Mow Em Down & Mow Money

A Board Game?  How did you come up with that idea?
Mow 'Em Down was designed by Matt Saunders, a grandson of Max and Margaret Walker.  The spark of the idea for the game came when Matt worked at Walker Manufacturing during one of his summer breaks while he was in college.  "It all started out as a joke.  Some of the guys and I were joking about different things that could appear in the Walker Ware catalog that my aunt had just created.  One of the things was a board game about the Walker Mower!"

Many years later, Matt was inspired by his wife's cousin, Marc, who, as an educator, used board games extensively in his classroom to teach various concepts.  During a family gathering over Thanksgiving 2004, Marc showed Matt and other relatives a game that Marc was designing, which reminded Matt of the joke he had with his summer buddies several years earlier.  After that Thanksgiving, Matt began to think about how he could design a Walker Mower board game, and by that Christmas, the basic concept was created.

Over the next three years, Matt found a few spare moments here and there to refine the rules and conduct many play test sessions with friends and family.  For Christmas 2007, Matt produced 20 prototypes to give to friends and family for one last round of refinement.  Many suggestions from the last round have been included in the game that was just released.  Knowing that the Walker Mower Family Reunion was coming up in August of 2008, Matt decided to produce a small print run of the game to sell as a commemorative item.

Mow 'Em Down made its public debut at the Walker Mower Family Reunion on August 1 & 2, 2008.

Is the game like MONOPOLY?
This is the number one question we get asked.  And the answer is, "Well...not really."  The only thing that makes Mow 'Em Down like Monopoly is that both games use play money.  After that, the similarities pretty much end.  Mow 'Em Down was inspired by several "European/German" board games that engage all players no matter who's turn it is and feature non-elimination victory conditions. 

In Mow 'Em Down players are constantly engaged, bidding on contracts even when it's not their turn.  And players stay in the game and can come from behind to win, even if they have a weak start.

So will Mow 'Em Down ever be sold in stores?
The Walker Ware store is now selling Mow 'Em Down!

As far as buying Mow 'Em Down at your local Wal*Mart or Target - probably not going to happen.  It's very hard to break into the gaming industry.  And even if a designer is fortunate to do so, most of these games are sold at hobby game stores, not large retailers.

Some copies of Mow 'Em Down have been submitted for reviews from respectable members of the gaming industry, and depending on their responses, we may submit the design to some game publishers, of course without the Walker Mower™ branding.  You can help this process along by submitting a rating or review of Mow 'Em Down on the BoardGameGeek website.  Visit www.boardgamegeek.com/game/36773 to give your feedback.