Patti Payne: The incredible success of Pictionary creator, WA native Rob Angel

Rob Angel, a Spokane native, was searching for new meaning and purpose in his long, accomplished life, so he decided to build a well in Rwanda in the heart of central Africa.

And he has started a non-profit with a mission to build more of these much-needed wells in this country, where only 57% have access to drinkable water within a half hour of their homes.

Angel, now 66 years old, is probably not a name you know, but he is the creator of Pictionary — one of the top bestselling games on Earth. And his story is fascinating.

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Rob Angel’s amazing journey

Angel has claimed more than 50 million Pictionary games have sold, so it’s not a stretch to say more than a billion people have played Pictionary at one point.

His journey to success did not start with a big dream. Angel graduated from Western Washington University in Bellingham in 1982 with a degree in business. He tried to launch a pizza franchise while waiting tables at a restaurant in South Lake Union in order to pay the bills and figure out his next move.

He told me that game nights with his roommates were a high point of every night. They would play a simple game they dubbed “charades on paper,” staying up until all hours of the night.

He moved to Seattle from Spokane in 1984, hoping the big city would inspire a career. But for three years, he couldn’t get that game they played out of his head. Then he came across something he’d scribbled down years before: “If you don’t do it, somebody else will.”

He was on his way to the big time without knowing it. And almost immediately, the people he needed to handle what he couldn’t do on his own presented themselves to him. A fellow waiter alongside him was a graphic artist and the first to join Angel, followed by an entrepreneurial CPA who came on to run the business and operations.

With Angel handling marketing and sales, a perfect combination of three people who all had the same mission was developing. They believed in the game as a team.

Everything was on a shoestring budget. There was no “how to” manual or internet, so they made it up, step-by-step, trusting their instincts.

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An uncle of his loaned him $35,000. With those funds, they assembled the first thousand games by hand in his tiny Seattle apartment. After a year of development, they launched Pictionary in June 1985 at the Lake Union Cafe, where he was still waiting tables. He sold it door-to-door everywhere until Nordstrom ordered 72 games. That significantly got the ball rolling.

Long story short, by June 2001 — 17 years after it launched — Angel sold Pictionary to Mattel for $29 million. And he did it all with only two employees. He called it his 17-year startup.

Pictionary was everywhere, including in sitcoms like “Friends” and “Facts of Life” to movies like “When Harry Met Sally.” It was even pictured on a champagne bottle in France.

His book, “Game Changer,” launched in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a mesmerizing read, from his journey to the lessons learned. Rob Angel’s dream began with the simple intention of creating a game so riveting and fun that anyone who played it would love it as much as he did. Me thinks he accomplished that goal.

I’m Patti Payne and that’s my perspective.