One idea. Two brothers. A few hundred bucks. And 2,500 miles between them. Not the most likely recipe for transforming a brainstorm into a blockbuster—but Mike and Steve Stromberg have proved that odds are little match for innovation. From the mountains of Montana to the Piedmont of South Carolina, these brothers have racked up frequent flier miles, prototypes and bar tabs on their way to developing a magnetic new parlor game: Kineti-Go.

Mike is the brains behind the development of Kineti-Go. While teaching children in Korea in 2002, the University of Montana graduate first toyed with what would later become Kineti-Go’s secret ingredient—the power of magnets. Five months after his return to Montana, Mike had completed Kineti-Go’s first prototype, and within a year he was selling the finished production model.

While Mike tinkered, Steve paid. As a real estate broker and Mike’s big brother in Greenville, S.C., Steve kept Kineti-Go’s financial future afloat while Mike kept his hound dog a safe distance from the propane heater that heated his Missoula shop where he built Kineti-Go boards. Today, Mike doesn’t have to spend so much time in that shop, and Steve is closer to that summer home in Montana—Kineti-Go’s business is growing, production has been outsourced, and Mike’s time is spent juggling Web site orders, trade shows, and making sure that old hound can still claw her way to a mountain top.

When the brothers get together, well, they play. Kineti-Go uses powerful magnets on a 2’ X 4’ finished wooden board. Each player releases their “pucks” (plastic-encased magnets) from the horseshoe-shaped “shooter” (also fueled with magnets), jockeying for placement in the highest of Kineti-Go’s three point zones while also strategically placing their pucks to prevent their opponent from scoring. The wild card, of course, is that magnets play off of each other in ways unlike pool balls or shuffleboard discs or air hockey pieces. Thus, Kineti-Go looks like a classic parlor game but plays like something you’ve never seen before.

Parents, frat brothers, homeowners, bar managers, game-room coordinators and teachers, take note: Kineti-Go is here, and magnets aren’t just for your refrigerator anymore.