BALTIMORE — It's been a tough year and a half for everyone during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many relying on technology to work and to socialize. While one family was trying to break up the monotony of being stuck in the house all the time, they wound up creating a game that's now for sale!
It's called Pick'd Off. This game was created by the MacFarlane Clan, two brothers and their wives. Jimmy and Amy live here in Maryland. Scott and Lizzie live in South Carolina.
It started off something called Dinner Draft. "At dinner we would just sit and talk about what are some things you like doing at the beach. We’d be like what are your favorite things to do at recess or whatever and it became a thing. We started writing them down and keeping track of them," said Jimmy.
Jimmy and Amy's eight-year-old son Brody said his favorite round was what they were going to do after Covid-19. He said, "I picked a bounce house, water park, going to the beach and ice cream."
"It just gets people talking and engaged with each other," said Jimmy. He added, "it’s really about drafting favorites so if you’ve ever had an argument with your friend about best 90s band or worst chore to do or worst pet peeve."
So here's how it works. Each round a dealer picks a card, then they pick one of the three topics on the card. Each player then says something that goes with that topic and the dealer will pick their favorite.
"You're playing to the person. You're playing to the draft master," said Lizzie. She added, "it all depends on who you're playing with. It's always different and it never gets old."
You can play with different ages groups too. They play with their kids with the regular deck and then they have an after dark version just for the adults. It took months to get everything together but they finally have it and are selling it. They have some games in a store in South Carolina but mainly sell them online.
If you have a small business in Baltimore and want to carry the game, you can contact them at Pickdoff@gmail.com. To learn more, click here to head over to their website.
"It’s brought us together as a family. The pandemic shut down everything and we were able to come together as a family and create this game," said Amy.
Lizzie added, "we made the best of a really rough situation and now we’re here!"
