SPANISH FORK — Side businesses are often something people play in before they turn into a real job.
Brigham Young University engineering professor Travis Oliphant's side venture may never turn into a serious occupation.
But at least he's having fun with Games Unplugged, a new enterprise his brother — opera singer Tyler Oliphant — started more than two years ago while getting his singing career off the ground.
"I just love discovering games and sharing them with other people," Tyler Oliphant said.
"We're finding a lot of interest in it," Tyler Oliphant's wife, Ericka, said. "We want neighbors and families to turn off their televisions and computers and start playing together."
Travis Oliphant sees the potential in the games business, but it's more of a hobby for him. (He's an electrical engineering professor and researcher in biomedical imaging.)
He uses it more as a resource, a place to find and play unusual games as a family. He and his wife, Amy, have five children ages 10 and under. Playing games with their children has improved family interaction, he said.
These are games folks won't find at big box or general variety stores, Ericka Oliphant said.
They search odd specialty stores and the Internet to find most of them.
"A lot of them are from Europe and Canada," she said.
Travis Oliphant and his wife invite another family at least once a month for a game party, which sometimes results in a sale. Some partygoers play as many as 10 board or card games in an evening. Most of the games are not the kind that stretch on for hours.
The business carries about 450 titles.
Occasionally the couple will hold a larger event in their home and invite as many as 20 families specifically to showcase the games. For those events Tyler Oliphant brings out his larger inventory.
"There's no pressure; the games sell themselves," Erika Oliphant said.
Game distributors are called gurus with the emphasis more on playing the games than on the potential of making money, Tyler Oliphant said.
Two of Travis Oliphant's favorites are Times Up and Trans America. Times Up is a memory game using famous, but perhaps not so famous, people's names.
Trans America is a strategy board game designed to see who can most quickly build a fictional railroad to five United States cities.
Completing the trio of game gurus is Trent Oliphant, another brother and the brains behind the multilevel marketing plan. He works as a title officer in his day job.
The Oliphants have begun holding tournaments with one of Tyler Oliphant's favorite games, Settlers of Catan, a strategy game that originated in Germany.
Most games are played among family members, but tournaments give players "a chance to get out and test their mettle," he said.
E-mail: rodger@desnews.com