It’s been a long ride for ITZI. But then again, it all started with a long ride.
You see Kevin was no fan of extended car trips. So to pass the time he’d call out two letters to his fellow passengers (family and friends who were pretty much a captive audience) and they’d try to be the first to call out the name of a famous person, place or thing with those same two initials.
Kevin tried to turn his simple letter-game into an actual game, but he couldn’t quite get all the pieces to fall into place. So he tucked the idea away with all his other “yet to be made” game ideas.
Years later, Kevin’s sister, Sheila, was visiting and they dug out the game. Kevin and Sheila realized that playing with just one letter was faster and simpler than with two. And instead of just three categories — person, place, or thing — it was way more fun and crazy with tons of categories. The more, the better!
Meanwhile, in an office far, far away (actually only about 15 miles), Steve had been toying with a letter game of his own, but couldn’t quite bring it around.
Like with TENZI and SLAPZI before, good things happened when Kevin and Steve put their heads together. Pieces fell into place one after the other: gameplay, rules, name. And the final piece was the colorful card design you see now. (Thanks, Rudy!)
So that’s the long and short of it — the winding road that ITZI took to get here. We hope you enjoy!