Legos. Lincoln logs. K’NEX. These timeless toys have captured the imagination of children for decades, teaching them the lessons of structure, weight, strength and the power of the imagination. Building things seems to be a natural inclination, and parents know the practice is not limited to pieces on the table; making forts is yet another expression of the child’s will to create.

Most adults can remember stacked couch cushions, blankets and sheets strung up on bedposts that spanned an entire room. We remember hiding out from pirates, cowboys and aliens in our absurd makes-shift domes of imagination. Indeed, the fort is a vehicle for any adventure.

A Phinney Ridge man knows all about forts and has invented a building kit that provides the pieces to create the timeless stronghold in a brand new way.
August Graube, inventor of Fort Boards, is about to launch his fort-building kit next week, and children – and maybe even adults – may find the will to build up and hide out an irresistible endeavor.

“I have been tinkering for a while but this is the first idea I felt was fully baked. ... It’s kind of like large Legos that you can link together to create anything you want. A house, a castle, a rocket ship; pretty much anything your imagination can come up with you can build with Fort Boards but unlike Legos, they’re big enough to play inside of," said Graube.

Like most of us, Graube was an avid fort builder as a child.
“I had a tree house that I always prepared for the inevitable attack that never happened. I collected as many rotten apples and dirt clods as I could to fire on someone.”

With an early interest in design, Graube studied design management at the University of Washington, and since then has worked in industrial design, engineering and project management. He started developing Fort Boards almost two years ago. His inspiration came while working on a kids’ interactive building exhibit at the Museum of History and Industry.

Fort Boards is a collection of eight-by-eight-inch plastic pieces that snap together to form a hinge and two-and-a-half- inch connectors that can create six different rigid angles. Because of the multiple angle design the pieces can connect to create square and rounded structures like domes, making infinite opportunities for building forts; Castles, submarines and igloos can all be built because of the boards’ versatile design.

The kit is for ages five and up. Graube developed the kit by showing the prototypes to his four-year-old niece and her friends. In the process, he discovered the kids came up with more uses for the kit than he could have ever imagined.

“I knew when designing this that I was going to have certain ideas for designs and things to build and that kids are going to have completely different ideas, so it was really fun to see what they came up with and what they built.”

August Graube with his niece.

In the early phases of the project Graube discovered some aspects of his design were hard for the kids to use, so he reshaped the pieces to make it easier for play. By the final prototype, Graube had come up with over 100 designs before the design was just right. He tested a litany of materials as well and finally decided on a soft plastic material that is safe for kids. The plastic is soft enough that it won’t shatter, yet strong enough to create roofs and domes. Thinking not only about the kids, making the kit compact and easy to store was another feature Graube thought would be good for parents.

Graube’s kit also has design cards that clip into the pieces to make the forts look like any material. Stone, wood and metal designs make the forts look more like real structures. Kids can also turn the cards over for coloring to make their forts look like whatever they want. Graube also plans licensed design cards in the future and mentioned Disney themes as something he would like to offer.

“I think it’s important to have that creative and imaginative aspect for kids play because as a kid I remember being able to run around for miles -- a mile maybe --and come home before dark and you weren’t really confined to your home or backyard, but now kids are, so I think it’s important for them to build their environment still – their own world -- in the living room or the backyard.”
When first starting out, Graube knew he wanted to make a timeless toy that kids wouldn’t get tired of, while also being much more than a video game controller and a screen.

“The kit is built for someone that doesn’t want to have to buy a toy that’s thrown out after a month when it gets old. The goal for this is to make something like Legos: to have a toy that is timeless and grows up with your kids and is interesting enough to pass down to siblings.

“Fort building is something I enjoy today even at age 33, and so I don’t foresee this as something that gets old and thrown away. I don’t want to make a toy that goes straight into a landfill. You never find Legos at Goodwill, they just get passed down, and that’s what this was designed for.”

Through the whole process of designing the kit and working with kids, Graube said he discovered the kit is much more than just fun; it teaches kids skills that some toys are not teaching these days. Spatial reasoning, engineering and cooperation are a few things Graube said kids learn while playing with Fort Boards.

“I realized while I was doing this how much of a learning toy it is in the sense of spatial reasoning, creativity and imagination; they aren’t very easy things to teach especially in an increasingly digital world. Kids have more screen time, and I know there are a lot of parents out there that want something that pulls them away from the screen."

“With Fort Boards you learn spatial reasoning very quickly because you are building a structure you can get inside of – if the roof starts to sag a little bit in the middle you know you need to put up a support pillar. You don’t realize you are learning structural engineering as you’re doing that. Like any materials, it can’t span infinite an amount and you learn what it can and cannot do and you build around it and work with it until it works.”

Graube has just launched his website, FortBoards.com, and the kits will start shipping in September.