Saturday, April 20, 2024

'Action leads to action': MSU alumnus Stephen Brieloff's game is one that gives back

September 8, 2020
A stock photo of "That's My Sundae!", a card game created by 2013 MSU alum Stephen Brieloff, who plans to donate a portion of the card game's sales back to the community. (Photo provided by Stephen Brieloff).
A stock photo of "That's My Sundae!", a card game created by 2013 MSU alum Stephen Brieloff, who plans to donate a portion of the card game's sales back to the community. (Photo provided by Stephen Brieloff). —

2013 Michigan State University and State News alumnus Stephen Brieloff has taken his degree in marketing and designed a new card game for families and friends to play while in quarantine called “That’s My Sundae!” 

The game itself consists of players competing to build ice-cream sundaes. Each card has a component needed to make a sundae, players need to overcome obstacles and win reward points as the game progresses. After three rounds, the player with the most points wins. The game requires a lot of strategizing and planning as opponents need to sabotage each others’ sundaes. The name comes from one of the cards called the “That’s My Sundae!” card which provides protection against sabotages.

Brieloff’s main goal was to get people off their electronics.

“I know that people have been really glued to their phones and stuck to digital devices," Brieloff said. "I wanted to create something that gave people and families an opportunity to spend time together without the distraction of phones and other digital mediums.”

But providing an outlet for entertainment wasn't the only thing on Brieloff’s mind. He wanted to use his business to give back to the community, specifically to the Chicago youth.

“I think this year I've tried to be more giving of time, energy, resources and I wanted to integrate that from the very beginning," Brieloff said. "How can I use this to build a business as well as to give back and to help other people."

According to the game website, Brieloff will donate $1 from every game purchase on Amazon and $2 from every purchase on the site to My Block, My Hood, My City's Explorer's Program. This program helps provide opportunities to under-resourced teens in Chicago. 

Brieloff said the program has been really big on getting the community together and providing teens with the chance to see what opportunities actually exist outside of their neighborhoods. 

“I think it’s really cool because it helps facilitate learning in a bit of a different mechanism and helps make connections between people from different backgrounds," Brieloff said. "That’s kind of connected with what the mission for this product is, is to help bring people together."

From his experiences at MSU, Brieloff found the confidence he would need in the future to create this game and give back to the community. He firmly believes it should be him who takes a step forward to help others.

“A lot of the network that I had built up through Michigan State are people that helped encourage me and push me to move forward," he said. "Through the classes I had, through the extracurriculars I had and through work, I started to generate that confidence, like I can do this, and there’s no reason that it shouldn’t be me to start to put something like this together." 

When reflecting on his time in college and students going through it now, some of which may be in the same shoes he was, Brieloff said that students should start by following through with their ideas. He said "action leads to action."

“If you start today with an idea, get out there and get some feedback on that idea and you’ll be amazed at where it takes you," he said. “One thing I always say is ‘action leads to action,’ and if you get started on something, a project, a game, a business, whatever it is, you're going to see some sort of action.” 

Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.

Discussion

Share and discuss “'Action leads to action': MSU alumnus Stephen Brieloff's game is one that gives back” on social media.