BocceRoll is a new portable yard game that combines the classic lawn game of bocce ball with the arcade fun of skee-ball. It was invented by a team of friends from Wisconsin during a 48-hour innovation challenge and has since grown from a quick prototype into a full-fledged product and business. BocceRoll’s story showcases how a simple idea – conceived under tight time pressure – can develop into a startup journey involving design refinement, crowdfunding success, and entry into the outdoor games market.
BocceRoll originated at the 2021 Make48 invention competition in Madison, Wisconsin. The challenge tasked teams to create a brand-new yard game in just two days. A quartet of colleagues from Trek Bicycle – Ben Fisher, Claude Drehfal, Nikki Hageman, and Zach Huber – formed a team (cheekily named “The Free Wheelers”) and brainstormed what would become BocceRoll. In those 48 hours, they designed and prototyped a game that blends bocce’s target-aiming with skee-ball’s scoring hoops. Their creation impressed the judges: the team won first place at the Madison Make48 event, earning a spot to compete at the national level.
This early version of BocceRoll was essentially a bocce-ball-meets-skee-ball concept. Players would roll balls down a ramp toward a set of targets, similar to skee-ball rings, while also trying to land closest to a pallino (the small target ball in bocce) for points. The prototype featured a roll-out bamboo ramp and numbered scoring holes or zones staked into the ground beyond the ramp. Despite being developed in just a weekend, the concept was clear: a portable game that anyone could set up outdoors for some friendly competition.
After the competition win, the inventors decided to turn BocceRoll from a one-off prototype into a real product. They spent the next year refining the game’s design and gameplay based on feedback. The ramp and target mat were tweaked to improve durability and playability, while keeping the game easy to transport. The sleek design allows the entire set – ramp, balls, stakes, and all – to roll up into a self-contained tube for portability. As co-founder Zach Huber noted, almost every time they tested BocceRoll in a public space, people would wander over, ask what it was, and want to play – a good sign of broader interest.
In 2022, the founders officially formed a company to develop and market the game. They named the business Well Played WI, reflecting their Wisconsin roots. Under Well Played WI, they secured intellectual property (applying for a trademark and patent on BocceRoll) and partnered with a product design and manufacturing firm (Line Modern) to prepare for mass production. “Just the idea we could start a company, get it trademarked, patented… It’s a lot easier than you think. It’s just cool to realize, if you have an idea, you can bring it to market,” co-founder Claude Drehfal said of the experience.
By mid-2023, BocceRoll was ready for a broader launch. The team turned to Kickstarter to crowdfund their first production run. The response exceeded all expectations: their initial goal of $10,000 was fully funded in the first 10 minutes, and the campaign ultimately raised over $155,000 from 1,419 backers. This made BocceRoll the most-funded yard game in Kickstarter history. Such enthusiasm validated the founders’ belief that people were excited for a new twist on yard games. The Kickstarter funds allowed them to cut manufacturing tooling and place the first large order of BocceRoll sets.
Following the Kickstarter, the team moved quickly to manufacture and fulfill orders. By early 2024, they had delivered over 1,400 BocceRoll sets to backers across the country. The game was officially out in the wild, just in time for spring and summer gatherings. An early media appearance on the Tamron Hall Show helped introduce BocceRoll to a wider audience – it was featured on a summer episode and dubbed “the hottest game of the summer” on the show. With the initial batch of games delivered, the company also made BocceRoll available for direct purchase on their website and began pursuing retail opportunities.
Since its launch, BocceRoll has been gaining traction among fans of outdoor and lawn games. The company (Well Played WI) set ambitious goals for growth in 2024, including selling 5,000 units and expanding into retail channels and online marketplaces. Already, the BocceRoll set is available not only through the official website but also via select retailers. (For example, it has been listed on specialty gift and game sites like Uncommon Goods and even on Amazon as a unique backyard game.) The team also focused on building a community around their product – leveraging social media to share game tips, gather feedback, and promote friendly competition among BocceRoll owners.
