Co-Mo Connect’s Patrick Wood, creator of a children’s book series on electric cooperatives and safety, has another card up his sleeve.

Wood’s latest creation is Zap Slap!, an educational card game for third to fifth graders. His previous projects include “Cat & Duck and the Electric Cooperative,” “A Lineworker’s Day with Lineman Larry and Kilowatt Katie” and “Cat & Duck Electric Safety,” published last year by the Tipton, Missouri-based co-op.

Wood modeled Zap Slap! after Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, a popular family card game. The co-op game also has elements of perennial favorites Slap Jack and War, in which the winner gathers the most cards.

“I was trying to come up with tips keeping in mind my fourth grader’s reading level and interests…something that his age group would be willing to participate in without it being, as he says, ‘too cringe,’” said Wood, the co-op’s manager of communications.

Each card shows one of the four characters from Wood’s past books (Cat, Duck, Lineman Larry and Kilowatt Katie), a co-op fact or a safety tip. For Zap! cards, players see who can say Zap! and touch their noses first.

Players take turns flipping cards onto a pile, trying to match characters. Whoever correctly slaps a match gets all the cards—but first must read the co-op fact or safety tip aloud or perform the action on the card.

“You kind of mime out those actions,” Wood said. “For example, there are two different ones about what to do if you’re in a vehicle that’s in a wreck and a power line lands on it. If your car’s not on fire, stay inside and call emergency services. If your car is on fire, you hop like a bunny.”

Wood refined the game’s rules and card graphics with help from other co-op communicators and his three children, all under 12. The co-op testers included Minnkota Power Cooperative Senior Communications Specialist Kaylee Cusack and three colleagues—one of them an elementary education graduate who suggested some word tweaks.

Cusack also said they discovered the game isn’t just for kids. “We had a group of four sitting in our meeting room playing Zap Slap!, getting really loud, slapping each other's hands to get the cards.”

In addition to his card game, Wood recently released his fourth book for younger children: “Bringing Power to the World with Lineman Larry and Kilowatt Katie,” which features photos taken by award-winning photographer Jim McCarty, editor emeritus at the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives in Jefferson City. The photos come from co-op trips to Guatemala in 2019, 2020 and 2024.

Co-Mo will formally roll out “Bringing Power” during April’s Lineworker Appreciation Month. And like Wood’s earlier creations, co-ops can download this latest book, as well as the card game, and personalize it with their logos.

Zap Slap! is “the next logical step” in a member education program envisioned by Woods with age-appropriate content for grades K-12.

“While we do have the Youth Tour program for high school, I feel like we need more in the schools with more interaction. It’s a win-win because we get to interact with these kids who may eventually become members. And when that time comes, they will know exactly who we are.”