Crazy About The ‘80s - Board Game Brings Back the Decade of Decadence

By Lauren Beckham Falcone
Herald Staff Writer


Note to the 1980’s: How can we miss you if you won’t go away?

Echoes from the decade of decadence are everywhere. Journey gets more play than J-Lo. Paint-splattered jeans and ripped T-shirts are here to stay. Even ?That ‘70s Show? has a spin-off: ?That ‘80s Show.?

Now you can test your Reagan-era knowledge with The 80’s Game, a board game based on fun and funky ‘80s factoids - from “The Terminator” to test-tube babies.

“The ‘80s always get a bad rap,” said the game’s co-inventor Clayton Siegert, 27, of Manhattan, who lived in Boston’s North End when he came up with the concept. “But they were great.”

Siegert, who was in elementary school when the Smurfs were hip, Atari was hooked up to every TV and Doug Flutie won the Orange Bowl with his “Hail Mary” pass, thought of the idea on a late-night ride to Long Island.

“I’ve always liked the music, so when I was on my way to Fire Island last summer, I tuned into ‘Back to the ‘80s Friday Night,’” he said. “They played all the songs, but between sets, the DJ asked trivia questions. People were getting so jazzed up about it, it got me thinking about a board game.”

The station eventually faded out; Siegert’s idea didn’t. All weekend, “the wheels kept turning,” and on the ride back, he started thinking up a name for the game.

“No one had the URL for ‘The 80’s Game’ and I did a trademark search and no one had it,” he said. “So, I talked to my brother and sister about it, and we just said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

So the siblings started their company, Intelliniative Inc., and got down to business.

It took a while, but they finally decided on the terms of the game (players jump from year to year and answer questions on events, music, movies, sports and TV), worked out the kinks (Siegert said it was difficult to progress from year to year, so they came up with a “jump space”), and decided on the game’s look (re-created subway art).

“For the initial development, we dipped into our savings,” he said. “But after we got the ball rolling, we came up with a business plan and started looking for money.”

Finding a manufacturer proved to be the most difficult step. “We didn’t get a warm response,” he said.

But like a Gordon Gekko disciple, Siegert was relentless and finally got the CEO of Paragon Packaging on the line.

“He gave me some advice, and somehow I convinced him to see my sister and me for five minutes,” he said. “I told him if he didn’t like the concept, he could kick us out. We flew to Chicago and within five seconds, he said, ‘I like this idea.’”

(Who wouldn’t? What other game asks questions about Ronald Miller and the African anteater dance? Or which Bangles’ song contains the line, “I watch you when you are sleeping, you belong to me?”)

They inked the deal, and now The 80’s Game is in 140 stores nationwide and available on the Internet at www.the80sgame.com.

Siegert, who was living in Boston at the time, quit his job at an Internet startup and moved to Manhattan to work on the game full time.

“So far, the game is selling better than expected and we hope to get into Toy Fair (a toy trade show) in February,” he said.

Siegert, who worked as an editorial assistant at the Boston Herald after graduating from Trinity College in Hartford, said he’d love to hit the game heights of Trivial Pursuit or Cranium, or work on more decade-based board games. But for now, he’s pleased to be at the helm of his own business.

“I used to write the Monday People feature in the business section,” he said. “They were usually about people who took chances and started their own companies. And I was always inspired by that.”

For now, he’s happy with his corporation and newfound ‘80s knowledge.

“The ‘80s were an amazing time, with the Reagan presidential election, the Iran-Contra affair, the stock market craze, the savings and loan scandals, the music, the movies,” he said. “I’d spend all night after work holed up in my apartment researching all this and I was lucky because it was so fascinating.”


Copyright 2001 Boston Herald Inc.