Max Barfuss has a game called "Sky Kingdoms," which has a similar universe-building theme. Zach Zullo, Scott Kramer and Dru Allred are all working on "The Hex Game."

Sandeep Kharkar is working on a card game called "The Queen's Garden," where some flowers grow, some wilt and you get points based on how the garden looks when the queen comes to inspect it.

Sean MacDonald, who has also had a couple of games published, is now working on one called "Pastiche," in which players collect palettes of colors for commissioned paintings. Phil Kilcrease has a two-player boxing game called "KO!"

It's just a lot of fun, says Jones. "It's not like anyone's ever going to get rich. It's not like these games will be like 'Monopoly.' But it is a creative outlet."

And it is getting attention. "A guy called last spring and wanted to come see what we are doing. He wanted to start a designers club. He later wrote a blog that was very flattering. He thought New York or Los Angeles would be the center of the game-design universe," says Jones. "He was shocked to find it in Salt Lake City. But we exist because no one told us we couldn't."

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E-mail: carma@desnews.com