As 2008 moves rapidly along, the About Time team and newly appointed marketing partners, Hotcake Marketing, are cracking on with the 2008 marketing campaign. With our Creative Director Michele Rosaus now back in the driving seat following her recent tour of New Zealand, we are making great progress with Michele building on the fantastic work she did on the design and launch of About Time in 2007.

In July we will be relaunching the website with a series of fantastic new on-line mini-games and following this up with various events and activities as we move through the year. Keep tuned for updates and the chance to sign up for great offers, competitions and ‘give aways’ later in the year in partnership with our retail partners Hamleys and Borders and distributor Hobby Games.

These are the winners of the “Bill and Cleo” photo competition held at the Birmingham Education Show (28 February to 1 March).

Each of the six winners of the competition, which involved posing as our William Shakespeare or Cleopatra playing pieces, have won a copy of the game, About Time.

Jools Viner from Brighton

S.Smith from Birmingham

Wanda Labuda from Derby

Jon Binsted from Thorp Arch

Sara Mitchell from Leeds

and

Mrs W Edwards from Northampton.

Congratulations to all of our winners, happy gaming!

Here are some selected quotes demonstrating the positive response About Time has enjoyed from the education sector. AT was developed with the help of teachers and students from its early days, and, as these quotes show, it has plenty of potential as a tool for educators in the humanities.

Tom Deveson, education writer, The Times, TES:

I’ve enjoyed playing the game and I believe it will encourage students to think more about the vital topic of chronology - all those questions that confuse many of them, like ‘what happened when?‘, ‘what happened around the same time?‘ and ‘did x happen before or after y?’ or even ‘what century was that in?’

Dave Futter, Head of History, Steyning Grammar School, West Sussex:

The game has an immediate relevance to the KS5 History classroom as it encourages students to think synoptically. History modules often require students to focus on a particular theme or time period. Accordingly, a student may become very knowledgeable about Communist rule in Russia during the 20th century, but still be relatively weak at making synoptic links to other features of 20th century history. The “About Time” game is a fun way of introducing students to other key events / inventions / cultural developments that happened during the time period that they are studying. With a little preparation a teacher could tailor a game to only focus on the time period being studied.

Alternatively, a History teacher could use the game to help students gain a clearer understanding of chronology. This can only benefit a History student as all exam boards recognise the skill of making historical comparisons across time. The “About Time” game could be used to make fun starter or plenary activities. Equally, the “About Time” game would be a good addition to a school’s Humanities club, Politics club or debating society.

Students at Steyning Grammar School who played About Time, as quoted in the Sussex County Times:

I am very impressed - it could have gained some inspiration from Trivial Pursuit, but it is a very different model.

It is fun - you are learning lots of interesting facts and it’s unlike any other board game.

It is actually good fun - you just have a good time with your friends trying to think of all the different answers and dates.

John Oram, head of history, Fortismere School, Haringey, London

“[You'd think] in the electronic age that board games are going to be difficult to get across to the kids, particularly at that age, but I don’t think it seemed to be that way. They did seem to like it.”

Jane Garfield, Secondary School Teacher, North London

“It really makes you think… It makes you look at the big picture. It’s fun, it’s exciting.”

After a release that saw it beating Trivial Pursuit and Pictionary in professional ratings on the world’s premier board game website, About Time hit it’s first UK Toy Fair last week.

The game is already stocked in Borders bookshops, Hamley’s and toy stores and gift shops across the UK, as well being available online at Amazon and here at www.timegame.co.uk.

The makers Circa Circa Ltd have signed distribution deals with Esdevium Games of the UK and Fred/Funagain.com of the US. The US deal was agreed after a successful launch at Essen Spiel in October 2007.

The About Time team - Jack, Joe, Matt, Marc and Iain - joined others in the Green area, where independents and inventors display their wares and wait and hope for buyers and distributors to wander by.

We were of course a little more proactive than that, and had many useful conversations with veterans and players of the toy and games industry.

Several journalists came to the stand on press day, helping to keep up the momentum of the AT story in 2008.

It’s a long show - but definitely worth it. We learned a lot, and now we move on to the next stage, and look forward to Education Show at the end of February.

Joe Gill

Joe and Iain are interviewed by Richard Bacon on 17 December on Radio Five Live
about Dragon's Den and About Time.

