By Greg Myers
With Christmas fewer than 10 days away, a new board game developed by a Monroe County man is making some noise this holiday season.
What happens when the age-old game of chess combines with football? It’s called Quarterback King, which was developed recently by Cort Hubbard of Columbia.
Quarterback King is a board game that combines the sport of football with the strategic moves of chess to create a challenging game. Like football, the game features offense versus defense and eleven pieces per side. Like chess, pieces are captured and removed from the playing board. Each position is assigned a chess-like directional move.  
A player wins the game by outscoring the opponent with touchdowns, field goals or safeties, while playing four 15-minute quarters. Scoring occurs by the offense when the quarterback advances for a touchdown or field goal. The defense can score points by capturing the quarterback in its own endzone.
The playing pieces are set up in traditional football formations, split running back-fullback formation for the offense and a 4-3 formation for the defense, as explained in the rules. The players take turns moving their individual pieces on the game board. Coaches continue to alternate moves throughout the game, whether they are managing the offense or defense.
“The idea for the game came in December 2002,” said Hubbard. “I was at home on a Saturday evening, looking for something to do and got my chess set out. I thought to myself, what would it look like to play chess with football formations? I started setting up the white pieces as the offense and the black as the defense.
Almost immediately I wondered what the game would look like played on a checkered board that resembled a football field. A couple of days later, I created a cardboard checkered football field, twenty squares long and ten squares wide. About a week later, I asked a friend to create a more professional look with computer graphics. It did not take long to write the first copy of the game rules. But then, the first roadblock developed, designing the pieces.”
Hubbard wanted three-dimensional pieces, a little like chess and like football players to give the game some authenticity.
“I wanted sturdy pieces, so I researched plastic molds—very expensive,” added Hubbard. “My brother-in-law made some pieces out of wood to use for a prototype. While serviceable for the prototype, the idea was not practical for a larger production run. So after about a year, I put the idea away, figuring the game may never happen.”
In 2008, Hubbard got back to work trying to get his dream going, and hopefully, in stores.
“My wife Becca encouraged me to move forward and see if we could make the game a reality,” said Hubbard. “A friend of ours and his business partner gave us some good advice: plan to spend twice as much as you think it will cost. They also put us in contact with a graphic design company, Gobberdiel Strategic Communications, located in St. Louis.
“We met with Gobberdiel, and they helped us with game design, rules layout, and a prototype. I did game testing with my nephews Luke and Daniel Bicklein, ironing out kinks in the rules and making sure the game had equity on both offense and defense. The next phase was convincing some friends and family members to invest some capital to get the game pieces designed and the game itself manufactured.”
The game has a 2010 copyright and has been on the market since August.
“The experience of getting Quarterback King on the market  has been a long and tedious process, with more details than we expected,” added Hubbard. “My wife Becca has been an exceptional teammate, providing encouragement when there would be roadblocks. At the same time, meeting the people who have helped us get the product published has been an invaluable experience. There have been highs, like seeing the prototype completed, the pieces designed, or the first manufactured game, to name a few. There have also been struggles, namely, manufacturing issues and marketing concerns.”
According to Hubbard, the early reaction to the game has been positive.
“The initial response of people who have seen or played the game seems to usually be one of two words: interesting or cool,” said Hubbard.
Hubbard is currently planning a Quarterback King tournament for Friday and Saturday, January 28 and 29 in St. Louis, the weekend before the Super Bowl. There will be four different levels or divisions based on age. There will be trophies awarded to the winners.
The game can be purchased online at QuarterbackKing.com and costs $29.95, plus shipping.
“I like the way the game plays,” concluded Hubbard. “I believe the game blends football and chess in a unique manner. It is exciting when the quarterback begins to break through the defense, heading for a touchdown. It is also exciting to have the quarterback under pressure by the defense with no place to escape. Adding to the challenge, the defensive coach does not have to announce ‘check’ when there is an impending capture of the quarterback, so imagine the surprise when the offensive head coach sees the quarterback get sacked.”
While this is Hubbard’s first game to hit the market, creating games is nothing new for him.
“Looking back on my childhood, I was always creating and playing games with my brothers, whether it was with baseball or football cards,” said Hubbard. “We would take football cards, spread them out on the floor, create teams and line them up against each other, using a bottle cap as the football. On hike, we would push all the cards together. Designing Quarterback King is the result of God’s gift of an imaginative mind for creating games and a passion I have always had for sports.”