Caleb Schmucker and his family love to play the “Double Trouble Aggravation” dice game and often travel with the set. Over time he found that toting the slightly heavy game along could be cumbersome and, well, aggravating.
So he did what anyone with a background in manufacturing might think about; he set off to solve his own problem by creating an “Aggravation” board that is lighter, and pieces together like a puzzle for easy carrying and travel.
“Double Trouble Aggravation” is a variation of the classic board game “Aggravation”, which itself is similar to “Parcheesi” or “Sorry!”. It is a race-style board game where players move their pieces around the board, trying to get all of them into their home base before their opponents. Unlike traditional “Aggravation”, the “Double Trouble” version has two paths that players can choose from, adding an extra layer of strategy. Players roll dice to determine movement, using marbles as playing pieces. Players can land on spaces with stars, which help them move forward or send opponents back. And just like the classic version, players can “aggravate” opponents by landing on their marbles, sending them back to their starting area. The dual-path option allows for different strategies, making the game more dynamic and competitive. The goal is to get all of your marbles into the home area before your opponents, and the first player to move all their pieces to the finish line wins.
It’s a fun, family-friendly game that adds a little extra challenge and decision-making when compared to the standard “Aggravation” game.
“Our board was pretty heavy and there was never any good way to store it, especially when we traveled by train,” Schmucker says. “I’m in the RV industry full time, and utilized my relationships with some vendors and suppliers to think through what this lighter, compact board could look like, and just went from there with it.”
Schmucker uses a very light plywood for the sets he manufactures, while the heavier sets, like the one he used to travel with, are made with melamine. The plywood and melamine sets have different cores, which makes one lighter and one heavier. Schmucker’s set is designed like a puzzle piece in the center, and six triangle pieces snap together in the middle. The board also comes with a drawstring backpack to make traveling and storing convenient and easy.
He sold around 75 sets in his first full year of sales, and has a wholesale option so that he can start selling the boards in local stores. Currently orders are only placed through Schmucker himself, but he says store owners will occasionally reach out and special-order the game as a few customers have asked for it.
Right now, this is Schmucker’s passion project that he works on at night. He works full time for MJ Finishing, a company owned by his father that supplies hardwood RV interior components to RV manufacturers. The company sells wood components and provides wood finishing and woodworking services as well.
“I wanted the experience of starting something myself,” he says. “I think some of the best lessons are learned the hard way and they’re often the easiest to remember.”
Schmucker and his father have recently started a business together, Absolute Outdoors, which focuses on outdoor equipment like scent products for hunting and camouflage clothing. The father-son duo is also manufacturing a suspended chair for hunters. The chair can be hung from a hunting blind ceiling, or from a frame within the blind. The suspended chair will eliminate any unwanted noise during a hunting session that a swivel chair may give off.
To order a “Double Trouble Aggravation” board or discuss Absolute Outdoors products, you can call Schmucker (Yellow Tree Sales LLC) at 574-354-3943.
