“No Boredom Board Games for the 21st Century”
It all started as a bit of fun with some old chronology books in a north London flat. Then came the prototypes and finally About Time was born. The inventors – Iain McGill, 44, a vet, Joe Gill, 41, a journalist, designer Michele Rosaus and education consultant Matt Gould, 37 – wanted to be sure that it was a truly entertaining, balanced and beautiful product, with elements of luck, knowledge and high stakes to satisfy the vital components of all great board games.
The original About Time board game featured on BBC2’s Dragon Den’s Christmas special in 2007. Although the Dragons turned down the chance to plough £50,000 into the company, the inventors were able to launch it at Hamleys and Borders through their own company, Circa Circa Ltd.
In 2008 the game was sold through major high street shops and independent stores, and a special picture edition featuring Guardian front pages was launched with The Guardian newspaper.
In 2009 new versions of the About Time board games are being launched with Die Zeit newspaper in Germany and in the US, exclusively with Barnes & Noble. A travel version of About Time game is also in the pipeline. The future for About Time looks bright indeed.