NFL training camp: a time to focus on football, grow closer as a team and launch your new Kickstarter campaign.
That's Tress Way's plan for training camp.
On July 31, the punter launched a Kickstarter campaign for his new board game, What's Your Bid—a brain child of a college football trivia question Way asked his teammates during Redskins training camp in 2016.
"It actually started this time last year and it started with a college football question that had multiple answers that was based on some statistics," Way said. "But it was the top college football programs in the last 100 years."
And thus, the game was born.
Way, along with some other teammates, spent the rest of camp creating the rules for the new game and writing trivia questions.
What's Your Bid combines trivia and strategy in a game that pits teams of all sizes against each other.
"It's kind of like Family Feud," Way describes it.
The game boasts of nearly 1,000 different trivia questions, all with multiple answers, all of which Way wrote himself over the past year.
His favorite question? Guessing the names of the nine boys in the iconic sports movie, "The Sandlot."
"Strictly just because I am a movie guy, is the nine characters of The Sandlot," Way said. "That one is probably my personal favorite."
The multi-genre questions are grouped into categories such as Sports and Entertainment, Food & Drink, Around the World and many more. Way's goal with creating such a wide variety of questions was creating a game that everyone can play and enjoy.
Way's love for board games dates back to his childhood, so it was no surprise to many of his friends and family that he created one of his own.
"I have always loved games," Way said. "It actually turned into a point where my family would look to me to change the rules of classic games that you'll play and I'm like, 'You know, I bet if you'll do this it will make it a little bit more fun' and sure enough we would wind up doing it."
Although the game has evolved since its debut at training camp last year, it remains a favorite of many of the Redskins players.
While Way labeled Kirk Cousins as the "wild card" of the group, he says that he has no choice but to crown Nick Sundberg as the champion, with Dustin Hopkins and Colt McCoy coming in at a close second.
Way has high expectations for his game, and while it is only sold online at the moment, he hopes to see it sold in larger retail chains before long.
Though the punter is enjoying seeing his finished product on the market, like any good entrepreneur, he is already looking to the future.
"I actually have three more board games in the mix and so as soon as What's Your Bid finishes and hopefully takes off because a lot of people, like I've said, have really liked it, and after that, I'll start working on the other ones," Way said.
If you're looking to pick up the Redskins-approved game for your next gathering, you can do so here.
As a tip to players, Way suggests focusing on the strategy of the game, not necessarily getting all the answers right.
Since the essence of the game is bidding on how many questions you got right, Way cautions participants to be smart and not overestimate the accuracy of their guesses—or your points might just end up going to the other team.
