Our Story

FIRST PROTOTYPES

Olivia Cosham and Stace Callaghan (from The Joy Dispensary), are Brisbane play-based entrepreneurs, musicians, facilitators and educators who live to have fun! The dynamic duo met at an African drumming retreat and the creative connection was instant. Four years later, the pair has birthed a musical baby... Oom-Pah!

It all began in April 2018. We were playing a card game and decided we’d love to invent a fun game too! Liv was finishing her degree in Music and Psychology and Stace had been exposed to only six hours of music theory.

We both loved playing music but Stace didn’t understand what on earth Liv was talking about when she started banging on about theory... Eureka! Or should we say Oom-Pah! Wouldn’t it be great to invent a card game that teaches people music theory?!

Within 24 hours we had our first prototype. Within a month we had our second. And the game actually worked!

starter packs

The idea for the educational learning stencils came to Stace at 5am one morning. Liv cleverly translated the crazy ideas onto the computer while Stace attempted to provide the illustrations for the cards and boxes.

Liv’s knowledge of music was way beyond Stace’s grasp, so we were forced to scaffold the game by introducing absolute basics and building to more complex music concepts. We realised we had the perfect combination of ignorance and knowledge to create an addictive game that enables a complete novice to play with a maestro!

It took over 3 days a week for over 22 months to refine the game, with each prototype improving on the one before, as we beta tested with people of all ages and musical inclinations. Over 900 hours were invested in crafting the final instructions and refining all the learning tools alone!

Blackwell Designs founder, Susi Blackwell, brought her artistic vision, design expertise and incredible patience, and transformed our final two prototypes into works of art!

STANDARD EDITION

After an incredibly positive reception at PAX Melbourne and various music and school events, and a highly successful Kickstarter campaign, we have delivered on our promise to backers of the Oom-Pah! Standard Edition and are currently finalising the designs of our two expansion packs.

Having invested our entire life savings (and then some!) over the last 2 years, we passionately believe in our product, and we 100% trust that you’ll benefit as much from backing us as we will from your generous support. We’re so committed to transforming the way music theory is understood and appreciated that we’re prepared to do what it takes to realise our dream.

We were hoping we’d finally have more time to play the game ourselves but a successful campaign means delivering on our promises… So meanwhile, back at Oom-Pah! headquarters, we’re busy designing new editions and digital apps to help you take your play-based learning even further…so stay tuned!

Here’s what we get up to when we’re not inventing Oom-Pah!

A BIG SHOUT OUT TO OUR AWESOME BACKERS WHO SUPPORTED US ON KICKSTARTER!