Aloha and welcome to the You Got Schooled Card Game! We think it’s only fair as we’re hyping up history to share a little about ourselves and the game’s history. Though don’t expect to see us in your deck building adventure!
We are Robert and Ayla, toy store owners and parents on a lovely little island in the middle of the pacific. In 2017 we embarked on a journey to start a science toy company, we were doing science experiments with our kids on the weekends and their friends were begging to join. We started small, selling single packs of science at the local swap meet and have grown into our own brick and mortar storefront which opened in 2020. We spend a lot of time making and packaging our science (and other home made toys and things) which leaves us plenty of time for conversation. The love we have for science, history, invention, and innovation became so much a topic of conversion between us that we wanted to share this love with everyone.
The card game first started as “scienTEST” a game about scientists battling using their inventions and discoveries. We had cards for everything from the discovery of the uses of fire to the computer! We wanted to represent the science of invention and the scientists themselves very well. We created the bones of the game and played it with our kids and friends. Through feedback and trial we were being asked if it was possible to include other historical figures.
“Science is cool, yeah, but what about gangsters?” “ooh! or queens!” “samurai!” “civil rights?” the ideas came pouring in. Making it very clear that we could reach so many more people if we represented all the achievements of humans. We had to make changes to the game in order to keep the deck structure the same, which is why each deck needs to have a common element in order to be official. This can be relatively broad in some cases “women in biology” or can be quite narrow “Historical Figures alive on July 20th 1969” or even “the Manhattan Project”.
After many months of exciting research, learning there is even more to love in history, and many MORE months of playing, tweaking, and refining. We had hundreds of cards with complete concepts and the formula for a game that is fun, interesting, strategic, and yes also informative. All of human history has led to this game and human history will continue to feed it. Some day you may even have a card of your own! For now, enjoy watching your favorite Historical Figures battle each other for glory!