Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Boswell.
Hi Paul, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
In 2015 Paul Boswell was a professor at the University of Minnesota. He saw how valuable it was for all students to be able to code and have a solid understanding of computers. With three young kids at home, he tried to teach them all he could about computers, including building robots, playing games that teach coding concepts, and building electronic kits. While those things are helpful, they all treat computers like black boxes: kids learn how computers behave, but not how they work.
He starting designing a game on nights and weekends, working to create an extremely accessible and fun mechanical computer. The result was Turing Tumble, a mechanical computer that allows players to see and feel how computers work.
Two years later, in June of 2017, Paul and Alyssa Boswell launched what they thought was a long-shot Kickstarter campaign to raise $48K. To their surprise, they raised $48K the first day, and went on to raise $404K from over 4,000 backers by the end of the 30 day campaign. The success of the Kickstarter indicated that Turing Tumble would be more than a side project! Soon after, Paul quit his job to work on manufacturing and Alyssa dug into international order fulfillment.
In March of 2018 Paul visited our manufacturer, LongPack in Shanghai to check everything before the games were assembled. He got to see the processes for injection molding and production. This was just the beginning of a strong partnership with LongPack. In June, the first production run was complete and Kickstarter backers received their games.
In 2019, as the demand for Turing Tumble games increased, the company added staff and moved from the Boswell’s kitchen table to an office space in St. Paul. Paul started creating a new product to teach how electronics work. Translated games were offered in German and French. The successful holiday season depleted inventory.
Despite being out of stock for the first months of 2020, sales were strong as people looked for ways to learn and grow in the midst of a global pandemic. The team ping-ponged between working at the office and at home. Education sales to schools and libraries were a growing percentage of the business up until March of 2020, but decreased as schools implemented at-home learning. Education sales pivoted to parents and homeschoolers. Paul made huge strides in developing the new product, Spintronics, to teach about electronics. Dutch and Italian translations of Turing Tumble were completed.
June of 2021 we debuted the new product: Spintronics. It teaches how electronics work through building mechanical circuits. Through a Kickstarter campaign, Upper Story successfully met its fundraising goal and raised $1.4 million. With a second product, we decided it was time for a new company name – Upper Story: Endless Curiosity. The new name and logo allude to engaging the brain and igniting curiosity through play. Turing Tumble added Polish and Spanish to its suite of translations, and a marble reloader was developed.
The first run of Spintronics went into production in 2022, and in April LongPack sent us the much anticipated pre-production sample. Spintronics Act One, Act Two, and the Power Pack were translated and produced in four languages: English, Dutch, French, and German. We had our busiest fourth quarter ever with both Spintronics Kickstarter fulfillment and holiday Turing Tumble sales.
As soon as Spintronics was successfully launched, Paul started working on our third game, Bridge or Bust. It teaches the engineering of bridge building. Each challenge tasks you with building a bridge long enough to span the gap, tall enough to clear the sailboat, and light enough to stay standing, all while using a fixed set of anchor points. The magic of Bridge or Bust means that if the bridge falls, you can simply lift the bridge, snap the beams back into place in seconds, and get right back to testing your next bold design.
Bridge or Bust, English version, was released 4th quarter of 2025, just in time for holiday sales in the United States. In the summer of 2026, French and German versions will be released in Canada and Europe.
Today we sell our games globally in nine different languages: United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, China, Mexico, and South Africa. We have two new products in the development pipeline, multiple translations of Bridge or Bust being worked on, and continued work to make our games available to individuals and schools around the world.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. Developing fundamentally new products is really challenging. We aren’t able to look at other things that have been made similarly. The essential mechanics of each product we’ve developed has months of research and iterations.
One of the most recent struggles happened in the development of Bridge or Bust. Originally we were planning to make the components out of laser cut wood, then we shifted to a combination of laser cut wood and plastic. After working on it for 1.5-2 years, Paul had a working prototype, and had enough pieces to try building a large bridge. He built it, and it was painstaking and just a terrible experience. He said it would be more fun to just put a worksheet in the box. He had to go back to square 1 and make the parts fundamentally different. He concluded that he needed pieces that were “breakable”, but that did not come a part. He ended up needing to make them out of plastic with a magnetic component that would hold them together, unless they experienced too much tensile or compressive force, and then they would “break” but still stay together. The player just has to lift up the bridge and it snaps back into place. This allows quick iterative building, and this is the essential piece that makes Bridge or Bust what it is. There are no other bridge building kits that allow such quick feedback and opportunity to improve your build.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Upper Story invents premium toys that fascinate, delight, and educate. Fun and addictive, they’ll change the way you see the world.
There are no other companies that are making toys that are deeply educational, while also being satisfying and fun to play. We are proud of the depth of our products and the ingenuity that goes into them.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
We love what we do! It is really rewarding to know that our products make a difference for the kids, teens, and adults who play them.
Pricing:
- 76.94
- 83.55
- 149.99
- 150.49
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.upperstory.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upperstoryco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EndlessCuriosity/
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/turingtumble/
- Twitter: https://x.com/UpperStoryCo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXn_01FyDa4gP48Yrvx4LuA/featured
