Tom Sturdevant, inventor of the game Q-Less, chatted about his latest endeavors and his original invention.
He is also a foreign service officer, Peace Corps Trainer, and filmmaker.
How did the original idea come about?
The idea of a word game played with dice came to me during a road trip from Nashville to Ann Arbor, Michigan in the early 2000’s. When I got back home, I started experimenting.
I used Letraset press-on letters with blank dice to create prototypes. Of course, I was familiar with Scrabble and Boggle, etc., but they were quite different. I also envisioned this new game as a solitaire game which made it unique.
How did you know you had a game people would like?
I didn’t actually know that for many years. I really had no intention of commercializing this game until about 2016.
I had retired from the game business in 2003 and was quite happy doing other creative work. But I had continued to fine tune the game just for fun. And I had gotten good feedback from friends and family who had played the game.
There was one pivotal event that really got my attention. I took a game to a social gathering at a restaurant. There were about 10 people there.
After the meal, I rolled the 12 dice on the table and told everyone the simple rules. Then I watched in amazement as everyone became completely captivated by the game.
That’s when I started thinking about returning to the game business.
I should add one thing. Creative people learn to trust their gut and my gut really loved the way Q-Less played. It was relaxing, it was engaging, and it made my brain very happy.
In this culture of technology, what makes Q-Less a good alternative activity?
I didn’t think too much about that at first. I am an old guy and have always favored non-digital games. But I did realize that people, even young people, are drawn to hands-on activities.
In fact, I now realize there are many people who are tired of digital games and want something they can feel and touch.
Having said that, we have also created a digital Q-Less App for both Apple and Android devices. I love the App and play it a lot especially when it’s more convenient than the physical game.
How might Q-Less benefit older adults?
I get a lot of wonderful feedback from older Q-Less fans. The main thing is this: it engages their minds in a very deep way.
It requires them to really use their minds. It’s not at all a passive activity. and while I don’t understand the science of it completely, I have come to appreciate the quality of the mental activity required to play Q-Less. It’s a problem-solving activity.
There is a lot of strategy involved, and pattern recognition. Also, it requires perseverance and flexibility to be successful. These are all good things for older people who want to maintain their cognitive abilities.
What did you do in the game industry prior to the invention of Q-Less?
I invented my first game in 1995. Again, it was on a road trip. It was called LETRAS; a card game, kind of a cross between rummy and Scrabble. I knew absolutely nothing about the game business.
I was 52 years old and realized it was time to figure out how to create a business that sold what I created. It was quite a journey. It took about a year to get LETRAS on the market.
I worked with graphic designers and manufacturers of cards and boxes. I really enjoyed putting all the pieces together. LETRAS made its debut in 7 Nashville stores just in time for Christmas 1996.
Both local newspapers wrote articles about it. I sold 2500 games in three weeks!! Its success got the attention of some game business pros. Within a few months, I had sales reps in virtually every part of the country.
Then LETRAS won a PARENTS CHOICE GOLD AWARD, as well as a Top Ten Award from Doctor Toy. The next year, I invented EQUALS, another card game which involved numbers rather than letters. I had also developed a board game called BIJOU. BIJOU was played with movies….any movie.
I realized Blockbuster Video would be the ideal place to sell the game. It took several months but I finally got a meeting with Blockbuster in Dallas in June of 2000.
They loved the game and we made a license deal. They changed the name to The Blockbuster Movie Game and sold it in all their stores.
You have been a foreign service officer, Peace Corps Trainer, and filmmaker. What’s the motivation that drives a lifelong learner?
This is a good question. I have never been interested in having a career. I’m more interested in having adventures and experiences. I guess part of that is just curiosity about the world, and part of it is curiosity about oneself.
I still think of myself as a work-in-progress. And I’m still curious about what new adventures might lie ahead. I am also aware that our personal evolution is the greatest adventure of all.
Why not just slow down and retire?
I think it’s safe to say most creative people don’t think about retirement. Retirement is for people who have jobs.
Creative people live more from the inside out and they continue to live like that until they can’t.
Why no “Q” in your game Q-Less?
Very simple really. The fact that a U is a required companion for Q was a nuisance, especially when you only have 12 dice. I thought of putting a QU on one die, but that seemed cumbersome.
So, I asked myself: what if there is no Q? I couldn’t see a downside and it was a very simple and elegant solution.
And no one has ever complained about the missing Q. Also, of course, it provided the game with a rather whimsical and memorable name.
What is most satisfying about the inventing process?
Making something from nothing is very joyful. It also requires a lot of focus, tenacity and attention to detail. But when you’re done, you have something that expresses who you are, often in ways not fully comprehensible.
Creative work is the best way to discover oneself. The creative process is quite incredible and can involve a complex of elements from our mind, heart and soul. Sometimes, it can be quite mysterious, meaning that you often don’t know where an idea came from.
By the way, I think Q-Less taps into the creativity of all who play it. After all, the game is really about one thing: creating order from disorder. The human brain derives great pleasure from doing that.
What did you learn from past experiences that made Q-Less a success?
There are two aspects to that question. The first relates to the game itself. Q-Less is a very simple game…the rules very are easy to understand…always a good thing. But playing the game can be very challenging…also a good thing.
Q-Less has a way of making people feel good about their brain. It empowers them.
There is also the packaging. The tin fits nicely in your pocket…you can take it anywhere. The graphics are simple but aesthetically pleasing. I always work with top notch designers. The other aspect relates to marketing. Instead of selling wholesale to stores, as I did earlier, I decided to sell Q-Less retail online. So, I created Q-Less.
I really had no idea if that would work, or how it would work, but it seemed like a good idea. Then a friend suggested I post videos on Tiktok. This was 2021 and I knew nothing about Tiktok.
I started posting daily videos of me solving a Q-Less roll. Frankly, I couldn’t imagine my videos would attract very many people. Boy, was I wrong about that. One day about a month after I started, I got some 80,000 views. I couldn’t believe it. Then the orders started coming in.
Thanks to TikTtok, I had found my people. That continues until the present. For example, in the month of July 2024, we sold 10,000 games thanks to our Tiktok videos and ads plus those of other folks on Tiktok who post Q-Less videos.
Why is your Q-Less superior to the knock-off products?
There is really no comparison. The game will last virtually forever. My dice are made of high-quality type of urea resin (a solid crystal obtained from ammonia) and the letters are debossed.
The knock-off I have seen are made of wood and the letters are often printed poorly. The knock-off dice are larger and so are the tins which means the game is less portable than the authentic game. knockoffs have one paper label adhered to the lid.
The authentic game artwork is printed on the tins. In addition to all this, the knockoffs often arrive dented because they are shipped in flimsy envelopes. Many of the knockoffs do not have the correct distribution of letters.
Some don’t even have 12 dice. Many have multiple Q’s and come with no rules, which renders the game unplayable.
