Learning to Have Fun
by Stephen Lindsley

Ladue resident Stuart Montaldo is the creator of a popular new board game called Cogno: The Alien Adventure Game – the flagship product of his company, DoubleStar LLC. Having grown up in St. Louis, Montaldo worked as a marketing consultant for 10 years, first in Chicago, then in the Boston area. While in Boston, he began developing the idea for the Cogno game. Montaldo and his family returned to St. Louis in 2002, and he now devotes his business efforts entirely to the game and its related products.

In Cogno: The Alien Adventure Game, players choose to be one of eight alien characters, each with different skills and characteristics. Players move through the universe and back home, stopping off at different planets whose environments are determined by a spinner. Along the way, each character must pick up fuel cells, avoid pitfalls such as black holes, answer science questions related to space and physics, and risk being sent to a parallel universe that exists on a separate game board.

NETWORK: What is the philosophy behind DoubleStar and the Cogno game?

Montaldo: The whole mission of the company is to teach science. I have always been fascinated by science, and space in particular. I really wanted Cogno to stay away from being a “trivia” game, which is already a big category in the game industry. I didn’t have any experience in the game industry, which turned out to be an advantage in some ways. Both the design and the rules of the game are departures from what the big toy and game makers tend to do, but the reaction has been very positive.

N: How was your approach different?

Montaldo: First, the package design isn’t dominated by bright, primary colors, so it’s a little more intriguing. Plus, the science questions can be solved through reasoning or intuition. All the questions are true/false or multiple choice, so it’s not hard to come up with an answer.

The game went through two years of testing with 100 kids in three cities. The first prototype was a wooden board with handdrawn graphics. Later we started doing designs in PowerPoint, and finally we had an illustrator do the final version. During the development period we made hundreds of little changes to make the game more fun and challenging, using feedback from all the kids who played the game. At one point we gave highlighters to a group of eight-year-olds, and asked them to mark any words on the Chaos Cards that they didn’t understand. Then we went back and found better ways to write those questions. That kind of attention to detail really makes a difference.

N: How did you come up with the characters?

Montaldo: My two sons and my mom drew every kind of crazy alien they could imagine. We got together about 30 of those and then we narrowed them down from there and started to give them characteristics that somewhat matched their appearance. The names of the final eight characters are all Latin words that give clues to their characteristics. The name Chrono, for instance, means ‘time,’ and that character has the ability to time travel.

N: How was the game was rolled out for consumers?

Montaldo: We started in a couple of small markets where we could track the results. In the five toy stores in St. Louis where Cogno was originally sold, it became the No. 1 selling game in each store. The St. Louis locations now include Imagination Toys, Spicer’s, Circle of Knowledge, The Webster Bookshop, The St. Louis Science Center Explorestore and Bradburn’s. It is also currently being sold in Massachusetts, Illinois, Arizona, Texas, Kansas and Indiana. Right now we have representatives in 27 states that are working to get the game into stores in their areas. It will be available nationwide in time for Christmas this year.

N: I imagine that Christmas is an important time for a product like this.

Montaldo: We do expect a huge holiday season for Cogno, but unlike many games and toys, its educational value also makes it appealing to parents and grandparents at other times of the year.

N: What’s next on the game front?

Montaldo: We have a new game in development right now – a version of Cogno set in an ancient ocean of Mars. Instead of moving between mystery planets, as in the original game, there are mystery ecosystems, and all the characters have underwater breathing apparatus. Plus, there will be a whole new set of science questions.

N: Sounds neat.What else are you working on?

Montaldo: I’m in the process of finishing the first in a series of books based on the characters from the game. The series is called ‘Cogno: The Alien Legends,’ and the title of the first book is Synapse. As with the game, the manuscript from the book has gone through a series of revisions based on suggestions and criticisms from kids and adults. We’re hoping to have it in print by September. We’re also looking for our second round of funding right now, a total of $300,000. This will drive production and distribution of more game units, as well as development of new products. Cogno recently received the National Parenting Center’s 2004 Seal of Approval. This is the kind of recognition we love to get.

N: You originally conceived of the game as a Web-based project. Now that the game is gaining in popularity are there any plans for a computer or online version?

Montaldo: We do have that in mind, yes, but it may be down the road a bit. We have a lot going on right now with the board game and the book series. There is a Web site for the game that provides a lot of good information, including testimonials from parents and educators. It is at www.cogno.com.

N: Cogno seems to really be taking off. Why do you think it’s so popular?

Montaldo: Well, there is really nothing else like it on the market. People tell me all the time that kids say it’s the best game they ever played. It even successfully competes against electronic games and TV in a lot of homes. Because of the way it’s designed, the game is different each time you play. You can play individually or in teams, and there are elements of skill, luck and strategy. Plus, I think people begin to identify with characters they like, just like having a favorite game piece in Monopoly.

BACK TO NETWORK HOME

Stuart Montaldo is the creator of Cogno: The Alien Adventure Game, and author of ‘Synapse,’ a new book based on Cogno characters.

Take a trip around the universe, and learn some space and science facts along the way.