About us

Brent & Marty

Who Are We?

Two Brothers. One Purpose.

Our mission is simple: we want to provide families with fun and engaging games that get them off their phones, televisions and gaming stations and having fun together with family and friends.

The Heart Behind Our Games

GoChuckle was founded by two brothers, Marty and Brent Mickelson, who grew up with an emphasis on family time and some friendly competition. From an early age, Marty, Brent and their dad, a Boy Scouts of America Scout Master, would spend hours and days, hiking, camping and being together. Some of their favorite memories were about their competition to see who could start a campfire faster! (pocket lint may have helped the winner) And, of course, making and eating s’mores!

Well, fast forward a few years… Marty and Brent each took on the role of dad with families of their own, Marty with three boys and Brent with two girls and a boy. And the importance of family time is still at the core of their lives, and the inspiration for founding GoChuckle and its inaugural product: Hasty Baker!

The Journey & Inspiration

Inspired by the Food Network’s Kids Baking Championship, one of Brent and his daughter Kaylee’s favorite shows, Brent thought it would be fun if there was a game like this they could play at home. After hours and hours of unsuccessfully searching for something like this, Brent decided to simply try to make it! Brent created the original format and rules for this game and reached out to his brother, Marty, to create the illustrations. Flattered and excited about the idea, Marty realized that for this to be successful, they needed to do this right and hire an actual artist to help create the characters and bring this game to life.

And that was it…they were committed to making this happen. Together they built on the theme, with some important goals in mind:

Create a family-friendly game that everyone can play
Make it simple enough for young children to play and include strategy that makes it fun for older kids and even grandma and grandpa to play
Design it to be engaging, including icons that little kids enjoy looking at, images that make adults smile and characters that promote positive feelings.

Brent and Marty painstakingly took the time to go through everything – trying to ensure that every little detail was accounted for. Initially taking their ideas and putting them to playing cards with Sharpie markers, Hasty Baker was born and went through multiple iterations.

As the game came to life, Marty's sons (Cameron, Tyler and Hayden) and Brent’s kids (Emma, Dallin and Kaylee) were instrumental in the process – from character development to gameplay.

Brent and Marty spent hours hammering out the details with the mindset of creating a game that grandma and grandpa would like as much as their young grandkids.

The adults weren’t forgotten…Marty even took the game to THEM to get their reaction!

In September of 2019, the Hasty Baker was ready for the world!

Marty really wanted to launch it right…and had the idea to launch Hasty Baker on Kickstarter. A huge success, beating their goal, the first orders were hand-delivered locally in time for Christmas! This allowed them to meet their customers, and Brent was even asked to autograph the games. He felt like a celebrity! Not long after Hasty Baker was in the hands of families, it started winning awards. Creative Child Magazine awarded Hasty Baker Game of the Year three years in a row (2020, 2021, and 2022)! Tillwig awarded it the Best Family Fun award in 2020, and in 2021, Hasty Baker won the 2021 Autism Live Best Card / Board Game. And, a huge (and fun) accomplishment, Hasty Baker was also endorsed by Food Network’s Kids Baking Championship Season 9 winner, Keaton Ashton, and the Season 15 Winner of Food Network's "Worst Cooks in America", Allison Victoria-Wolfe! (Remember – this is how it all began!)

Wanna play Hasty Baker?

GET HASTY BAKER

Wait! What's next?

Hasty Baker was just the beginning of their story. Exciting things were happening in the GoChuckle creative laboratory…Marty, Brent, and their entire tribe, are hard at work, creating the next GoChuckle game! It’s guaranteed to have an engaging theme and story, as well as card play that keeps all ages wanting to pick up the deck!

A PAWSITIVELY FUN GAME

House Hounds isn't just another card game—it represents the growth of the brand: new theme, sustained charm, and deeper game mechanics than before. Launching with community support and built around family values, it’s a natural evolution of GoChuckle’s narrative: laugh-out-loud moments for all ages, with a sprinkle of playful strategy.

Brent, Marty and their creative team spent hours hammering out the details to make Hasty Hounds game fun yet full of twists. This game is easy enough for kids to jump in, yet clever enough to keep adults on their toes. House Hounds blends light strategy with playful storytelling.

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As is required for GoChuckle games, the illustrations are fun and smile-inducing.

There are two elements to the game – the houses and the workers. The workers are dogs with carpenter, electrician or plumber specialties.

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You'll collect cards, hire adorable dog characters — carpenters, plumbers, and electricians — and work to fix your house, earn points, and replace it with new house. You might just find a sneaky mouse hiding behind that freshly painted wall.

You’ll have a blast building your real estate portfolio as you move quickly on houses that go on the market!

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