He invented a board game straight out of the Stoned Age
As the cannabis industry takes off, a retired dentist looks to cash in on the Green Rush with a weed board game.
PAUL GREENWALD, 64, of Huntingdon Valley, is a retired dentist and entrepreneur who recently began marketing a board game about marijuana, PasstheGrass, which he developed in 1976. It's interactive and designed to be used by people who enjoy relaxing at home with marijuana. It's available online at Amazon for $24.95 or can be downloaded via Android app on a tablet for $1.99. The game is recommended by its manufacturer for users 21 and over.
Q: How'd you come up with the idea?
A: My goal was to start the first mainstream brand for marijuana products. A year after I retired in 2012, I learned Colorado was legalizing marijuana and decided to revive PasstheGrass. I did research for a year, created some prototypes and found a manufacturer. I brought it to Amazon in June.
Q: The startup money?
A: $65,000 from personal savings.
Q: How's it work?
A: Everybody puts $1 in the jackpot. There are two sets of cards, you roll dice and there are places on the board that tell you to do different things. You take a card, and each card will tell you to do something different. There are credit and pass cards. A credit card means you do what the card says, which could be anything from taking a hit off a joint to eating some munchies to telling an embarrassing story. If you take a pass card, you pass it to anybody and then they have to do it. If they choose not to, they're out. If you land on the jackpot, you get all the money and everyone replenishes it with $1 each, but it can be more if players want.
Q: The biz model?
A: Amazon stocks it and handles shipping and billing and gets $7.50 on every sale. If you go to our website and hit buy the game, it links to Amazon.
Q: Do you have to be a stoner to play?
A: Some people who aren't have suggested substituting booze for pot. People who want to smoke can, and those who want to take a shot can. I'm open to anything as long as they purchase the game.
Q: Any competitors?
A: I couldn't find another game like ours.
Q: Biggest challenge?
A: Waiting for pot to become mainstream so I could market a product that would respond to social change. There's a niche of suppliers of lifestyle and cannabis-culture products who have major conventions. I went to one in Las Vegas last August, set up a booth and presold some games. I don't make much money selling to distributors and retailers, but it proved my product was viable.
Q: Marketing?
A: We're on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We post videos and memes so people who like the game can participate in a community. We started in April, and more than 4,400 people like our Facebook page.
Q: What's next?
A: We've sold about 500 games. We foresee PasstheGrass 2.0 and other product lines such as T-shirts, coffee mugs, water bottles and Frisbees.
Online: ph.ly/YourBusiness