soon thereafter, retailers would come knocking on their door.

"Where this was going at that time, I had no idea," Kuehn said. "I felt like I had a strong idea and something that no one else had."

In the first 11 months, more than 1,000 "Looney Laundry" games had been sold. Soon, 43 retailers were selling "Looney Laundry" in their stores, as well as appearing on gaming-industry Web sites.

"I first agreed to sell the game in my store because the creator was a local Texan," said Sandy Challinor, owner of The Owl's Nest in Southlake.

"When we tested the game on kids, we were very pleased with the results and confident that 'Looney Laundry' would sell," Challinor said.

Toys 'R' Us and FAO Schwarz were selling "Looney Laundry" on their Web sites, which would eventually lead to Creative Child Magazine naming the game as the recipient of its Preferred Choice Award in 2006.

"The game is a fresh, humorous look at laundry that will appeal to boys and girls aged 5 to 9," according to an article published in Creative Child Magazine.

Continued...

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