Skunk’d is for everyone–Bristol family develops game that hits the market in August

The Johnson family, creators of SKUNK’D, from left, Ken Johnson, Robb Armstrong, Vicki Armstrong, Wes Armstrong, Mandy Johnson, Simon Armstrong, James Jarzyniecki, Liz Johnson and Dusty. | provided by Johnson family

Posted By: David Fortier June 8, 2024

By David Fortier

Anyone, any age, well, starting at 4 years old, perhaps, can play, according to Skunk’d game creators, and Bristol natives, the Johnsons.

“It can be a kid’s game or a chaotic math maze,” said Ken Johnson about Skunk’d, a game the family is now marketing under Hooked on Johnson Games, LLC, a family business.

Johnson is a graduate of Bristol Eastern High School and ran for city council and mayor in the early 2000s– “Hooked on Johnson” was his council campaign slogan.

His wife Liz worked at Sovreign Bank downtown. Their kids. Dusty, Mandy and Vicki, attended Bingham, Chippens Middle School and Bristol Central. The couple has since relocated to Florida, where the business is incorporated.

All family members have participated in developing the game over 35 plus years, since Ken’s mother and father brought it back with them from a family trip to California in the 1980s.

“We’ve rated the game for ages 8 and up,” Johnson said, “but our grandson Wes, age 4, loves to play Skunk’d, obviously with help from an adult.”

The name of the game, Skunk’d, is an homage to Johnson’s late mother, Evie, and father, Warren.

“Whenever one of us would fail to score in our turn, mom would invariably say, ‘You skunked, so sad, too bad.’ ” Dusty suggested the name change when the family started talking about marketing it.

Until the name change, the family had been calling the game Johnson Family Dice.

Skunk’d is played with dice and features a skunk for its mascot. | Johnson Family Games

Evie taught in Bristol Public Schools for 40 years, mostly at Stafford, Mountain View and Northeast, from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Warren was the first to add a rule to the original game, a practice that has over the years the game to evolve into its present form.

From his research, Ken said, that the game might be a descendant of a very old game called Dix Mille or Ten Thousand, but, he added, that Skunk’d is completely different, much faster-paced and higher-scoring, with the players setting the rules.

“You can make the game into whatever you want,” Ken said. “It’s one of the things I think is fascinating and makes the game unique. The players decide the rules.”

Liz finds the game, endlessly engaging.

“You wouldn’t believe what you say to people when you play the game,” she said and laughed.

“It can be very competitive. You think you are winning, and you can rub it into your opponents, and then the next thing you know they have scored and won, and you are like, ‘What?'”

When the tables turn, that is when you have been “Skunk’d,” or as Grandma Evie might say, “You skunked, so sad, too bad.”

“Ken and I have been playing it for over 35 years,” Liz said, “and you don’t get bored of it. It’s not mundane at all. It’s always changing.”

In its current iteration, a two-to-three player game takes 10 to 15 minutes, four-to-six players takes 20 to 30 minutes, and a solo version can be completed in five minutes, Ken said.

“It’s been a wild evolution over the years,” Ken said. “That’s why it got to the point where we said we think other people would have fun with this too. Why don’t we share it?”

That initial conversation occurred just over a year ago while Ken, Liz and Dusty were hanging around the pool.

An example of a Skunk’d game card and dice holder. | Johnson Family Games

Through a Kickstarter campaign, the family raised over $11,000 which allowed them to go into production. The first games roll off the production belt in August. Until then the game can be preordered via the website: SKUNK’D (skunkd.games).

As for the game, it is played with dice and a scorecard.

“The most fun, chaotic part of the game is that at any moment basically anybody has a chance to win or lose,” Dusty said.

“You’re never running away with it. You are never behind,” he said. “There is always a chance the roll goes your way.”

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