Follow the link under Listen Again in the left hand box
Dragons' Den: can board games be a winner?
to the seven minute clip or scroll down on Richard's page below:  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/bacon.shtml

Didn’t we look smart in our suits - even if the epic 80 minute slugfest that was our time in the Den with the Dragons was reduced to a minute or so in the final cut of the show on 17 December - but that’s television editing for you!

Still, About Time was on display, with Deborah Meadon and Peter Jones trying it out guessing what was the year of Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon. Meadon won the round - although there after she gave us hell.

Right at the beginning of the show you saw Theo Paphitis saying ‘your rubbish, your pitch was rubbish..’, then cutting to Joe and Iain. What they didn’t show was Theo saying that the game might be brilliant, and we might go on to have great success, and then he would be annoyed and “come after us”. He then wished us good luck with a smile. It was the last thing the Dragons said before sending us on our way. We were pretty happy - despite them giving us a hard time over our business projections and pitch.

We live to fight another day - as our progress with sales and distribution since filming in September has shown. Borders, Hamleys, Amazon, dozens of gift shops, museums, UK and US distribution deals and some very healthy sales and excellent consumer reviews for the product.

Later that night on Radio Five Live, Joe and Iain talked to Richard Bacon about board games and Dragon’s Den. Our host pointed out that it was quite normal for businesses to make a loss in year one and two, and turn a profit in year three. He concluded saying the Dragons may have missed a trick. The way we were edited on the show - down to a soundbite - hardly represented what happened, but it’s fair to say that we fought valiantly and, despite a wall of scepticism over profit forecasts, they had nothing bad to say about the game - which was better treatment than that meted out to some of the other games on the show that night.

Our press coverage has been particularly good in Scotland (Daily Record, Edinburgh Evening News, The Courier and BBC Radio Scotland Good Morning Scotland) with Iain getting interviews across the board. Many thanks to Frances Anderson for all her work on publicity in Scotland.

Here is the Daily Record article in full:

Dragons’ Den Scot Invents Must-Have Board Game

Dec 13 2007 By Lisa Adams

IT survived the Dragons’ Den and looks set to become the must-have family board game this Christmas.

About Time, which tests your knowledge of historical dates, is the brainchild of Glasgow vet Iain McGill, who gave up his profession to chase his business dream.

He gets an 80-minute roasting on the hit BBC entrepreneur show on Monday as he battles to convince the multimillionaire panel to invest in his baby.

But the 43-year-old’s efforts are already paying off. His game is flying off the shelves at Borders book stores all over the country and has been snapped up by toy store Hamleys and Amazon have just doubled their order.

The game is even giving Dragon Peter Jones’ new board game Big Business a run for its money.

“The Dragons’ Den is terrifying and I was sweating by the end of it,” admitted Iain. “There’s a lot of mythology built up around the Dragons and going into the Den. The Dragons are hard but inspiring. It was a really excellent experience which galvanised us to get our sales and marketing strategy going.”

As Iain and his business partner Joe Gill recalled the longest day of their lives, it gave a fascinating insight into one of the most popular shows on telly.

After six years developing About Time, they had a screen test and then were given just 48hours to prepare for the show, which is filmed at Pinewood studios, Buckinghamshire.

Iain said: “They were filming the new Batman movie next door. At one point, a guy in a body-builder outfit burst in looking confused. We explained this was the Dragons’ Den and he was probably looking for next door.”

Tensions are turned up long before Dragons James Caan, Deborah Meaden, Duncan Bannatyne, Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones are even on set.

The producers use clever tactics to keep the budding entrepreneurs on edge. They are banned from making phonecalls or using a computer and Iain explained: “We got there at about 7.30am, then you’re put in the green room with all the contestants.

“You can practise your pitch with the producers but you never know when you’re going to be called. That’s quite an interesting way of doing it because you’re cocooned from reality.

“There is loads of nice food, coffee, fruit and chocolate. Then suddenly they say: ‘Right, you’re up.’ “You’re relaxed then suddenly you’re thrown into the Dragons’ Den literally.”

But Iain’s bid for £50,000 investment risked failure before he even reached the Den. At 4.30pm, producers explained to the three remaining teams there was only time to take one more. “The producer asked who could come back tomorrow,” said Iain. “We were right in the middle of our production run for the game. We were working 24/7 getting it manufactured in China, checking proofs, doing corrections. Luckily we got selected to go through.”

