On March 14, Seattle-based Kheper Games marks its 25th year as a leader in the adult games and novelty segment. On top of that, Kheper Games is also celebrating its 25 millionth game sold. Reflecting back on the company’s quarter-century in business, Kheper Games CEO Brian Pellham — who in January was named Chief Executive of the Year at the 2020 XBIZ Exec Awards — says the company’s success all boils down to staying on top of trends.
“To stay relevant and to keep releasing successful new items we always have to be tuned in to what is popular and trending with our customers,” he said, noting that the company had turned to trends as the inspiration for its newest adult humor party game that incorporates naughty emojis.
To stay relevant and to keep releasing successful new items we always have to be tuned in to what is popular and trending with our customers.
“We combined both ideas into the January launch of our What the (Eggplant-to-Taco)? Game,” Pellham said. “The concept is you try to be the first to create an adult text message out of three emojis commonly used for their adult meanings. For example, the eyes card looking sideways with a tongue and a hole, could mean ‘I’m looking to lick your pussy.’”
Pellham notes how popular emojis have become on hookup and dating sites.
“Researching for this project became a very interesting part of my job,” he said. “As a happily married man for over 15 years, I almost felt guilty posting fake profiles on both gay and straight sites. Fortunately (or perhaps I should be offended) I did not get hit on at all on these sites. It was definitely a learning experience though to see how most profiles include several emojis explaining what the person is looking for. Some of course use basic body parts that are simple to understand with eggplants, tacos, peaches, etc. but many were much more complex. So much so that we were able to include 92 adult emojis in our game. We, of course, included a glossary of what the adult meanings are of the terms, even though the fun of the game is in trying to figure it out quicker than the other players.”
Other trends that are currently driving Kheper Games’ latest creations include the rise in marijuana-themed items, particularly games. With more states legalizing marijuana, Pellham says marijuana-themed novelty items are seeing a resurgence in popularity from as far back as 15 years ago. The trend started fading 10 years ago, and now has turned back around, according to Pellham.
Kheper isn’t just keeping an eye out on trends related to products for adults — the company was the first to create squishy toys for older consumers.
“[Squishy toys] became huge with kids, and then adults started enjoying them as well because they are soothing,” Pellham said. “One article I recall reading that was very fascinating on the subject was a psychologist explaining why adults also need squishy toys. The soft PU material resembles human touch. It seemed interesting but I didn’t fully believe it, until I caught myself squeezing our Squishy Balls at my desk during times I was getting stressed at work.
“This is a moment I have to pause, and just mention how much I love my job,” he continues. “Sitting here writing about eggplants, tacos and balls is so much more fun than what I did writing technical manuals before starting Kheper.”
Pellham started Kheper Games in 1994 after graduating from college, and while working full-time as a technical writer for Microsoft, AT&T Wireless, and Boeing — all the while writing games and publishing three game books. In 1999, Pellham got his big break when Spencer Gifts tested two of Kheper’s games books and rolled out “A Partier’s Guide to 51 Drinking Games.”
“It became a big hit and would grow in sales in the ‘90s and ‘00s to sell over half a million copies,” Pellham said. “That was back in the day when people were still willing to read books. In 2012, we retired this item as our last remaining book and turned it into the boxed game set The 51 Most Popular Drinking Games.
“We changed from Kheper Publishing to become a corporation in 2000 as Kheper Games, Inc. We converted many of the games in our books to boxed game sets. That’s when my brother, Tony Pellham, joined us as an investor and as Operations V.P. Both of us pride ourselves on being able to do every job in the business, except the one thing that I will never do is drive our forklift. It would go right into a wall I suspect if I tried.”
The turn of the millennium presented a new challenge for Kheper Games. “We typically age a bit younger with our party and barware lines especially,” he said. “And of course, they like the generation before them, lost interest in reading.”
To cater to today’s millennial shoppers, Pellham says the key to success is to keep things simple.
“[Game] rules are as brief as humanly possible,” he said. “Keeping them brief also makes it much easier to include multiple languages in many of our games. Fifty-six of our games now have more than one language included. We realized in the early 2000s how important it was to use simple titles for game names. We launched three card games that have now collectively sold over 4 million units — Beer! Weed! And Sex! Our favorite vices.”
While keeping playing instructions simple, Kheper Games also takes pride in the content that it produces — on top of offering thousands of games, each one is imbued with extensive ideas for getting creative in the bedroom.
“People often ask me how I can come up with so many ideas, but after creating 30-50 games per book in the 90s and releasing four games books, it now just mixes and matches together,” Pellham said. “Often driven by trends [in general] and also we create items that hit all types of customers. Larger romance games for wedding gifts, smaller impulse buys, how-to kits, and plenty of ways to laugh with your friends with our party games. It is truly a fun industry to be in. Let’s play!”
