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Billy Morrison bounds into the conference room with the same energy and broad, infectious smile he had when he was president of Niagara District Secondary School’s student council. That’s probably because he is there to talk about something he’s just as proud of and believes in – his new strategy game, Hockey Hardware.
After a successful Kickstarter campaign that wrapped up last July, Morrison is currently in the process of distributing the first 300 copies to his backers via the crowdfunding platform and others who have placed orders through his Hockey Hardware website.
He’s here to drop off two copies of Hockey Hardware, each in a glossy, shrink-wrapped and neatly packed, colourful box. He takes a moment to recall the feeling he got when the delivery truck backed up to his Ottawa storage unit to drop off pallets full of his creation.
“It was just phenomenal,” he beams, “watching the truck roll in and the door opening up and then seeing your product right there in boxes, wrapped up in Saran wrap. Then, carrying them and feeling the weight of them all, it was so surreal.”
Morrison had his first spark of an idea for the game about seven years ago. The lifelong hockey fan loved playing fantasy hockey and enjoyed board and card games. He started thinking of ways he might be able to combine those two passions.
He began researching the industry and consulted with family and friends about the kinds of games they enjoyed playing. After mulling over several possibilities, he hit upon the idea of a game of strategy and chance for two to four players, with cards, dice and a stat sheet to keep score as players compete to earn points toward winning trophy cards.
Morrison launched Hockey Hardware’s first Kickstarter campaign in January 2024. When he didn’t reach his stated goal of raising $125,000, he and his wife, Katherine, remained undaunted.
He searched for and discovered ways he could cut costs while maintaining the integrity and focus of the game and staying true to his goal of creating a “Made in Canada” product. He ran into a snag with the dice.
“I put a lot of work and time in researching different possible suppliers for those,” Morrison laments, “but it worked out well for us to bring them in from our supplier overseas. It's the one part of the game that’s not made in Canada.”
Four months later, the second campaign, with a more reachable goal of $40,000, came to fruition. His patience and rethinking paid off. He smashed through the target with 270 backers and two weeks remaining before his deadline.
Right now, Morrison is concentrating on distributing the pre-ordered copies of Hockey Hardware to their eagerly anticipating buyers. Hence, his recent visit to The NOTL Local.
Then the focus turns to spreading the word and getting more of the games out there. The first step is to launch a Shopify page where people can order Hockey Hardware for $54.99.
“I think that’s a really competitive price point,” Morrison says. “Especially for a game that’s made almost totally in Canada using Canadian labour. That's a really unique point that sets us apart from other games. If you go to a lot of the major retailers or you're looking for games online, they're not made here.”
He also points out that Shopify itself is a Canadian company, based in Ottawa.
Morrison is also considering another attempt to line up some interest from the NHL. During the first campaign, he partnered with the Carnegie Initiative Summit at the NHL All-Star Game festivities in Toronto, where he promoted the game to current and former players and executives.
“I just met with some hockey influencers called the Hockey Benders (Cole Lequier and Aiden Dale) in Ottawa last weekend,” Morrison adds. “They have a huge following on social media. I gave them a copy of the game, and they showed some interest. Hopefully, they can play it and help get the word out.”.
Though he’s not yet attempting to find shelf space for Hockey Hardware in stores where games are usually sold, he doesn’t rule out exploring that option after launching the Shopify page.
Morrison is doing all of this while working as Niagara Falls-Niagara-on-the-Lake MPP Tony Baldinelli’s legislative assistant in Ottawa, by the way.
“My background is in politics and public policy,” Morrison reminds The Local. “It's not in business, game design or graphic design. These are skills I've picked up along the journey of entrepreneurship, through trial and error. What you see here is a refined product of that time, energy and investment.”
With the game finalized and those first 300 copies heading out the door, he and Katherine can finally get around to making their Ottawa apartment a bit more livable. But that might not last long.
“It’s pretty much been our workshop with all the prototypes and the boxes,” Morrison laughs. “We've had boxes and game parts everywhere in our apartment for so long. It's starting to clear up a little bit, but you know, hopefully the online orders start coming in, and we’ll get that problem all over again.”
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