ICI 60 jaar: Innoverend Samenspel 1988

Over dit spel schreef de auteur Fred Horn zelf de volgende korte anekdote in het Engels voor de AGPC Quarterly:

A funny story about game inventing and selling          Fred Horn - August 21, 2013
Introduction
Somewhere in 1987 a friend of mine, who owned an Advertising-Agency, told me that one of his 'accounts' wanted a Game and asked me: "Are you interested?", knowing my involvement with games.
Of course I was and so we soon had an appointment at the 'account's office which turned out to be a part of the firm ICI Holland B.V.
For their 60th anniversary they wanted something special next and in relation to their playful portfolio-presentation 'TASTBARE COMMUNICATIE' (tangible communication).
Their own PR-department was also present at the meeting and asked which options my friend's Agency could offer. He introduced me and I started to explain the wide range of possibilities that exist when you want a Game, but I was constantly interrupted by these 2 PR -man and women- freaks who knew everything better and also tried to teach me complete rubbish about how to invent games.
Was it not for my friend, I would have picked up my belongings and waved 'goodbye' to them to never return again.
But for now, almost bursting with rage, I let it go and continued to explain what I had in mind for their game. In the end I made some 'sketches' which we left there.
My friend asked me to start thinking about some of my suggestions and one of these was a hexagonal Tangram (see picture 6) but actually I was really thinking that I had messed up my friends 'account'. To my great surprise he phoned me a week later, told me that I had done great and that they wanted an elaboration of 5 of the games that I had presented.

Realization
His Agency now took over and they made a nice presentation of all 5 options (see picture 7). In the meantime I had visited the ICI plant to know more about their products. I was sent home with complete documentation and a bag full of samples of these products. This turned out to be important because they had let me know via my friends Agency that the game also should use as many of their products as possible!
That was a complete new constraint and not so easy to realize, so we had to meet these 2 PR-freaks again.
One thing was easy: they had decided “to go for the Tangram”!
After an hour with these 2 I was again ………… and ready to go! They had given us only useless suggestions as to what to do with the new constraint of using ICI-products and now my friend also got angry, so he had them shut their mouth and asked me what solution I had in mind.
The bulk of their products consisted of ‘plastics’ in plates or leaves and all kind of products out of transparent PVC, so I suggested a box out of a transparent (round) pipe, the tangram itself out of transparent ‘bricks’ and as a ‘fill-in’ around the tangram in the box a stack of all kind of their products out of leaves.
We all agreed and I promised my friend to design a complete instruction on how this could be made, so he could offer this to ICI with the financial consequenses.

Presentation
Within a month both me and my friend were summoned immedediately to have a meeting with the highest boss of ICI Holland B.V. The ‘top’ was mad like dogs about what had happened with that game and they blamed it all on us.
With the invested money only 100 games had been produced for an internal price far higher than 100 guilder. And all that for some funny extra to their 60th anniversary!
Not impressed by all this and wearing my best suit the first thing I did ask of course was: “Can I see the manufactured Game?”.
That took some time, but a sample was unearthed and put on the table. The package was opened and out came a complete surprise! A nice hexagonal plastic box, but in execution far away from what I had designed and had worked out for the manufacturers.
That was the moment that I had to think of mr. Murphy! In his “LAW” he states: “When something starts to go wrong everything goes wrong” and here I was, meeting mister Murphy.
Not impressed by the ‘Boss’ and completely ‘flabbergasted’ about what was presented on the table I said: “But this is not what I did invent or had designed for manufacturing!”
The ‘Boss‘ was also not impressed and asked for the “Chief of the Workshop”. After the man had entered the room he stated that: “This is exactly what I was asked to produce”.
My friend opened his briefcase to show the Chief what I had drawn and what instructions I had given for the production.
In complete confusion the Chief showed my first ‘sketch’ and said to the ‘Boss’: “That’s all they gave me”, meanwhile looking at the 2 PR-freaks. Then he left the room.
I have to say that the Chief and his man had done a great job and looking at the resulting product it was easy to understand were the money had gone! All the ‘Boss’s anger now turned to these 2 poor PR-freaks but there was more trouble in the air.
On the highest level it had been decided that the 100 produced Games should become part of a sales-promotion-campaign and should not be used for the portfolio-presentation. Every sales-manager should get one to use it for giving away the game-pieces as examples of their products.
I was bright enough to pick up the tangram-box on the table, place it back in its package and say “thank you” to the ‘Boss’. I needed this one for my archive.
Afterwards my friend told me that he was 'not amused’ with what had happened, but the same could have been my commentary.

The TANGRAM
The one that I own is perhaps the only complete surviving example, and pictures 1-5 show it in all its greatness.
Years later, Nova Carta used the same design for one of their products that they sell on the business-to-business market as a Christmas-give-away, the Winter Glow Tangram.
I still have some of these Winter Glow games, so if you are interested put 5 Euro or 5 Dollar in an envelope, do not forget to mention your address and send it to: Fred Horn , Doornstraat 16, 2584 AM Den Haag, NL-Holland and you will get one.