Young Jean-Paul was a thinker, a loner and a typical third grader. His parents moved every four years so he was always the newbie at the schools he attended and he rarely had any long-term friends. Each day he would walk a solitary journey 3-4 miles to and from school which gave him plenty of time for introspection and contemplation of the subjects that fascinated him, Subjects like astrophysics, philosophy, behavioral psychology and outer space.
Jean-Paul was also a marble sharp. He could not only win shooting games with extraordinary skill, he was a wiz at attracting the most amazingly beautiful marbles and trading them for another boys vast collection. Jean-Paul was a rich man. His marble bag was the largest in the school and it was filled with a breathtaking array of rare and stunning glass balls.
Of course with skill comes a reputation and eventually he found it difficult to get a game. Nervous opponents would eyeball his poke and be certain that he would scoop their treasures off the playing field. They knew they didn’t stand a chance and it scared them. After all, marbles were coin of the realm in the third grade and without marbles ones life would be meaningless. Let’s be frank. Marbles were power.
Jean-Paul knew he had a problem. How could he take his legendary reputation out of the game and continue to play and amass more and more of those beautiful marbles?
It was on his hike home that the solution came to him. It came as a vision actually. So once home he dashed for the basement and found a board and a box of finishing nails. After an hour of banging and sanding and painting it had transformed into the vision…the Marvelous Marble Eater, a machine that you put a marble in at the top and the ball would bounce down and off various nails until it reached the bottom where, depending on which slot it ended in, one could win five, ten or twenty marbles! Of course, there were a few slots where you could loose your marble. But that was just one marble. Not such a big deal.
The next morning the entire third grade, along with the second and fourth grade students and even the teachers had heard about the machine, Jean-Paul’s Marble Eater. No one could play until recess but the whole school had a carnival atmosphere in anticipation. And the Marble Eater was not to disappoint. Every third player went off with a big win only to run to the back of the line for another try. Half the school wanted to play and by the end of recess Jean Paul had unexpectedly won 300 marbles.
Lunch time and the next recess weren’t any different. Long lines and loud cheers stirred more and more to play. An avalanche of back slapping and adulation flowed toward young Jean-Paul. Oh, and did I mention the avalanche of marbles? Nine hundred… twelve hundred… how many marbles were there?
On day three Jean-Paul suspected a problem as the lines were much shorter and fewer students hung around for the excitement. He also noticed that he could barely carry his winnings home. How many marbles were there?
A quick query of a marble peer called Clint pointed out the problem. “So Clint, how come you aren’t playing the Marble Eater any more?” he asked, and a simple “I don’t have any more marbles. “You have them all” explained the issue. Then he asked “if I had a Marble Eater I could….” and his wistful prayer fell incomplete.
But not ignored. Jean-Paul pondered the idea of having all the marbles on his journey home.If he had all the marbles, who would he play with. And once again he saw a vision, and once again he headed to the workshop.
And once again rumors stirred anticipation about a new game at recess. And once again a carnival atmosphere drew a crowd to Jean Paul and his mysterious box at recess. The announcement was forthcoming.
“For those who have been jealous of my Marble Eater,” he yelled, “I have some news. They can now be purchased for $2 each and” (a long pause ensued)… “each person who buys one will get one hundred free marbles.“
Well that was about as good a news as a third grader could get. They were back in game for lunch money. A cheering and buying and counting spree ensued. They were back in the game.
And so was Jean-Paul. Only a different game was now his. Collecting lunch money for Marble Eaters.
And a new vision… a brand new, shiny metal-flake blue, Raleigh 5 speed bicycle all paid for not with marbles, but with dollars.
Now he just had one more vision he needed to have: How do you build a Dollar Eater…
Future Insights 
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