All Things Equal’s Eric Poses on the bad vacation that inspired The Good News Is…

Eric, it’s always fun to chat. You have a new game out – The Good News Is… How did this idea come about?
It was August 2022. My family and I were at my brother-in-law’s house recounting the comedy of errors that marked a recent trip my in-laws treated us to in Provence, France… From travel mishaps to the excruciating heat, to our horrible vacation rental that was full of mold – causing four of us to get violently ill for a good chunk of the stay.

Oh dear…
Yep! So we’re all hanging out and my sister-in-law says: “The good news is we’re all back safe and sound. The bad news is we probably should have gone somewhere else.”

A familiar lightbulb went off in my head, and I followed her comment with some good/bad news of my own. “The good news is there’s a bottle of wine on the table. The bad news is…” I said trailing off encouraging everyone at the table to finish the thought.

“There aren’t two bottles of wine on the table,” my nephew shouted. “The bad news is we don’t have a corkscrew,” said my wife, also taking the bait. “Do more!” the group shouted and I happily obliged… Before throwing myself into marathon brainstorm sessions for how to turn this fun conversation into a game.

Amazing. And this finished game sees players listen to some good news, before filling in a bad news prompt. Like ‘The good news is… You’re featured in tomorrow’s paper. The bad news is… So is ‘blank’’ Was there ever any worries that players might not feel ‘funny enough’ to compete, if that makes sense?
It started out with the bad news completely open-ended, but focus groups revealed players wanted to narrow the scope of their answers, so there is a strategic blank in the incomplete bad news. In your example above, the bad news might be, “The bad news is you’re featured next to ______.”

And you hit the nail on your head with your question, which was acknowledged during an early test play session with a bunch of friends, two of whom consistently had trouble coming up with a good answer, while noticeably getting frustrated or embarrassed.

This experience was a blessing, as it became clear the game would improve and appeal to a wider audience if players could fill-in-the-blank two different ways – one rewarding the funniest answer and one rewarding players with matching answers. This scoring pattern conquered that concern of forcing people to be clever every round.

Smart!
Well, smart this time! The good news is I have become more disciplined in my approach to game development, especially after several passion projects that required genuine brain power and humour – The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Game, The Joke Game, Where’s The Money, Lebowski? – saw little success in the marketplace.

This game also has an interesting electronic component – ‘The Orange Thing’! It comes loaded with a welcome message, 200 Good/Bad News prompts and 10 different 33-second countdowns. Why opt for this?
My early prototypes were your common ‘cards in a box’ concept like I’ve developed many times over the last 28 years – but the artwork didn’t reflect the joy of the game or what the name implies.

When I first pitched The Good News Is… to several key retailers, it was clear buyers loved the name and appreciated the gameplay right away – but there wasn’t overwhelming enthusiasm. I was onto something, but the game was missing something!

The seeds of ‘The Orange Thing’ emerged during my six-week Summer 2023 ‘Midlife Crisis Tour’, celebrating 26 years as a board game inventor.

Ah yes, we spoke about your ‘Midlife Crisis Tour’ in our last interview – folks can check that out here.
Yes! After we spoke – and following that year’s Fall Toy Fair at the end of my ‘Midlife Crisis Tour’ – I remained emboldened by the challenge to make the game better. I spent countless hours tinkering with packaging, components and play patterns. Solutions started falling into place during my 25-hour drive back to Miami Beach while listening to Walter Isaacson’s ‘Steve Jobs’ biography. Motivated by Jobs’ approach to product design – and his philosophy of ‘getting it right no matter the cost or time’ – I took a holistic look at the game, with the primary goal of replacing the cards with something original and special that I could feature in the packaging.

That’s when I realised this would make a great electronic game, where prompts were read aloud to players by a fun, gameshow host personality – a celebrity of sorts who could lend their voice to the game. The notion of what the electronic component could be got more expansive, leading me to add 10 original, eclectic, 33-second timers that rotate with each turn – lending humour and a fun, frenzied curveball as players come up with answers. While the game’s construction became more ambitious, I worked with the mantra of “creating familiar play in a whole new way”.

Good line! And your host is Scott Rogowsky, who is best known for hosting HQ Trivia. Were you a fan?
I never played HQ Trivia! Scott was featured throughout a great documentary I watched – namely because it was produced by a high school friend – on the rise and fall of HQ Trivia. By the end of the film, I realised I found my host. Here’s a guy who loves games, has a great voice, is funny – and probably affordable!

Ha!
I reached out to Scott on Instagram, We connected shortly after and had a license agreement signed in weeks. Today, I consider him a genuine friend and a great spokesperson for the game. He recorded a welcome message for first-time players, all 200 prompts, and three of the game’s 10 custom 33-second timers. Our friend, David Blanchard, composed the seven instrumental timers in the game!

Is there no end to his talents! Do you think you’ll do more electronic games now that you’ve had this experience with The Good News Is…?
As The Good News Is… neared production, I thought to myself: ‘This project represents the future of my game development.’ So yes, I did think my next game or two might be electronic with new bells and whistles. And then the tariffs happened and dreams of producing an inexpensive card game kicked in!

I can imagine! How have you navigated the tariff situation?
I purposely delayed production and shipping and came to terms with the fact I’d have to write a large check. The good news is I placed the game with a major retailer for this fall and 70% of my first production run was accounted for. When the tariff rate on US imports from China set at 30%, I let the retailer know I’d cover the full cost of the tariff without raising our MSRP. The really bad news is they decided to drop the game.

Ah, what a shame.
You’re not kidding. It was a huge blow, but hell or high water, I plan to sell the crap out of this game! I have developed dozens of games since 1997 and I consider The Good News Is… my opus.

Absolutely! Now, looking ahead, what does the rest of your year look like? What game are you working on next?
I have several ideas for 2026/2027, and recently revived a trademark I let lapse two years ago for a game called Famous People with Two First Names. It’s a humorous, engaging, half-baked card game that is admittedly niche and still has a few kinks I’m trying to work out.

But, the truth is I don’t want to develop or produce any more games until I launch The Good News Is… That’s my focus for the rest of 2025. I don’t want history to repeat itself where I get caught up in product development at a time where I need to be wearing my sales and marketing hats.

Eric, thank you so much. I always have fun chatting with you – and The Good News Is… looks terrific.

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