Like any hardware startup, the journey wasn’t without challenges. Manufacturing a brand-new product at scale required careful coordination with suppliers to maintain quality standards. Logistics and fulfillment were a learning curve as well – handling the packaging and shipping of over a thousand orders at once was “a little overwhelming,” the founders admitted. However, they navigated these hurdles, and with the first wave of deliveries complete, operations have become smoother. The founders’ focus on quality seems to have paid off: early customer reviews have praised BocceRoll’s sturdy materials and design. “BocceRoll is the highest quality yard game I have ever played or owned. From the packaging to the set up it is all top tier materials which makes for better game play,” noted one early customer testimonial. Ensuring that BocceRoll won’t just end up forgotten in a garage was a key design principle – every piece packs into the mat’s tube, and the materials were chosen to be durable and attractive.
Looking ahead, the team’s aim is to turn BocceRoll into a staple at backyard gatherings, tailgates, beach trips, and family reunions. They continue to refine the product and even consider future add-ons or accessories to extend gameplay. By focusing on “healthy competition, thoughtful design, and irresistible fun” – the ethos they embraced from the start – the BocceRoll creators hope to carve out a lasting spot in the outdoor games market.
Nikki Hageman, Ben Fisher, and Claude Drehfal are the co-founders behind BocceRoll’s parent company, Well Played WI. All three hail from Wisconsin and were colleagues working in product development at Trek Bicycle before embarking on this side project. Their combined skill sets in design and engineering proved invaluable in creating a new physical game from scratch.
Nikki Hageman – An industrial designer by training, Nikki is an Industrial Design Manager at Trek Bikes and one of the creative minds who led BocceRoll’s design. She has a keen eye for user experience and aesthetics, which influenced BocceRoll’s sleek, portable form. Hageman also co-founded a culinary venture called “Don’t Cook for Cowboys,” reflecting her entrepreneurial spirit beyond the gaming realm. At BocceRoll, she championed the importance of making the game appealing to everyone – easy to learn, fun to play, and visually inviting.
Ben Fisher – With an engineering background, Ben brought technical and mechanical expertise to the BocceRoll project. At Trek Bicycle, he has worked as an engineering manager, focusing on product development and innovation. This experience in developing durable consumer products translated well to designing a game that could withstand repeated play outdoors. Fisher helped ensure the ramp and targets were engineered for stability and that the game could be set up and packed away efficiently. He has been instrumental in troubleshooting manufacturing challenges and iterating the prototype into its final form.
Claude Drehfal – Claude is also an engineer by training and a driving force behind turning the BocceRoll concept into a business. Colleagues describe him as having an entrepreneurial mindset – it was Claude who emphasized that bringing an idea to market can be achievable with the right dedication. His experience likely spans both engineering and some operations, which helped in coordinating with manufacturers and handling the patent and trademark process. Drehfal’s enthusiasm for yard games and competition helped shape BocceRoll’s culture as a “certified crowd-pleaser” rather than just a product. He’s often the one testing BocceRoll at gatherings, happily noting how quickly friends and family get hooked into playing.
(Zach Huber, the fourth member of the original Make48 team, was pivotal in the invention of BocceRoll as well. While Huber isn’t a public-facing co-founder of the company in the same way, he contributed to the early development and rules of the game. The core concept and collaborative spirit of BocceRoll were very much a four-person effort at the start.)
Together, Hageman, Fisher, and Drehfal have taken BocceRoll from a weekend idea to a growing startup venture. Their story highlights a blend of innovation and entrepreneurship: they identified what makes yard games fun (simple rules, social interaction, a bit of skill and luck) and built something new around those principles. What began as a friendly competition project is now a small business with a unique product on the market. And while the founders avoid overhyping their creation, they do have confidence that BocceRoll offers a fresh way for people to bond and enjoy time outside. As they continue to refine the game and reach more customers, the BocceRoll team remains grounded in the original goal that started it all – bringing people together for a good time, one roll at a time.
