NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Twelve-year-old Jackson Lefler has spent the past two years developing a card game.
He has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money in hopes of selling the game through major retailers like Amazon and Target.
The Nashville seventh grader attends Montgomery Bell Academy, and he says he came up with the idea for the game the summer before he began fifth grade.
“On a summer day I was in a room, and I was kind of bored, so I decided I wanted to make a game to play with my family,” said Jackson.
His father, Tal Lefler, described that day. “He came down and he said, ‘Can I have a couple pieces of this paper?’ and we said, ‘Sure,’ and he had paper just everywhere. He was up there for days, cutting.”
Jackson’s mother, Mary Lefler, said, “He literally created it on index cards, and he photocopied the backs of other cards and just built this deck, and came with this large pile of paper and said, ‘Hey Mom, I’ve got a game.’”
The game is called BLDR, pronounced “Builder.” Players piece the yellow cards together to form a building, like an airport or museum. The object of the game is to build your structure before your opponents build theirs.
Over the past two years, Jackson has worked to fine tune the game. “I met with another person who was in the toy industry. He told us to go to Target, close your eyes, and look in the toy section and open your eyes, and see what colors popped out first.”
Jackson said it was bright, neon colors that stood out to him. “We chose the orange, the black, and the yellow, because those are all construction colors that fit with the game, but [the colors] could stand out.”
He worked with a graphic designer on the game, copyrighted the instructions and trademarked the name.
“If we meet our Kickstarter goal, we’re hoping to put it on Amazon,” said Jackson.Click here for Jackson’s BLDR Kickstarter.