Sisters Kerri and Patti have developed a hilarious board game just for us ‘dames’ called What’s a DAME to do?!® Fun for women of ALL ages (17+). It’s their premiere game in what is to be a growing line of games for dames ™.

We know how important our girlfriends are to all of us and we love finding new ways to spend time with them, preferably with lots of laughing (and throwing in some chocolate and cocktails doesn’t hurt either!) Don’t you find that oftentimes this quality time is imperative to your mental health? Being longtime game players we were always on the lookout for fun games to play with our gal pals. The only ones we found were either trivia centered (no thanks, I don’t want to think that hard at the end of a long week or end up feeling less than brilliant) or a talk-about-your-feelings kind of activity (not really a game, and sometimes it asks you to share more than you’d like!) So, we decided we should just create one.

Sounds easy right? We thought so. We would spend week-ends at Patti’s kitchen table with a bunch of index cards and markers and create. After many months we came up with our first and very rough prototype. We proudly brought it to girlfriends’ homes for play testing and asked for feedback. Everyone was always very supportive and polite, but we realized that really, it stunk. No one had laughed.

So back to the drawing board we went. Many months later, we stumbled upon something good because we couldn’t stop laughing. Our mom was in town visiting at the time so we called her over to play a few rounds with us. The three of us were up until 2 AM playing and sometimes laughing so hard we were crying. This is how What’s a DAME to do?!® was born.

From then on our play testing evenings were filled with laughter, and lots of great feedback and suggestions. We couldn’t have created the game without all of our other best dames. And when we needed more bodies to play, boyfriends, husbands, brothers and our dad made play testing all the more hilarious. So we learned that in a pinch, playing the game with some males can add an interesting twist to say the least.

It took over a year to smooth out the rough edges before we got it into production last fall. We designed the packaging to look less like a game and more like a stylish, sophisticated product for women. Then we had to get it into the marketplace, which is now showing great interest. We believe that where women shop is almost as important as what they shop for, so we are particular about where the game will be sold.

The game just hit the shelves of Borders last month. It is also available on our web site at www.gamesfordames.com, www.Amazon.com and a handful of lovely boutiques, gift shops and upscale game/toy stores across the country. We continue to look for more of the right places to showcase and sell the game, including visionary retailers who are enthusiastic about the game and will do well with it. A win win!

The object of What’s a DAME to do?!® is to use your female intuition and humor to guess how players would react to a given dilemma, the type of little everyday ‘dame dilemmas’ that we can all relate to. Some examples include: someone calls you ma’am for the first time, you’re hit on by a guy 20 years older than you, you just got the worst haircut of your life….now, how would you react? Maybe you would speak with a foreign accent, cry, use the hose, or simply, chardonnay!! The reaction cards are what create the real laughter as they can be absurd or filled with just enough innuendo that you can’t help but giggle. It was important to us that this wasn’t a raunchy game. But it still had to be sassy enough to be interesting!

Here’s what women are saying about games for dames™ What’s a DAMEto do?!®

“I cannot say enough about this game….we laughed so hard we were crying. This is a great way to bond with your girlfriends, sisters, moms, etc.”

“I don’t usually like games, but I love ‘What’s a DAME to do?!’”

“I laughed so hard I had to cross my legs!”

“I absolutely love this game. My roommates and I play every week when doing laundry…it’s a total must have!”

One important thing we discovered is that we all hate to read rules, especially after a glass of wine! So we have a short How-to-play video on our web site (this way no one gets stuck being the reader of the rules, usually the accountant or teacher in the room, right?)

We’re working on our next version of What’s a DAME to do?!® and we want women from all over the country to help us create it and/or appear in it or on the box as our “CoverDame.”

Go to www.gamesfordames.com for details.