Rusty Rooster — one of 24 royal characters in a newly released game created by a Wyoming family — must find a castle, crown, throne, scepter and treasure, while also encountering a dragon and a jester, to be reunited with his kingdom of Malarky.
Royal Turmoil, a card game geared toward both children and adults that can either be played in luck-of-the-draw style or based on strategy, is the brainchild of Powell-based fine artist Mark McKenna. Royal cards are matched with resource cards to be reunited with their kingdom of origin throughout the game, and each card features cleverly named characters and colorful, imaginative artwork.
McKenna, who had never before created a game, said the idea came to him in the middle of the night several years ago.
“I’ll wake up in the early hours of the morning, and my brain will just be rolling,” McKenna said. “This is one of those ideas that came at 4 a.m. I had the idea of the layout of the game and some of the logistics of how it would play, and we just went from there.”
After doing basic layout on his home computer, McKenna printed and cut the first Royal Turmoil prototype out of cardstock. He began playing the game with his six kids, and the family worked out kinks and the rules together. They took breaks, sometimes for months at a time, to gain distance from the process and come up with new ideas.
“When we came up with the royals for the game, the kids helped think of the names. We hired a really great illustrator whose work is so funny,” McKenna said. “We would give him these names, and the gender we were hoping for, and he’d run with it. It was hilarious.”
Royals include Winter Witch, Prehistoric Pizza, Calamity Carpet, Angry Apple, Hippity Hotdog, and, of course, Rusty Rooster, among others. Each royal belongs to one of three kingdoms: Malarky, Twaddle and Drivel, and each has a points value that helps lead to an ultimate winner.
McKenna, his wife and two children moved to Wyoming in 2011. McKenna was the Cody High School art teacher for seven years before moving to Powell, where he shifted to a fine arts career. The family also welcomed four more children in those years.
“We felt like we moved to Wyoming and we just blossomed, both literally and figuratively,” McKenna said. “We settled right into the area and the community. We absolutely love it here.”
Creating a game, finding a manufacturer and getting that game listed on Amazon was a true learning experience, McKenna said. Once the rules and artwork were complete, McKenna worked on finding a manufacturer, going through several iterations and prototypes. Ultimately he settled on a manufacturer in Mexico. To be listed on Amazon, McKenna had to have a United States lab test the game for any harmful chemicals or substances, as it’s geared toward children 12 and under, and with a certificate of clearance in hand, McKenna created a selling account on Amazon. From there, his published game went out into the world.
“It has been received really well,” McKenna said, adding that he’s asked friends, family and neighbors for honest feedback. Up to this point, the family has sold more than 1,400 games on Amazon.
“Wyomingites always support Wyomingites, and that is one awesome thing about living here,” McKenna said.
While Royal Turmoil is the family’s first game, McKenna said he doesn’t think it will be their last.
“We have a board game we’ve created in the project phase. It’s really fun, and we’re super excited about it,” McKenna said. “It will take some time … but we’re really hoping that Royal Turmoil will be the catalyst that paves the way.”
Ultimately, McKenna said he hopes his children, who are growing up in small-town Wyoming, will learn from the experience.
“As a self-employed artist, I have that entrepreneurial mindset,” he said. “This is something that has been really fun to get the kids involved with, to realize that we are only limited by our creativity. If you can think of something, and you can solve some of the problems that arise, you can go from nothing to something really cool.”
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Carrie Haderlie is a freelance journalist who covers southeast Wyoming from her home near Saratoga. She has written for the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Laramie Boomerang, Wyoming Business Report and several other publications for many years, including covering the Wyoming Legislature.
