FIRST TURN
KANE KLENKO
The real-time specialist behind FUSE and Flip Ships rewinds to his 2014 debut, Mad City.
Interview by Dan Jolin
BACKGROUND
“I’ve worked in mortgages for many years, and I still do. I’ve always had a creative side, so when I got into board games I had the thought in the back of my mind that it would be fun to try to create one. Then one day I did, with a standard deck of cards. Ten-plus years later, I pitched that card game – Grids – to a publisher. They said they liked the basic idea, but it would be better if it wasn’t based on a standard deck, or even use numbers at all. At first I didn’t think that could be done, but a few months later I was in a boring meeting and it hit me. I started sketching out the idea that the ‘cards’ could have different buildings on them, and that ended up becoming Mad City.”