Boon

Alex was taught to play sheepshead one summer while growing up in Wisconsin, where the rare game is typically played. It took him about two weeks to learn the game but he was determined — and then he was hooked.

A few years later Alex moved to Austin, TX, where he could not find anyone who knew how to play the game, so naturally he just had to find someone to teach. Jess and a few other friends were up for learning — how hard could it be? Fast forward an hour and Jess was frustrated. The point systems seemed impossibly difficult to memorize.

Alex wanted to do something about it. He wanted to create a simpler way to learn and play sheepshead so it would be a fun experience for everyone.

And so Boon was born. Alex and Jess together launched Riso Entertainment and designed Boon to be that solution, to help introduce sheepshead to the world, and to bring to life the German classic.