When you are learning art, teachers explain that copying famous artists to learn their “hands” is a form of flattery.  “We stand on the shoulders of giants as we make new leaps.”  Writers learn from past authors to how to craft stories and how to emulate style and texture.  Let us be clear, there is vast difference between copying and emulating.  To copy, an individual lacks imagination and the need to innovate.  Those who emulate attempt to imitate and surpass the original. 

Why do I bring this up?  My Ganja Game Nights have been poorly copied and done with no love of games.  Con artists always find new ways to cheat folks out of their money by giving them inferior events with old boring games!  Yes, my Ganja Game Night idea is being copied, and amazingly, I’m not invited!  Why? I have a need to keep innovating and I have a strong desire to give my customers the best in infused gaming. 

I started with my original game, Roll-a-Bong, and searched for a location to have an underground game night where players were encouraged to enjoy cannabis while gaming.  It took three years to find a location, and the game night idea worked great!  With me at the helm, a life long gamer, the game nights featured several ganja games and had a variety of vendors to take care of all the gamers’ needs.  These nights worked because I was there setting things up and innovating at every event.  I was always adding new games and eliminating those that didn’t work. 

I contacted other game makers and even created a second smoking game, Bindu, based on the ancient Italian coffee house game, Punto, and the gambling game, Casino.   The game was a hit, but those who owned the space decided to cut me out of the events and started having them without me -but that lasted only one event!  Now a year later, others are at it again,  I’m seeing a new bunch of game nights.  They advertise old boring games and treat games like they are nothing, the games are just something you can throw at people as they smoke - WRONG!

My next game night plan is this:  First, an infused D&D game, a run through a dungeon gauntlet for real prizes and treasure.  I create the terrains and write the whole experience.  An individual will experience ¾ of an hour of monster crushing and treasure finding, a real ganja gaming experience.  Then play one of the dozen available games. Games no other game night has.  Dab Out, Dealer’s Cup, THC, Bindu, Stoner’s Jenga and many more.  Try your hand at Stoner’s Fluxx or a competitive game of Lords’ of Cannabis.

The best part of all these imitators is that they can only do what I’ve done, not innovate and create.  Adding RPGs to my game nights ensures that only experienced gamers can copy my Ganja Game Nights.  In a way, I’m flattered by the copying.  Let’s face it, it’s been a 6 year slog to get national recognition for the ganja game category, and few of the game makers work collectively to promote the market segment.  It’s taken writing to every cannabis and gaming themed magazine and blog to pitch columns of cannabis smoking games, to get the hand full of publications to help promote ganja games.

The wonderful David Tran has been helpful promoting my games, along with his group at Dope Magazine.  Hempology and Rooster have also been extremely helpful in promoting ganja games and I appreciate all their efforts.  I have been interviewed dozens of times about my game and now feel like my efforts are finally paying off.  The difficult part is stopping imitators and finding like-minded entrepreneurs to help promote this expanding area in the cannabis market. 

Hopefully, I will look back to the Summer of 2019 as the turning point for my business and see that only when you are copied do you know if you are truly an innovator and a visionary.  I invite all copycats to keep up because there is more to copy each day. Welcome to the race!