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The Bandero story
FROM THE
GARAGE TO
THE GAME.
One broken foot. One old tabletop. A game built through trial, error, and a lot of rematches.
The beginning
IT STARTED WITH
A BROKEN FOOT.
Bandero began in my garage with the top of an old backyard table. The idea was miniature pool—played with wooden pucks instead of billiard balls.
It wasn't working. And every test shot meant hobbling around the table to try again.
The turning point
THEN I FOUND
A LAZY SUSAN.
I put it under the board. Suddenly, the game moved toward the player.
AND THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING.A new direction
IT STOPPED BEING
MINIATURE POOL.
I wanted something new with the spirit of the classics: simple to start, difficult to master, and made for gathering around.
A physical game that could come out for any occasion—and go away when the night was over.
The best playtesters
THEN MY STUDENTS
GOT HOLD OF IT.
My seventh graders came in at lunch to play. Then they came back the next day. They found problems, discovered shots, and shaped the rules through play.
“Somewhere along the way, the thing in my garage became a game people demanded a rematch from.”
Prototype after prototype
THE GAME
KEPT EVOLVING.
The board changed. The pockets changed. The obstacles, pieces, and rules changed. The goal stayed the same: make it easy to begin—and hard to stop.
Bandero today
BANDERO
CAPTURE. CARRY. SCORE.