Peepsock Press Announces Creation of NuFun Games with Launch of Tangram Fury

Nov. 11, 2011 - PRLog -- November 1, 2011

Peepsock Press Announces Creation of NuFun Games and Release of Tangram Fury

   CEDAR HILLS – November 1, 2011 – Today online, and this evening at Fongo Bongo Games of Riverton, Utah, Peepsock Press, LLC announced the creation of a new product division named “NuFun Games.”  Peepsock Press has had a web presence since 2003 and has been focused on providing assisted-publication services to new authors.  It is also currently the publisher of such novels as, “The Title of Liberty” and, “The Shopping Cart Man.”

   With the creation of the NuFun Games product division, Peepsock Press is branching into the tabletop games arena.  While the electronic and online gaming industry continues to grow, there is still a substantial market for gamers who prefer tabletop games in which they can sit and interact directly with family and friends in the more traditional manner.  The objective of the NuFun Games product division is to produce and provide games that are appropriate for this market segment.  Their first product release is Tangram Fury.

   Tangram Fury is a new take on an old phenomenon.  It is a tabletop puzzle game in which players compete against each other to use their puzzle pieces to replicate tangram images depicted on cards.  Tangram puzzles have been around for centuries.  They first became popular in the Americas in the early 1800s a when merchant sailor brought word of them back with him from China, where they were believed to be of “ancient” design.  Over the years, tangram puzzles have gone through various phases of popularity in Europe, America, and the Asia Pacific region.

   Tangrams are currently used in many schools for helping students engage their minds in thinking abstractly, as a preparation for studying mathematics, geometry, and other sciences.  While the original tangram is a puzzle of 7 geometric pieces that form a square, these pieces can be rearranged in myriad ways to form other shapes including people, animals, birds, buildings, and objects.  

“In the 1800s, tangrams caught on like wildfire.  Some people became so absorbed in them that they were nearly obsessed with them.  It was like an addiction.  They just couldn’t get enough,” Doug Nufer, founder of Peepsock Press, and inventor of Tangram Fury, said.  

“We’re taking the appeal of building the puzzles and taking it up to the next level by introducing the aspect of competition.  It’s one thing to sit down and try to figure out how to build a simple puzzle.  It’s quite another thing to sit there with the pressure of trying to complete it before you neighbor does.  There’s something electric about that feeling of urgency you get as you flip those pieces around trying to finish first,” Nufer added.

There are two target markets for Tangram Fury.  The first is schools.  “Teachers are having kids cut out the seven pieces of a tangram and make a square,” Nufer explained.  “This is supposed to stimulate their minds.  As my daughter bluntly put it, ‘It’s boring.’  That same daughter loves playing Tangram Fury.  If a game can take the concept of manipulating tangrams and put it into an appealing format, just imagine how much more students and teachers will benefit from it.”

In support of the education market, materials related to teaching with tangrams are being made available on the NuFun website for the game at www.tangramfury.com/education.php.

The second market is college campuses.  Nufer explained, “College students love fads.  They especially love competitive fads.  In my day, it was the Rubik’s Cube and Trivial Pursuit.  More recently it was cup stacking.  Test marketing has shown that college students love the competitive and creative edge that Tangram Fury offers.  This game has all the makings of the next big college fad.”

“There is an unexplored potential for good with this game as well,” Nufer added.  “Hospitals and retirement centers could do well with games such as this.  I’ve read of the therapeutic value of working with puzzles.  Some say that working with puzzles can possibly help stave off the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease.  If a game like Tangram Fury can aid in that, even in a small way, then I’d be very pleased to have contributed to their well being.”

Tangram Fury is designed with two levels of play.  The “Fan” level includes indications of how to build each puzzle.  The “Expert” level has no indicators.  Players only see a silhouette of the image and must explore how to build the puzzle.  “Test marketing has shown that some participants say that they either don’t like puzzles, or aren’t ‘good’ at puzzles,” Nufer pointed out.  “Yet, after only a few minutes of play, these same people have commented on how fun the game is and even ask to play the Expert level of the game.”

Tangram Fury is a new release from a cottage industry company and will initially mainly be available via online orders at www.TangramFury.com.  “As with many other fads,” Nufer said, “We’re hoping that word-of-mouth will help get the word out on this.”  KSL news did an excellent segment on the making of an launching of this game.  It is available here: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=18020385

   Peepsock Press, LLC. was founded in 2003 as an assisted-publication service provider.  Peepsock Press' goal is to assist new authors with getting their works into publication.  Peepsock Press believes that many new authors are denied the opportunity to share their great works with the world merely because they have not yet been able to make a name for themselves.  By assisting authors in finding printing houses and distributors, Peepsock Press is pleased to aid in fulfilling the goals and dreams of those authors.  With the creation of NuFun Games, Peepsock Press seeks to provide family-friendly and competitive games to a broad market.

For More Information:
info@PeepsockPress.com   www.PeepsockPress.com   www.TangramFury.com

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Peepsock Press, LLC. was founded in 2003 as an assisted-publication service provider. Peepsock Press' goal is to assist new authors with getting their works into publication. Peepsock Press believes that many new authors are denied the opportunity to share their great works with the world merely because they have not yet been able to make a name for themselves. By assisting authors in finding printing houses and distributors, Peepsock Press is pleased to aid in fulfilling the goals and dreams of those authors. With the creation of NuFun Games, Peepsock Press seeks to provide family-friendly and competitive games to a broad market.