BYU grads' new company offers family-friendly, fast-paced games

Sometimes you can spend hours playing a game. Sometimes you enjoy the challenge of matching wits and planning strategies that are required by a complex game.

But sometimes you don't. Sometimes you don't have time for long, involved games.

Busy families, in particular, have to scramble to find game time, said gamester Matt Molen. "Between soccer practice and homework and all the civic and church commitments, some families think there is no time to invest in games."

And yet, he said, they are missing one of life's pleasures. "Play is so important. When you play together you create special memories, lasting memories. Every time we sit down to play games at parties, it seems like someone starts talking about playing Hearts with grandpa at the cabin or the night the electricity went off and they played games by candlelight."

Molen and his business partner Jeremy Young, former Brigham Young University graduates who did very well in the computer field, have started the second round of their "game of life" as the driving forces behind Uberplay, a company based in Bellevue, Wash. Uberplay is known for its strategy games. Those games are doing very well, said Molen, who visited Salt Lake City recently to talk about the company's latest venture.

"Strategy games definitely have their place." But Molen is also excited about their latest offering, a company called SimplyFun, which has family-oriented games that "take less than five minutes to learn and no more than 30 minutes to play." The games are sold exclusively at home parties, similar to products such as Tupperware, Pampered Chef kitchen items and scrapbook materials.

The idea was the brainchild of Gail DeGiulio, a former executive of another game company. "She had the idea while she was at a scrapbook party, in fact, and came to us," said Molen. "We thought it sounded perfect."

Direct sales is a $29 billion industry in this country, and tabletop games and puzzles account for $2 billion in sales each year, so merging the two concepts seemed like a good idea.

Plus, one thing they have learned with their strategy games, Molen said, "is that if we could get people sitting down with us and playing the game, they would be more interested in it. Games are like books; you have to read them to know if you like them. You have to play games to know if they are right for you."

So, the direct-marketing approach works well. "A SimplyFun party is truly a party. Our consultants bring the entertainment; the host invites the guests, and the magic of play and fun takes over," said Molen.