POWERFUL RELATIONSHIP-ENHANCING BOARD GAME LAUNCHED

MORGANTON, N.C. -- Recognizing a void in easy, fun, instructive board games to improve quality of lives through better management of relationships, Ronnie L. Mace, who is Reality Therapy certified, invented CONNECTIONS™, an entertaining, dialogue-enriched game that directs players to paths leading to success.

CONNECTIONS™ is inspired from Dr. William Glasser’s "Choice Theory®," as described in his book, "Choice Theory®, A New Psychology of Personal Freedom." This theory teaches that the only person you can control is yourself, and the only thing about yourself that you can control is your thinking and acting behavior. This is the source of personal freedom.

The game is currently sold directly through Connections Worldwide, Inc., based in Morganton. Game orders can be submitted through the Internet, telephone, fax and mail. Additional details are available on the web site, www.theconnectionsgame.com.

Mace has taken what is a complex relationship-based theory that is largely confined to psychological clinical circles and, through an ingeniously simple and engaging design, created a family and institutional game that enables players to benefit from the core of the theory and have fun doing it.

"You can learn the lessons of Choice Theory® and improve your life without ever having to crack a book, attend a lecture or lie on a couch," Mace said. "You will emerge from several rounds of playing CONNECTIONS™ more in tune with how you communicate and interact with others and how others communicate with you. You will become a better communicator, a better boss, a better teacher, a better friend, a better parent and a better mate."

"CONNECTIONS™ is a simple and fun game," he said. "You will be astounded what you learn about your opponents. You will be astonished what you will learn about yourself."

Designed for two to six players older than seven years, CONNECTIONS™ consists of a simple board featuring a colorful layout of two tracks on which players progress. They use dice to determine moves. Throughout the course of the game, players draw cards that guide them through personal examples of habits that lead to constructive and destructive relationships.

It is a game that is designed to be played repeatedly, with participants tracking and scoring progress during the playing period.

Initially targeted for schools, church youth groups, family intervention and crisis centers and correctional centers, the game has many applications beyond those arenas and reach into the everyday household.

Mace investigated and developed CONNECTIONS™ for two years, during which he created prototypes and supportive materials. He shared the concept with a circle of advisors and friends, who explored its merit through their own professional connections in the educational and psychological industries.

CONNECTIONS™ was developed with thorough field testing using a variety of players, including middle school students, teachers, families, office workers and family crisis participants and employees.

What emerged is a complete gaming concept that is visually designed to portray connecting and disconnecting habits with an underlying goal of helping participants become the best person they can be.

"It’s the only time in my life that I’ve seen an interactive game that has the potential to change people to be more positive in their relationships or their behaviors," said Robert Patton, principal of East Burke Middle School. "One of the first thoughts that I had is that CONNECTIONS™ is so simple. There are many methods of counseling. And most of those methods involve an active listener giving feedback and asking appropriate questions to determine how to proceed with problem solving. This game does all of that without having to have the interaction with a counselor. You become your own counselor through playing the game and the changes that it creates are ones that are self-imposed decisions arrived at by each individual through playing the game."

"It has the ability to cause me and each of us who play the game to try hard to be better in our relationships with everyone else," Patton said. "I also see it having an impact on students in the middle school setting."

The launch of the new relationship-oriented boardgame could not come at a better time. In the post 9-11 world people are more focused on "nesting" than they have been in recent history. Sales of board games are surging as families rediscover the pleasures of interacting that comes with many board games.

Additionally, a recent article in TIME magazine analyzed a new breed of romantic counseling that is being offered as formal courses at colleges and high schools across the country. The article, titled "Relationships 101," quotes Sarah Brown, president of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, as saying, "There’s a great hunger for understanding relationships, not just body parts."

Inventor Ronnie L. Mace, Reality Therapy certified and Chief Financial Officer of Blue Ridge Community Action, Inc., a Morganton, N.C. non-profit, low-income assistance organization. Reality Therapy certified means that Mace has demonstrated knowledge in the concepts and principles of Choice Theory®, Reality Therapy and Lead-Management as authored and endorsed by Dr. William Glasser and the William Glasser Institute respectively.

Mace was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in action during the Vietnam War, experiences that helped shape the person he is today; a person who has overcome many of life’s pitfalls and made a positive contribution helping others do the same.

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