Digital product lessons learned from cardboard
I made a hit card game once.
It was about 2001. I was in high school. Collectible card games had just hit our town.
I loved to create…
…And I didn’t have much pocket money to buy cards. So I made cards.
A few months later, the school was into my card game. My friends would help me sell them on the playground for commission. We elected certain kids to be special ‘bosses’ who give you special edition cards… if you can defeat them.
It was awesome.
What did I learn from all this? And how does any of this help creators today?
Well. Consider what the cards really were:
- An idea
- Gamification
- Distribution
- Cardboard
That’s it.
There was no social media to spread ideas.
- There were no iPhones or Android devices to snap ‘n’ share your gameplay.
- There was no YouTube to post your unboxing.
- There was barely any SaaS (even Salesforce had only just launched)
Now, we have all of those things. So distribution is easier than ever…
…And the cardboard is entirely optional.
That leaves the idea and the gamification.
If creating something that spreads can be done with pieces of cardboard on an offline playground… just think what’s possible for you today.