• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, February 12, 2025

Winter vacations can be magical -- or leave everyone feeling cooped up and irritated. Bush’s Beans understands and is launching “Chop. Drop. Chili!” right in the heart of chili-season doldrums.

The limited-edition card game, available on the company’s website, is designed to turn “Isn’t dinner ready yet?” squabbling into 30 minutes of quality family time. The Knoxville, Tennessee-based company is teaming up with Brian (“The Office”) Baumgartner to introduce the game, designed for players 8 and older. Players take turns rolling the dice, racing to spot the ingredients that match the recipe cards. The first to claim five recipe cards wins.

The game intro supports Slow-Simmered White Chili Magic -- beans designed as a shortcut for homemade white chicken chili, which launched in October. All four Chili Magic varieties take just 30 minutes to prepare, and each recipe is featured within the game. “Chili Magic is all about helping families get dinner on the table quickly,” said Ben Carpenter, brand manager at Bush's.

He tells Marketing Daily the game also ties closely into the company’s understanding of its products' role in family meals.

“We've been a family-owned company for over 115 years, and we understand and value quality time with family. We know how important that is.”

And while everyone loves a big batch of chili, the company introduced Chili Magic as a shortcut to great-tasting homemade chili. “You don’t have to spend all day to get that depth of flavor,” he says.

The game seemed like a natural way to build on that, giving families something that helps them take advantage of that extra time. “Now, they get to spend it just doing something fun they love, with the people they love.”

In terms of timing, Carpenter says the launch is also a way to spice up the final stretch of chili season, which starts in October and ends in February.

Baumgartner, who has been Bush’s chili ambassador for several years, “is also a father and lover of all things chili,” Carpenter says. “He’s helping promote the game on social media for us.”