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9/1
8 FRIDAY - SEPTEMBER 1972
252ND DAY - 114 DAYS TO COME

To Herb Hochstetter's apt. [apartment] for a meeting with him and Phil Orbanes. Discussed ideas for games to put on the Post Cereal boxes. Herb suggested that we make use of colors, since the boxes can be printed in 7 colors.

Phil mentioned a game - CHROMOZONE - that he had helped fix up for Bob Hallowell. This is a feedback sort of game with a player being prohibited from moving into a space of the same color as those adjacent to the opponent (very rough idea).

Phil suggested a game (^maximum height of a pile is 4.) - which I named STEPPING STONES. It is one I recognized from Phil's ACTION series. It is started as shown. [drawing of a square divided into a 4x4 grid, inside each of the smaller squares is a circle. The circles in the top 2 rows are white and the circles in the bottom 2 rows are black] Players in turn move a pc. [piece] orthogonally. If land on one of own pcs. con- tinue moving. Pcs. pinned by an enemy pc. can- not move until it is removed. Object is to move all your pcs. off the opposite side of the board first.
Bob Hallowell came up. It looks like he is not going to have any trouble finding a job. I asked Herb if there was any possibility of getting more copies of NINE OF SWORDS. I'll have to contact {Bob Hallowell (home) [phone number]

After we left Phil told me that he is leaving Simulations at the end of the month. He is going to work for "Gamut of Games." He will get $12,000 (about) plus profit sharing and 2% of retail royalties on all his games. (Jim D. had pro- mised him $11,000 and then he had to fight for $200 a week.)

He had thought that Joel Gaines was a big ego, but spent some time with him during his vacation and found he was O.K. Joel is very slow in making up games, taking about 2 years for each. They need new products. The company is now at the break even point on BRIDGETTE.

Phil will supply them with his CARTEL (new name for CONGLOMERATES), REIGN REALM (a rework of ACTION), and INFINITY (which now has a board in the shape of a spiral nebula).

Joel has a game SPELLBOUND (told Phil that the name was taken) that will also be added to the line. It needs some fixing up and Phil asked if I'd be willing to do it for a partial royalty (about 3¢ a game). Sure. We'll get to- gether about it.

By next spring Phil is sure that they'll want to look at games by me.

I asked Phil if he is continuing with Infinity-Quest. Definitely. All his royalties are going into it. He suggested that if I had some big purchases of equipment I should have Infinity-Quest buy it for me in place of that part of my royalties. It is good for taxes.

Phil has been trying to get an answer from Carl Eisenberg about the games (SOLITAIRE DICE, etc.) for [illegible word crossed out] Hoi (cont. on 9/1)