A Kew Gardens resident recently created and started to sell his own card game for kids that encourages them to explore their own creativity.
Michael Schmidt works at a children’s art studio called Little Pulp in Glendale. In November, he was looking into other games that kids are into but was wondering why kids couldn’t create their own game characters. So he created a game where kids could essentially make their own game.
The game, Namikopy, comes with a deck of 30 blank cards. Schmidt said most of the fun comes from designing your own characters. Once you have your cards, you assign each card a value.
Then with the other players, you put down a card hoping to have a higher value than your opponent. Whoever has the card with the highest value picks up the other cards. The player with the most cards at the end wins.
“The game is very simple. It’s not a lot to it,” Schmidt said. “I suggest to the kids if they can come up with a better idea, go for it. The game is fun, but it focuses more on the creative aspect of it and the character development.”
Though the game has a simple concept, Schmidt said he really just wanted to make a game where kids could put their imagination to the test.
“It really pushes them to think further about what they’re creating,” Schmidt said. “The kids seem to really enjoy having that push to develop something really interesting.”
Schmidt said the kids at Little Pulp love the game. So far, he has sold about 20 decks.
“I’m amazed by what they come up with; I’m more blown away by what they come up with,” Schmidt said. “It inspires them to know they’re playing a game that they also had a part in creating.”
The game is sold for $15 and comes with instructions on designing the cards and playing the game.
The game is sold at Namikopy.com and on Etsy.
