Inside a sunny, living room-like office near Miami Beach?s Lincoln Road, Eric Poses lays out his board game Loaded Questions and pulls out a card: ?What would you do if you wanted to annoy someone??
Poses, the founder and president of the game company All Things Equal, happily explains how the game works ? the roller reads the question, each player jots down an answer and then the roller guesses who wrote which one. Soon, he pulls out other games from his bookcase, showing them off and explaining the rules.
It?s clear Poses loves what he does, devising every aspect of a game, from the board to the markers, content and methodology.
?I turn everything into a game,? said Poses, 38, who lives in Miami Beach with his wife and two young daughters. ?It makes ordinary things more fun.?
Poses is turning fun into financial gain, as his 15-year-old company is poised to double its sales volume, with expanded distribution of new games, and, for the first time, puzzles and picture frames.
Awkward Family Photos, created through a licensing agreement and launched last July, will be available nationwide at Target and Walmart by fall.
This summer, Awkward Family Photos will debut four jigsaw puzzles, each with 999 pieces and a collage of four photos.
Poses also has just obtained the rights for Awkward Family Photos picture frames, which should be available in stores by Aug. 1.
In addition, The Greatest Day Ever Game, a colorful kids game inspired by his daughters, ages 6 and 3, should expand to more specialty stores later this summer.
Most of All Things Equal?s games are aimed at adults, as ?creative games for active minds,? Poses said.
But they appeal to everyone from high school and college students to young professionals and families, or anyone ?who wants to have a fun game night at home with a bottle of wine,? he said.
All Things Equal?s games are sold in more than 5,000 stores nationwide, including Target, Barnes Noble, Kmart and Toys R Us, as well as at smaller stores. They are also sold online, at amazon.com and the company?s website, familyandpartygames.com. The games are also available in Canada, and Poses is working on expanding to the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
Barnes Noble has been carrying Loaded Questions since it first began offering games in 1999, said Ellen Heaney Mizer, the chain?s buyer for games, puzzles and collectibles. The classic version of the game is available at all 681 Barnes Noble stores that carry games, and the adult version, as well as Awkward Family Photos, is at 450 select stores ? including a few in South Florida. The games are also sold on Barnes Noble?s website.
?They are an important brand for us,? Mizer said.
For Poses, who grew up in Miami and went to Ransom Everglades before graduating from Emory University, game playing is in his genes. His mother?s family?s last name is Todman, of Goodson Todman Productions, which produced shows like Family Feud and the Price is Right, and he grew up watching game shows and playing card games.
?Game playing is the biggest way we entertained ourselves growing up,? Poses said.
He came up with his first game idea, Loaded Questions, in 1996, while he was working as a copywriter for an ad agency in Coral Gables.
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