North Naples couple promoting their second card-conversation game
A North Naples couple is rolling the dice on another card game.
The game is a follow-up to one they introduced in mid-October. Their first game, called Rehab-A Couple's Release, is a feel-good PG-rated game designed to get couples talking, laughing — and maybe even kissing.
The new edition, launched last week — Rehab-A Family's Release — is therapy for families.
Creators James Schlimmer and fiancée Ashley Chaffee are taking it on a media tour across the state to spread the word and generate interest by appearing on morning TV news shows.
Related: North Naples pair's 'Rehab' card game gets couples talking and kissing again
Chaffee knows firsthand how difficult it can be to reach children, especially when they aren't your own. She is about to become a stepmother to Schlimmer's 11-year-old son, "Little James," and she sees the game as a way for families, especially blended ones like hers, to get closer.
"For the longest time, it was Little James and James, so when you add me to the mix, you still feel like an outsider," she said. "It's that mucky water. You don't know where you fit in. You don't know what conversations you can have."
The game is designed to encourage conversations through open-ended questions. There are 48 cards with questions and four "social cards" encouraging players to interact by getting into a thumb war or maybe a staring contest.
The younger James came up with most of the questions for the G-rated family game, including serious and funny ones. Here are a few of the questions:
» You got a D on your report card; how would you tell your parents?
» If you were sad, what activity would you try to do to cheer you up?
» What is your favorite place in the whole entire world and why?
» You just got caught double dipping your chips in the salsa at a party; what would you do?
"The question we are asking families is, 'Who is ready to put their family first and play this?' " Schlimmer said.
He hopes the game will encourage families to turn off their TVs, put down their smartphones and spend time together.
It's not just designed for kids and their parents, but for play with other family members such as aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents to bring everyone closer together.
"I believe that a lot of the grandparents down here would love to use this game to connect with their family on a deeper level," Schlimmer said.
"Even if you play one or two cards a night at the dinner table, you can spark conversation," Chaffee said. "What we find is that when people play the game, it opens up other conversations."
She hopes "Little James" will remember playing the game at the dinner table as he grew up and the good times that went along with it.
The pair's quick success with their first game surprised them. They sold out their first run, but they're manufacturing more after getting orders from all over the country and from such faraway places as Japan, though the cards come only in English.
"We didn't expect to be a global company this fast," Chaffee said. "So we weren't really thinking about having different languages."
Schlimmer has kept his day
job as a vice president of real estate at Cottrell Title & Escrow in Naples.
However, Chaffee has left her position with a sports events company to serve as president of the new enterprise, going under the name Rehab Gaming USA.
The games are printed in Orlando and packaged in Naples.
Games can be purchased online at rehabgamingusa.com. They cost $17.95.
The couple is working on an "After Dark" version, which they expect to release later this year. It will be "PG-13" rated, designed to help partners looking to restore their intimacy.
There are also plans to sell expansion packs for all the games, with new questions that players can add to the mix.
"We are just working away," Schlimmer said, "having fun."
