The Start of Something Small
Living in small-town Alaska requires an industrious mindset. Amenities are often few and far between, and I spent my childhood in Talkeetna watching my father take on project after project. He built the family house, turned dirt and alders into a landscaped lawn, and fixed everything that broke, from the fridge to my bicycle. I quickly learned the benefits of tackling challenges creatively, and head-on.
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Like many Alaskans, my interests turned to the outdoors over time. I developed a passion for backpacking and learned how to pack the necessities, killing time in tents and huts with playing cards. On special occasions I’d bring the cribbage—a favorite game I’d learned from my Uncle Bud when I was ten-years-old. Cribbage was always a luxury item, as the required materials of a board and pegs plus a deck of cards were hardly essentials that fit easily in a backpack. I tried various travel solutions over the years, from folding plastic boards to small leather wallets punched with holes, but was never fully satisfied.
During a fateful makeshift game in the Talkeetna Mountains, played on a hand drawn board with “pegs” made from bits of trash, I decided that backcountry cribbage was a problem I was going to need to solve myself. I realized that a deck of cards had everything I needed—the pieces were just not being utilized to their full potential. By turning the card box into a cribbage board, that same deck, so often tossed in with a toothbrush and an extra pair of socks, was now a full cribbage set. And so, late at night, between adventures and a day job, atop a tile warehouse in Anchorage, Cardboard Cribbage was born.
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In an effort to honor the wild lands that spurred its creation, Cardboard Cribbage is made with all sustainable materials, and is as durable as a standard pack of playing cards. The card boxes are made from a thick cardstock and treated with shellac for water resistance. The pegs are made of wood and the playing cards are made from plant-based materials, featuring art by me—inspired by the lifestyle and land I grew up with.
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Functional, ethical, and modern is the company ethos.
Adventure is the endgame.