The seeds of Willow Tree Games were first planted 20 years ago in 1987. Two fifteen year old Monopoly® addicts decided to invent a boardgame that was basically a Monopoly® knockoff with stocks instead of properties. Oh there were other twists to the game, such as the addition of credit cards (which Hasbro just added to Monopoly®) and an extra path across the middle of the board, but the game definitely mimicked the old classic. We, of course, thought our game was amazing because all fifteen year olds think whatever they do is amazing.

After rejection letters from Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley, the game was put away and forgotten for years as we grew up, grew apart, and moved away. We occasionally kept in touch, and even mentioned the old board game idea once in a while. After 2000, several attempts were made to breathe life back into the idea, but it wasn't until 2005 when these two old friends got back together and came up with original game mechanics that worked very well as a unique game design which made us think we were actually onto something significant. It still had a stock market theme, but this new idea was nothing like the one from years past.

(You may be asking at this point, "What stock market game are you talking about? Octego™ is a two-player strategy game." Don't worry... it will all make sense soon. I hope.)

Late in 2005, a personal contact put us in touch with a toy agent who would be attending the 2006 International Toy Fair in New York. He was skeptical that a stock market board game had any kind of broad appeal since there has never been a hugely successful game with such a theme. Our feeling was, well, that's because the world hasn't seen our game yet! (It's easy to get cocky about your own ideas.) He reluctantly agreed and went on to show the game to Mattel, but they weren't interested. He couldn't show the game to Hasbro because they were basically blackmailing him and preventing him from presenting new product ideas because he was being forced to sue them over royalties they were refusing to pay, so he put us in touch with another agent who could actually get new ideas into Hasbro. It was again rejected, but everything we had learned along the way kept us encouraged that we did indeed have a good idea, it's just that these giant toy and game companies don't take any risks on new product concepts. They let the inventors do all the work, prove the product will sell, and then they suddenly want the game or toy.

As it looked as though our stock market game was going to flounder for lack of interest by anyone that could produce it or front the money needed to get it made, I dabbled with some other game ideas I had come up with on my own. All it takes is lots and lots of practice with a program like Adobe Illustrator, and you find yourself drawing all kinds of things. The design for the Octego™ board was one such thing that just came to me. I had no idea what game mechanics would even work with it, but I knew it was something I could make work.

How it came to be made and all the steps I took to get to where Willow Tree Games is today will be covered in other articles, but everything can be traced back to 1987 and a game that never came to be. At least not yet anyway.

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