Sussex’s Dragons Den slayers

Brighton Argus 30 September 2008

Board game About Time, a game of luck and skill based around guessing years, featured on Dragon Den’s Christmas special in 2007.

Since then, Brighton inventors Iain McGill, 44, a vet, Joe Gill, 40, a journalist, education consultant Matt Gould, 37 and Michele Rosaus, designer, 41, have all been busy striking deals for shops to sell the game.

Although the Dragons turned down the chance to plough £50,000 into the company, the game looks to have a bright future.

In it, players have to guess the year of particular events, with the winner getting the closest.

Joe said: “It’s been an interesting year because we are in a seasonal market.

“We’ve attended a couple of trade shows and made contact with retailers direct.

“Last year, we were sold in Hamley’s and this year we’ve got them again, along with John Lewis, selling through their stores throughout Britain.

“We’ve also got a distribution deal with a company called Hobby Games.” Circa Circa, the company formed by the trio, has attracted interest from the US and German markets for the game.

But not resting on their laurels, the four have produced a travel version of the game as well as an updated version.

Other games are in also development.

So far they have sold about 1,500 copies of the original game and interest before the vital Christmas market looks promising.

Joe added: “As we speak, the orders are running into hundreds every month.”

Despite their moderate success the three directors have yet to give up their day jobs.