R&R Business Article

Harvard Business School

9-386-019

Rev. November 15, 1987

R&R

During the summer of 1983, Bob Reiss observed with interest the success in the Canadian

market of a new board game called “Trivial Pursuit.” His years of experience selling games in the

U.S. had taught him a rough rule of thumb: the sales of a game in the U.S. tended to be approximately

ten times those of sales in Canada. Since “Trivial Pursuit” had sold 100,000 copies north of the border,

Reiss thought that trivia games might soon boom in the U.S., and that this might represent a

profitable opportunity for him.

Reiss’ Background

After his graduation from Harvard Business School in 1956, Reiss began working for a

company that made stationery products. His main responsibility was to build a personalized pencil

division, and he suggested that he be paid a low salary and a high sales commission. He was able to

gain an excellent understanding of that market, and by 1959 could start on his own as an independent

manufacturer’s representative in the same industry. His direct contact with stores that sold stationery

products revealed that many of them were beginning to sell adult games. He decided to specialize in

those products.

In 1973, Reiss sold his representative business to a small American Stock Exchange company

in the needlecraft business in exchange for shares. He then set up a game manufacturing division and

ran it for that company, building sales to $12,000,000 in three years.

Reiss decided to go into business for himself again in 1979 and left the company. He

incorporated under the name of R&R and worked with the help of a secretary from a rented office in

New York; Reiss promised himself that he would keep overhead very low, even in good years, and

never own or be responsible for a factory. In addition to being a traditional manufacturer’s

representative, he did some consulting for toy manufacturers, using his extensive knowledge of the

market.

The Toy and Game...