When Max and Gwyneth Pisa first dreamed up a new version of Marbleheadopoly, they had an idea, a business plan and a lot of local businesses to convince.
Now, they have something else: hundreds of board games in their basement.
The Tower School siblings’ nearly two-year project became very real this spring when 1,000 copies of their locally inspired game arrived at their Marblehead home.
“It’s definitely a bigger success than I thought,” Max said. “It’s kind of crazy seeing 1,000 boards in our basement.”
The games, which sell for $45 including tax, went on sale this summer. Max, an eighth grader, and Gwyneth, a seventh grader, have already sold about 200, with roughly 30 more wholesaled to local retailers. The games are currently available at Mud Puddle Toys, ACE Hardware, Marblehead Mercantile, Hestia Creations and Mookie’s at Mugford Cafe, as well as online at playmarbleheadopoly.com.
The finished board is unmistakably Marblehead.
Forty local businesses appear on the board, with 47 businesses represented overall when advertising on the game’s money and cards is included.
Among them are Marblehead Bank, Marblehead Candle Company, Sea Salt Restaurant, Hestia Creations, Tower School and Marblehead Collision.
The Pisas asked local artist Maura O’Connor to create the board art work after they spotted her art at Marblehead Mercantile.
The rules will feel familiar to anyone who has spent an afternoon trying to bankrupt family members over a Monopoly board, but Marbleheadopoly puts its own spin on the classic game. Players go to “court” rather than jail, for example, while familiar local businesses occupy the coveted property spaces.
Old Town Antiques landed the equivalent of Boardwalk, while Maddie’s Sail Loft occupies the Park Place spot.
The siblings said seeing the finished product after working on the idea for about two years has been one of the best parts of the experience.
“Just seeing all the boards and seeing the final idea in my brain actually become real and seeing all these businesses that came together with us and made this possible,” Max said.
For Gwyneth, a favorite part was meeting the people behind those businesses.
“I liked going into all the businesses and seeing the owners,” she said.
Creating the board has also given the siblings a crash course in running a business. They had to learn how to accept Venmo and credit cards, build a website, sell wholesale and — perhaps most importantly — market their product.
“That’s probably the biggest part. I didn’t really know that we actually needed [marketing],” Max said.
That effort now includes an Instagram account, @marbleheadopoly, and a series of short, playful commercials featuring the businesses on the board. They have already made videos with businesses including Mud Puddle, Maddie’s, Mookie’s and Hestia Creations and are working on others.
The social media push isn’t just for fun. The siblings said Instagram has driven every sale made through their website.
And Marbleheadopoly has a charitable component.
The Pisas plan to donate at least 5% of total sales revenue to the Marblehead Food Pantry. Their mother, Kelly Pisa, said Gwyneth learned during a school field trip that the pantry needs about $1,000 a week to feed local families and was struck by the need.
The siblings also hope Marbleheadopoly won’t be their last venture together. They plan to put some of the proceeds toward whatever business idea comes next.
When asked whether they might tackle another project together, Max said, “Hopefully.”
For now, though, there are still plenty of Marbleheadopoly games to sell — and plenty of lessons to learn.
And after nearly two years of planning, pitching businesses, designing the game, figuring out sales and marketing and hauling boxes of games into the basement, the siblings can finally do the simplest thing of all: Play.
A game typically lasts anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours. Max and Gwyneth estimate they have played their own creation five to 10 times.
“I love just looking at the board, even if I’m not playing, I just like looking at all the spots,” she said.
To learn more about the game, visit playmarbleheadopoly.com.
**This story was updated with the correct price for Marbleheadopoly, which is $45.
