Leading a revolution in the board game industry, Leia Avery has transformed from a self-described shy individual into a dynamic entrepreneur who’s changing how we connect through games. As the founder of Just Play Entertainment, Avery has created a gaming empire that spans from retail stores to corporate team-building events, serving clients like Google, Microsoft, and Dell. Her flagship creation, Hip Hop Charades, started in 2009 as “Catch My Drift?!” and has evolved into a cultural phenomenon, finding homes in prestigious institutions like the National Museum of African American Music and catching the attention of celebrities like Wayne Brady and Keke Palmer.
In a revealing conversation with Munson Steed, Avery discusses her journey from playing holiday games with family to developing innovative card games that bridge generational gaps and strengthen relationships. Her latest creation, “Petty or Not,” continues her mission of sparking meaningful conversations while entertaining. Through her nonprofit, the Inspired Game Creators Network, she’s now helping other aspiring game creators bring their ideas to life, proving that her impact extends far beyond the games themselves.
[Editor’s note: This is a truncated transcription of a longer video interview. Please see the video for the extended version. Some errors may occur.]
Why games and share the name of two games that you’ve created.
I was very shy growing up as a kid and my parents would force me to play games during the holidays and I really enjoyed it. I realized that games was an outlet for me to become myself. I had this job working as a sales and mission advisor and we had a lot of slow time. During the slow time, we would always come up with games and bring games to work. I even created like a trivia for the whole team every day and they would get mad at me if I forget to bring out the trivia.
I realized that I got something going here and we love playing this game called Taboo. I realized Taboo is such a cool game, but how cool will it be if we would have teams guess slang words or phrases that we say on a regular basis coming from Black culture. I came up with that idea, created a prototype, played it with my team. They loved it and then I found out how to get it produced. Two of the games that we have available now is Hip Hop Charades, the remix version, as well as Petty or Not, where you can call your friends out on their petty behavior.
Thinking about gaming, what did you learn getting into the business that you never imagined you would have to do?
One of the things that I learned that I didn’t think I would have to do was I really put myself out there going into the gaming business. In the beginning, it was a struggle to make ends meet on a regular basis. So, I realized that I needed to come up with something else to help with my income. So, we decided to host events. I never saw myself as a game host or that type of person that gets people excited because I was always so shy. Once you face your fears, it’s crazy to see what blessings will come your way just by facing those fears and seeing your purpose and finding out what you’re here for.
I love the experience and it’s still a journey for me, but it’s been great and very rewarding and fulfilling and the feeling that I get when I see people enjoying the game is priceless.
Let’s talk about the whole idea of game creation. Petty or Not, here I come. Where did it come from?
Petty or Not just came from regular situations that I deal with on a regular basis of just how I associate with my friends, my boyfriend and family and just the things that I do and the things that people do that are like super petty. And I don’t think they realize it. In the age that we’re in now, I see that it’s very important to spark conversation. A lot of the youth, they’re hard to grasp their attention.
They’re so plugged into their devices. They don’t really do any interaction with each other. It’s hard to get them to open up. So, these are some cool conversation cards where you can learn about other people and also learn about yourself as well at the same time.
What are some of the manufacturing tips you would share with some of the new CEOs that are thinking about producing a game?
The most important thing is to do your research. There are so many scams going on right now and it’s so easy to get caught up in one of them. When your money’s gone, it’s gone. The black card game community has grown expeditiously since COVID. I always reach out to a lot of the heavyweights that’s out there that have their games and target.
I’ll say, “Hey, can you give me advice on this? Give me advice on that?” So never be scared to open up your mouth to get some assistance. What helped me is going to a trade show. They have a toy and game fair every year and usually in New York, Chicago has one every year around this time as well.
Do your due diligence and do your research and ask for people’s advice on manufacturers that you can even read reviews. We have a nonprofit called Inspired Game Creators Network. We kind of help you get rid of that frustration. If you have a game idea, we can create a prototype. We can help you with the rules. We can help you with the design. We can even help you with getting manufacturing quotes.
What are the advantages for individuals who are thinking about gaming or doing their research, but have never attended a trade show before in their life?
There are so many advantages of going to a trade show. Not only are you surrounded by a whole bunch of gaming vendors, which is a wealth of knowledge right there, but you can get so many ideas on how to play a game. You can get an idea. Okay, that’s a cool game, but what if it did this? People don’t realize like a lot of these games are ideas based off of someone else’s idea, which is why you cannot patent it, but you can always find a way to make it different. Trade shows will help you with networking.
You can find manufacturers at trade shows. You can even go through seminars and they always offer some type of assistance for new inventors. They may have a contest, a pitch contest. Trade shows is definitely your doorway in to success when it comes to manufacturing, getting advice and networking for sure.
When it talks about skill sets and people are in relationships, what do games add to your personal relationship when you’re playing a game like Petty or Not?
