December 12, 2007
By JANET COOK
News staff writer

Like many great product ideas, Brian Albiston’s was born at a dinner party.

Unlike many great product ideas that die when the napkin they were sketched on is thrown out, Albiston’s is now available at local toy stores and online.

Duty Bucks is a game for kids ages 3-12 that teaches them about work and money — specifically, how doing one earns them the other.

The idea became reality after Albiston and Scott Webster began talking at a dinner party one night. They recounted tales of similar experiences in grade school — of teachers who used a game with pretend money to teach students about the value of work.

“For me, it was my first bout with capitalism,” Webster recalled of his fifth-grade teacher’s game at Pine Grove Elementary. (The teacher, Ron Harder, is now a school counselor at Wy’east Middle School.) Students earned “blips” for good behavior and other duties, and could then buy items from a classroom store.

Webster, now the father of four and co-founder of The Fruit Company in Pine Grove, searched in vain for a similar game to use at home, as a teaching tool for his kids.

Finally, he made up his own crude chore chart and fake money.

“We tried it and the kids loved it,” Webster said. Albiston, whose daughter is almost 3, had been looking for a similar game, with no luck.

“After that dinner party, Scott and I started getting together after work at night,” said Albiston, an engineer at Hood Tech. They bought about 10 games of all different sorts and scrutinized what they liked and disliked about each.

The one they liked best was Monopoly Jr., so they tracked down the man who created that game’s look, well-known graphic artist Martin Bowman.

Albiston and Webster sent him their concept for Duty Bucks. Bowman was so impressed, he offered to work on the project for a fraction of his normal rate. He came up with the game’s essential look, and local graphic designer Micki Chapman put it all together.

Duty Bucks contains a magnetic board that can be hung on a refrigerator or other accessible place, along with dozens of magnets depicting various chores and rewards. An erasable pen can be used for chores and rewards not depicted on a magnet.

A booklet included in the game contains suggestions for more than 100 household chores, as well as suggested rewards. Pretend money — “duty bucks” — and a bank book for recording savings and withdrawals round out the game’s contents.

The game’s creators suggest that each duty buck be valued at one-tenth of a dollar, or 10 cents. So, for example, a child could earn two duty bucks for sweeping the porch.

Suggested rewards range from a new bicycle (suggested amount: 700 duty bucks) to watching TV (20 duty bucks).

Chores and rewards are meant to be tailored to individual families and values.

“It’s a system of learning the value of hard work and money,” Webster said. Many parents make up their own chore charts, he said. “Or they talk about doing it but never get around to it.”

Webster and Albiston said they’ve gotten a lot of great feedback about Duty Bucks. G. Williker’s Toy Shoppe and Our Children’s Place in Hood River both carry it. Other regional retailers have expressed interest in the game.

Albiston has already spoken to some major toy and game distributors and agents, and plans to attend industry trade shows next spring to plug the game.

But for now, the two entrepreneurs are just having fun with it.

“The overall theme is, we created this for our families and we wanted to share it,” Webster said. Now that’s priceless.

For more information, go to www.DutyBucks.com.