Game On

Two area residents create a party board game called UP-2-U that gives Beavers and Ducks fans a chance to battle it out to see who can build the tallest tower

By Nicole DeCosta

The Lake Oswego Review, Nov 27, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Karon Paul says she loves games. So when she had an idea for a new party board game at a dinner party in 2006, she got to work. The result? UP-2-U in stores now.

VERN UYETAKE / Lake Oswego Review / West Linn Tidings

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On Saturday, the University of Oregon Ducks play the Oregon State University Beavers at Reser Stadium in Corvallis as the rival football teams compete in the 2008 civil war.

“Everyone likes to feel a part of something and wants to belong,” said Karon Paul, a Tualatin resident whose children grew up attending West Linn schools. “(Supporting a school) brings a sense of competitiveness. That’s why I like games. It’s the pride.”

Now, Paul and her family live in a “house divided,” she says. Her son is a Duck; her daughter is a Beaver. But no matter who she’s rooting for, Paul is a lover of games.

The new party board game she invented called UP-2-U incorporates her love of camaraderie, strategy and school pride.

Players use strategy, luck and a steady hand to build the tallest tower using wood game pieces – and cards and dice – with schools’ colors and mascots.

Each player begins with 24 small wooden pieces – 12 with the school’s logo, 12 with letters. A roll of the dice indicates which type of pieces to begin stacking. Pieces are stacked one-at-a-time to create the tallest tower. If a player rolls a penalty they follow the instructions on a playing card. When all pieces are played the player with the tallest tower wins.

So far, the games are created using UO Ducks, OSU Beavers, University of Washington Huskies and Washington State University Cougars game pieces but Paul hopes to extend the game to universities across the country – but in good time.

This endeavor is a result of a dinner party in September 2006 with UO and OSU alumni.

“There were napkin rings in the shape of a mallard duck on the table. I started stacking them, just having fun and we started saying, ‘oh, we should paint these green and yellow and sell them at tailgaters,’” Paul said. “I came home and kept saying, ‘I’m going to find a woodworker. I just have this idea.’”

Paul had no prior experience creating games. She spent 20 years working in corporate human resources for Columbia Management Company, Columbia Funds. That is where she worked with the chairman and CEO, John Kemp. They both left the company in 2000, he to retire, she to begin consulting with a more flexible schedule, as her kids were in school.

“I failed retirement,” Kemp said, a Sherwood resident who spent 15 years living in Lake Oswego.

Paul and Kemp later worked together under Kemp’s consulting company, J-K Pursuits, LLC. So, when Paul’s idea for a family game came about, she turned to her business partner.

“I took John to university stores and showed him licensed merchandise. I said, ‘there’s nothing out there like this,’” Paul said of her game idea. “You have Duckopoly and checkers but this is different.”

They both decided to put some money into the project and see what would become of it. Paul worked with woodworkers from Tigard and Sherwood to design game pieces and a design firm to create the look and feel of the game.

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