THE BISCUIT: Bludsworth

A New Player Has Entered the Game …

Local filmmaker rolls the dice by creating a new game

Chuck Bludsworth may not be a household name in the board game biz yet. That’s about to change … and you can be part of making it happen.

After a career in making feature films (like Dances with Wolves and Cape Fear), independent film (like Aphasia and a documentary on the Double Door Inn), promotional videos and commercials, Chuck is stepping into the gaming arena with I Love/Hate Everything — a laugh-filled, feelings-fueled card game.

To help fund mass production of the game, he launched a Kickstarter campaign earlier this month that runs through Saturday, July 5. At the time of publication, the campaign is at 65% of its goal. Funding levels range from $32 to $500.

Ready Play One, Two, Three …

Moving to Charlotte from Miami in 1993, Chuck has built his career here supporting the creative community.

“Besides TV commercials, I make short films for a lot of the arts organizations in town. Mostly artist profiles for the McColl Center, but also some work for the Mint and the Bechtler,” said Chuck.

But it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that he fanned the flames of his longtime passion to build a brand-new game from the ground up.

“My wife and our close friends love board games, so I was swept up into the game world kind of reluctantly,” he said. “Once I was in, I was hooked.”

Powering Up Emotions

As for inspiration, Chuck knew from the start he wanted to tap into strong human emotions as the basis for the game.

“I noticed how people often have really strong feelings about really mundane things,” he said. “For example, I LOVE tacos but I HATE these shoes — that sort of thing.”

Along the way, Chuck has learned that building and road-testing a compelling game takes time. He has been working on it for years. While the first prototype took just two months to create, the rulebook alone is on its 13th version.

Chuck has road-tested I Love/Hate Everything relentlessly — in living rooms, breweries, VisArt Video and, most recently, at the Makers & Creators Mixer at Camp North End. What’s kept him going is the reaction that test players have had to the game.

“Every game turns into a laugh-fest,” he said. “Somehow, this game brings people together in a way I never expected.”

The result of all that work is a game with 400 emotion cards that turn opinions into action, sparking laughter, side-eyes and delightfully ridiculous debates. In the end, Chuck says he hopes players leave the game happy.

“There’s not enough of that, you know. Keep the love in your life, leave the hate in the game,” he said.

PRESS START

To get your own copy of I Love/Hate Everything while helping Chuck secure the funds to mass-market it, visit his Kickstarter page before July 5.

5 Ridiculous (Okay, 8) Questions with Chuck Bludsworth

After you head to Kickstarter and start loving and hating, we have five more ridiculous questions for Chuck.

1) Do you have a nickname? How did you get it?
“Chuck is such an easy name to manipulate that most of my friends have their own version of it — Chuck-ola, Mr. Chuck, Chuckles, Chuckster or Charles (with an English accent) — but there’s not one that really crosses the board.”

2) What is one thing you truly love? What’s something silly or trifling you hate?
“I love walking my dogs in the woods. I hate when people don’t use turn signals.”

3) If you had to play one board game (other than yours) all weekend, what would it be?
“That’s easy — Pandemic by Matt Leacock. It’s a cooperative game where you all work together to try to save the planet. What could be wrong with that?”

4) If you could play I Love/Hate Everything with any three musicians (alive or dead), who would they be?
“Prince, David Bowie and Tom Petty. Those guys would be a riot!”

5) What’s one vegetable you’d banish forever — even if you’d let others keep it?
“I don’t like or understand eggplant. It’s just gross, but I would not deprive everyone else.”

Watch Chuck on WBTV

Recently, Chuck was a guest on WBTV’s QC Life, sharing his story of making I Love/Hate Everything and playing it with host Jana Angel. Watch it here.

This batch of The Biscuit was sponsored by “I Love/Hate Everything.” A portion of the proceeds from this sponsorship will help fund a H.U.G. Micro-Grant to a local creative.

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