Game designer wants to hook you

Sometimes starting a business is all fun and games.

Take the case of Clay Hilbert — by day an asset manager for a Richmond-based investment firm.

“I live all day in the world of finance. Its nice to have a creative outlet like that at night,” said Hilbert, who is the head of business development for Davenport & Company’s asset management group.

After he takes off his suit and tie, Hilbert puts in four hours a night as CEO of 5Mississippi, a company he started about five years ago with a college buddy from Wake Forest, Joe Parrish. Parrish lives in the Raleigh-Durham area and works as a creative associate director for advertising firm McKinney.

“We were traveling to a bachelor party one weekend and looked at each other and said if we can do something on the side and have the most fun possible doing it, what would we do?” Hilbert said.

The answer was to start a toy and game company.

Early on, the duo sold the licensing rights to one of their first ideas to Swimways, a Virginia Beach company that makes swimming pool toys and furniture. The product, called Submergency, is an electronic pool toy that is thrown into the water and beeps until it is found and deactivated with the press of a button. Hilbert couldn’t divulge the terms of the deal but said royalties for that type of product usually range between 3 and 10 percent of total wholesales. The product is sold to such retailers as Walmart and Target.

David Arias, president of Swimways, has since joined the company as a third partner.

The company has used the royalties from Submergency to fund the development of a new game, the first to be offered under the 5Mississippi brand name, a tabletop parlor game called Hookum. Hilbert got the idea from a co-worker who suggested he look into it after getting back from a trip to the Caribbean islands.

The game is a miniature multiplayer version of the Bimini ring game that is played in the Caribbean. The classic version involves a hook on a wall and a ring that is suspended from the ceiling or a beam. To score, the player must stand a few feet away and throw the ring onto the hook.

5Mississippi’s version is smaller and sits on a table. And instead of just one ring and one hook, it has four of each. The rings are suspended by collapsible arms. The rules are wide open: you can play best out of a certain number, or first to make a certain number.  The game is intended for ages 13 to adult.

“It is the ultimate awkward silence killer,” he said. Hilbert said the game is ideal for social gatherings. Hilbert describes Hookum as an addictive game of skill.

About 18 months ago, Hilbert said he and Parrish met up and spent about $15 dollars at Lowe’s on PVC pipe and other supplies to make the first prototype. Since then, the company has spent thousands of dollars developing the product, but Hilbert did not say exactly how much.

“Most of the money was spent with the industrial designer. They make it collapsible and appealing to the eye,” said Hilbert.

Another big cost was hiring a lawyer to navigate the patent process, which he said cost between $5,000 and $15,000.

Hilbert said the first shipment of 2,100 units is on the way from a plant in China.  The game will be sold on the company’s website as well as in the Hammacher Schlemmer  catalog to be published after Christmas. Hilbert said he is focusing sales on catalogs at the moment, but would eventually like to try and have it placed in sporting good stores such as Dick’s. The game costs $39.99.

Hilbert said he wants to try and find a few local retail shops that will put it on their shelves, and he also said he wants to place some at a few area bars and restaurants to generate some local interest in the product.

“Consumers are strapped, but that could cut us both ways,” said Hilbert. “Yes, they are not spending as much, but they are staying in instead of going out.”

That means consumers may be more interested in playing games at home for entertainment, something Hilbert hopes will propel sales in a slow retail economy.

Hilbert may not be too far off. According to an article that appeared in Fortune over the summer, board games sales grew in 2008 by 23.5 percent, reaching a total of $808 million. Because they are a cheaper alternative to video games and systems or a night out on the town, it has become a “recession-resilient” industry. The article said sales were projected to grow even more in 2009.

While the primary focus is marketing and selling Hookum, Hilbert said they have lots of other ideas and prototypes they are shopping around for licensing, with hopes to use royalties for further development of games to be released by the company itself, including some different versions of Hookum.

Hilbert said he has yet to take a paycheck from 5Mississippi because they are putting the money from royalties back into growing the company.  But that isn’t to say that he hasn’t gotten anything out of it.

“When it gets down to that last throw, you start to feel the pressure,” said Hilbert. “You always hear the roar at the end of the game, and to an inventor that is the highest award.”

Al Harris is a BizSense editor. Please send news tips to Al@richmondbizsense.com.