St. Augustine, FL – Opening the deck, it all starts with a definition.
If you’re already puzzled by the name, creators Capt. Adam Morley and graphic artist Megan Robinson make it easy to follow the clues.
“A quip is a witty remark. Also known as a joke, a one-liner or pun. Since the last one is often mis-pun-derstood, let’s define it too,” reads the very first card, and from there your adventure begins.
Imagine if you will a game like trivia but all about the jokes.
You can go official game night by keeping score or play with friends or family for the fun of it, just to see who is the real smarty pants in your group.
Punslingers On Deck
Morley, who owns Genung Fish Camp is notorious for his puns. Billing himself as a ‘punslinger’ you can usually catch one during his morning fish and tide report on the 904 Now App, but at any time in conversation, he’ll throw one out. It’s second nature.
For Morley and Robinson part of the fascination of Pop Quip! is playing with new people who don’t consider themselves particularly clever, and fun of seeing them discover new jokes.
“Anybody can play. Anybody who has basic understanding of vocabulary – minimal skills required, but it’s still challenging because it takes some creativity to think about a topic and come up with the different words and terms related to that and then work it into a humorous quip,” said Morley.
“We feel like some of the best content comes from people who feel like they can’t make puns,” shared Robinson.
Drawing on focus groups when designing the game, the newbies brought their unique perspective to the table.
“Turns out they had some of the most original and hilarious content because it’s all new stuff that they’re developing on the spot,” said Morley.
Returning to Their Roots to Launch
The idea for Pop Quip! started at the very location where they hosted their launch party on Sunday evening – Sarbez in St. Augustine, according to Morley.
“It started years ago, actually here at Sarbez, where another friend and I – pun enthusiasts, actually, yeah, there’s actual pun enthusiasts, it’s a thing, it’s all about the dad jokes – so we’re all about the puns and wanted to figure out a way to share this with more people.”
Pitching the idea of a ‘Monday Punday’ to Sarbez owners, the game night idea took off and lasted until COVID put the brakes on large gatherings.
“Imagine trivia except instead of trivia questions, we actually gave topics just like we do in our game,” explained Morley.
“Then we played a song and gave teams the length of that song to come up with their best quip or pun, dad joke, innuendo, whatever, and after the song ended, a representative from each team would come up to the stage and deliver their best joke related to that topic. We had guest judges. It was a whole production and hilarious content came from it,” he said.
“It’s kind of like amateur comedy night but a little bit easier because it gives you the topics and time to come up with your joke. It makes it a lot of fun and super easy for people to get into comedy and making jokes, having a good time and laughing.”
After the pandemic, they decided to create a ‘play at home version’ and the rest is history.
Robinson put her graphic arts skills to work, designing the game cards, packaging, website and Kickstarter promo for Pop Quip!
“I’ve pretty much been involved in everything since the beginning and helped design everything from start to finish,” said Robinson modestly.
“I knew I wanted it to look kind of like Pop Art – Pop Quip! Pop Art, so I kind of went with that, bright, fun, happy colors. It was a blast.”
With a round of comedians entertaining friends and family out for the launch, the pair said they would like to see the game sold in local retailers in addition to the digital Kickstarter campaign that surpassed its goal before the official launch.
“We’re hoping to get picked up by different stores, get into different retailers, we’re hoping to go nationwide,” said Morley.
In a post-COVID world, the game is one more way for people anywhere to stay connected. Playing it at home or at a venue, virtually, or a combination of both, it’s all about having fun and making people laugh, one pun at a time.
“Depending on the crowd you’re playing with, you get anything from a super simple one-liner to a really elaborate cascading string of puns, and it’s just so much fun,” said Morley. “By the end we’re all laughing and the content is just gold.”
For more information, visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2092310147/pop-quip-the-party-game-for-everyone/description.
