An eight-year-old boy who designed his own board game has set his sights on conquering America, after watching the first copy of his game roll off the presses in Dundee.
Scott Ballantyne from Tillicoultry dreamed up his Advent-ure board game when he was just seven years old and recuperating at home from an operation to repair a ruptured intestine.
He used an old advent calendar for the game, with each door hiding challenges and questions. Although his prototype was inspired by the hit film Pirates Of The Caribbean, the game can be customised to suit any subject.
The game earned him a place as a finalist in the John Logie Baird Awards, the competition to find Scotland’s top inventor, and has now won him an invitation to the Chicago Toy and Games Fair in November.
Scott and his family visited Dundee printing company Trendell Simpson, which printed the first 2000 copies of the game for sale, on Thursday.
Scott’s mum Patricia said, “There has been so much interest that we’ve been invited to the Chicago Toy Fair and Scott has been nominated as the Young Games Inventor of the Year.
“We’re going to be introduced to people from Hasbro and Disney, as well as Toys R Us, so we already have interest from three key markets.”
Scott, who will be nine this month, said he is looking forward to travelling to Chicago but admitted to feeling anxious watching his game being made professionally for the first time.
“I did feel a bit nervous but it was quite enjoyable,” he said.
“I think most people like the game this is one that is very different to play.”
The young inventor does not intend to rest on his laurels and is already planning his next game.
“It’s called Space Chess,” he said. “It’s like chess but played with things you find in outer space.”
Euan McGill, sales manager of Trendell Simpson, said, “We’ve made a few board games before but Scott is definitely our youngest ever client.”
The plucky eight-year-old has also written to business guru Sir Alan Sugar about his entrepreneurial streak.
“He’s only eight but he’s a lot better than a lot of people on that programme,” Patricia said.