Playing games brings people closer together. For example, I went to Thanksgiving last year and people was drinking, arguing and ready to get into a fight. I’m thinking like, well, we would just play some games and would have kind of like eased that frustration. Playing games brings people closer together. I even had a mom tell me, well, not with Petty or Not, but with Hip Hop Charades. She said, you know, I bought this game. Me and my daughter was having a hard time communicating. We were not getting along. But after playing this game, we’ve been able to have a bond and connect.
It’s kind of like bridging that gap, especially with Hip Hop Charades, there is a communication barrier from how kids talk to grown people. So, we have, it’s multi-generational. So, grandma can teach the kids the old school growing up black things and the kids can teach grandma the new phrases. With Petty or Not, it’s pretty much the same way as far as just connecting, creating fun memories and just having those experiences and memories to last you for a full lifetime is amazing because nowadays with holidays coming around, you miss those as not here anymore. So, it’s very important to cherish the moments you have and create fun experiences through games.
What’s it like to throw a game party now that you’ve had some experience in it? And what are doing events built for you and your brand?
It’s just been amazing. I’m a trailblazer, I must say, in this whole gaming industry. And it really excites me to see other game creators doing the same thing. But not only do we produce and manufacture games, you can also hire us to help you celebrate special occasions, birthdays, corporate events and things like that. In the beginning I may have felt some type of way like, okay, people are taking my idea, how dare them.
But you know, there is enough money for everyone. And my purpose in life is to create more games to bring people closer together. A lot of people don’t have the time to host events and play games.
People may have, and that’s the reason why I came up with hosting game nights, because people would say, Leia, I bought your game, but I never found the time to play it. That happens a lot. I hear that a lot. So, people don’t really take the time out when they have those opportunities to connect through gaming. So, you may need someone to bring that little push to help you enjoy fun experiences.
As a female CEO, what would you say your superpower is?
I would say one of my superpowers is just I’m very fun, friendly and always happy. Even if I’m having a bad day, I try my best to not let it show on my face. One of my superpowers is just bringing people closer together, even with my friends. They always say, you always bring somebody new to the group. That’s just how I am. I realize, especially a lot of women nowadays and being going through good, it’s hard for a lot of people to get back out and enjoy life, but they always complain and say, I want to get out more. I want to do this. I want to do that.
So, my superpower is bringing people closer together, helping them get out the house and giving them a reason to try fun experiences. Second superpower, I would say is my ambition, the way that I apply pressure. It’s been a long road and I haven’t given up and I’ve gotten so much support that I always like to apply pressure. And now is, I know that I know my worth and I know my strength. And that’s the superpower in itself because a lot of people may not be able to get where they want to get because of doubt and lack of self-confidence.
And I really believe you can manifest whatever you put your mind to. Once you know that power that you have of manifestation, man, life just gets so much better and easier. Just by claiming it and owning and just taking ownership.
What have you learned about finances as a CEO?
Financing has definitely been something that has slowed me down in my business in the beginning as far as not having adequate finances to produce games and market. What has helped me over the time, over the years is Kickstarter programs and things like that. There are so many ways that you can campaign to get friends and family to support your endeavor. And there are so many loans and grants, forget loans, starting off, I definitely do not recommend loans, but there are so many grants available, especially for women, African American women, even if it’s involving tech and things like that. If I’m focused on raising enough money to get a job accomplished, I would make sure that I would apply to at least four to five grant opportunities a week.
And it’s the power of numbers. The more no’s you get, we get you closer to a yes. Take advantage of chat GPT. I’ve earned a lot of grants just by the help of chat GPT. I would write down what I want to say and I say, “OK, we’ll make this sound better, make it sound more professional.” And it’s been helping. And there are so many programs where they offer educational assistance with financing, helping you with your bookkeeping and things like that. A lot of these programs or cohorts, as they may call it, are free. So, you’d be surprised to find out what kind of cohort you can get approved for to learn to gain more business knowledge, gain more financial access, learn how to connect with bankers and such. It’s very important to get as much mentorship as you can.
Never stop reading books. I always watch YouTube as well for the cheat codes and things like that. The wealth of information is around you. You have to just know that how to take advantage of it.
What makes crowdfunding fun? What are the three components that you think make a great campaign on a Kickstarter or any kind of crowdfunding platform?
What makes crowdfunding fun is you have this opportunity to showcase your product to the world. So just knowing that you have to make sure that you are strategic on your plans on how you’re going to create that experience and make them want to buy. With crowdfunding is all about what can they get? What gifts can you offer? It’s always cool to offer gifts. If you spend $25, you’ll get a free t-shirt or whatever makes sense within your budget. Another thing that makes crowdfunding fun is you have to make sure that you talk about your milestones.
When you have the games in production or if you had a game night and you wanted to change something, whatever is going on with throughout the crowdfunding campaign, all your wins, you make sure that you let everyone know what’s going on with it to make it seem like it’s so much important. And like they’re going to be missing out. Fear of missing out is huge.
Take advantage of blogs. If you have a crowdfunding campaign, there’s so many bloggers out there, no matter if they have a thousand followers or a hundred million followers. Like I said, it’s the power of numbers. So, make sure that you take advantage of bloggers and any type of resource you can to get more publicity.