They had just three minutes to make their pitch to the Dragons.

“It’s difficult when you’ve only got three minutes to convince someone your game is going to be as big or bigger than Trivial Pursuit,” said Iain.

“We described the game and why it’s really good - it teaches you history.

“There’s a unique selling point because everyone plays in every round.

“There’s no waiting around for half an hour for someone to finish their go. You can always take control of the game by winning a particular round.”

About Time, which costs £29.99, is designed for two to eight players and combines discovery, cunning and chance. Each player selects a historical character from a list which includes Cleopatra, Napoleon, Genghis Khan and Joan of Arc.

They then have to guess dates which range from 1000BC up to the present.

The object is to collect tokens but players also risk losing them to a highwayman, the plague or in a duel.

When Iain was quizzed by the Dragons on finance, he started to feel the heat, especially as statistics show 90 per cent of new board games fail.

“Although we had a deal with Borders, we didn’t have any income from sales,” he said.

“Our figures were projections. We hadn’t actually sold a single game. That’s the kind of thing the Dragons pick up on very quickly.”

But after an hour of filming, Iain’s confidence grew.

“We thought they must be seriously thinking about investing otherwise they wouldn’t still be listening,” he said.

“Most people are in there from between 20 minutes and an hour, although they have had people in there for two hours.”

Iain and two flatmates came up with the idea for the game with the help of a trivia book on history. Since then, they’d ordered an initial run of 3000 from a factory in China.

“The Dragons didn’t have a single criticism of the game,” said Iain.

“They were hard and interested, a mixture of the two. They were a little bit sharp about our figures. Where did we get these from? Why didn’t we have the finance director with us? It’s all about the figures for them.”

It will be revealed on Monday’s show whether Iain eventually leaves the Den with an investment.

“Seeing the game in shops feels great,” said Iain. “I’m passionate about it and confident it’s a winner.”

About Time inventors Joe Gill and Iain McGill will be appearing with the game on BBC2’s Dragon’s Den on Monday 17th December at 9pm, the last in the current series.

More good news, from this week AT is on the shelves at Hamleys, London’s most famous toy shop in Regent Street.

In the last few weeks About Time has been taken as a new product by about 10 gift shops in the Sussex area. The marvellous Compendia Games in Greenwich is also stocking us. Please see the full store details on our Stores page.

Esdevium Games are distributing About Time to games and toy stores throughout the UK. We will endeavour to get these stores on to our map as soon as possible.

Look out for news stories in the local press in Sussex, including the Brighton Argus on Monday 17th December, The Latest listing magazine and the West Sussex Gazette among others.

We had a fantastic reception at Steyning Grammar School on 11th December where about a dozen students joined in a fast and furious game of About Time - the winning team kept a game! Many thanks to Dave Futter, head of history at Steyning and all the students who took part.

For more information call Joe on 07748597168

Pictures courtesy of Andrew Kay.

About Time was launched in Brighton Borders in Churchill Square on Sunday 9th December with the help of Anne Boleyn, Mozart and Cleopatra. They joined in our launch event at the bookstore, where AT was introduced to the busy Christmas shoppers.

This weekend 15-16 December, Iain will be meeting the press in Glasgow and launching the game in Dundee. Readers of the Daily Record watch out for a special feature!

This is our first review on Amazon.co.uk: five stars!

Trivs on steroids!
No more getting bored stiff while Grandma & Grandad spend for ever arguing over exactly which year it was. With this game, everyone answers the question and they’ve 30 seconds to do it; closest to the answer wins the pot.
Add to that the Timecards for some great player interaction (and skullduggery) and you’ve a game that knocks your bog-standard Trivs into a cocked hat!

The quality of components and print is really, really good. This is a classy game!

7.2

This is About Time’s new improved rating on Boardgamegeek.com.

“Fun trivia game with some betting twists. Beautifully produced for a first time publisher. As every player is answering every question in this game there is a lot more interaction than in other trivia games.”

This rating compares very favourably with household name games:

Boardgamegeek Rating
About Time 7.2/10.
Scrabble 6.44
Pictionary 5.77
Trivial Pursuit 5.15
Monopoly 4.39

END

Joe Gill, Circa Circa Ltd
email joe@timegame.co.uk
07748597168