::: Last updated June 10, 2002 :::

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In 1996, at The University of Michigan, David McCullough Dobson was busy studying oceanography, marine geology and geochemistry, and curiously on the side, he was deeply engaged in creating a gift for his wife, Christina – a simple, yet perplexing computer game called Snood. Shortly after turning his wife onto the game, David introduced Snood to undergraduate students he taught. Needless to say, Snood was a huge hit.

Two years later, Jeff and Marci Grogin embarked on a week long vacation with their family to visit Jeff's brother, Larry Grogin, and his family at their home in New Jersey. Larry was a faithful and enthusiastic Mac user, and during his brother's visit, he insisted Jeff try a game called Snood. By the end of the vacation, all of the children were holding Snood tournaments during the day, and after they went to bed, their parents played the strategy driven, puzzle game into the late hours of the next morning.

Thus began the Grogin's adventure with Snood, a shareware computer game available for downloading via the Internet. After returning home to California, Jeff and Marci's sharp intuition led them to believe that with the right direction, Snood had the potential to become widely popular as both a game and character-based licensing phenomenon -- not to mention the "withdrawals" the entire family experienced because they didn't own a Mac and Snood was not PC friendly at that time.

Consequently, Jeff contacted David Dobson, in the hopes of starting a relationship that would take Snood to the next level. As an attorney who specializes in licensing contracts, Jeff possessed a natural business expertise that would compliment David's technological proficiency.

After the Grogins assured David that Snood had the potential to grow into a pop culture sensation, the two parties reached an agreement whereby David would continue overseeing the technological aspects of Snood, and the Grogins would take the lead on developing business strategies and forging alliances.

The newly formed company immediately set out to establish www.snood.com, the game's official Web site, which would eventually include an online store offering Snood merchandise. Also, a PC version of Snood was created, allowing the game's user base to significantly expand. Within weeks, knowledge of Snood had exploded across college campuses, quickly leading to an organic, online viral marketing push that increased Snood's user base by 2,500 percent.

Next, the company set out to further enhance awareness of Snood by securing a series of strategic licensing agreements. The first such agreement was reached in late 2000 with Real Networks. This deal resulted in Snood's becoming visible to millions of Real.com users.

The second pivotal licensing arrangement came in early 2001 with Destination Software. The deal called for Destination Software to create a version of Snood specifically for Nintendo's GameBoy Advance, one of the most widely consumed handheld gaming platforms. The string of strategic alliances continued in Summer 2001 when Snood partnered with reputable game developer THQ as part of a new effort to bring the game to wireless platforms, specifically Nextel cellular phones.

Complimenting these successful licensing agreements, Snood simultaneously sought to capitalize on the game's expanding popularity by creating a line of Snood merchandise and porting Snood to the Palm OS and Pocket PC. Snood entered into an agreement with Jerry Leigh Entertainment Apparel for the manufacturing of Snood T-shirts, mugs, posters and a variety of other promotional items – all of which are today sold via the e-commerce area at www.snood.net/store. Interestingly enough, all merchandise orders are fulfilled directly out of the Grogin's home.

Building on the success of the initial merchandise offerings, Snood then decided to expand its product line-up to include toys. Since Snood began offering merchandise in July 2000, sales have steadily increased on an average of 2000 percent each year.

Today, thanks to "word of mouse," Snood has more than 300,000 registered users and receives over 30,000 new downloads on peak days. There have been Snood tournaments held at college campuses, and because the popularity of Snood at universities is so great, the company has established a college representative program that utilizes fans of the game to organize tournaments as well as promote Snood merchandise. As a testament to the games widespread appeal, the company continuously receives a large volume of positive feedback from fans ranging from grandmothers to elementary school children.

David's ingenuity and creativity continue to be the driving force behind Snood's success as he regularly enhances the game and works to create new versions that will only expand Snood's customer base.

With a philosophy of "just one more game" and a stream of successful business initiatives, Snood is well on its way to taking the world by storm – one player at a time.