Fawley Refinery worker Darren Hackett creates new board game Unlucky For Some to keep kids entertained during pandemic

A FATHER’S idea to help his kids stave off boredom during lockdown has led to the creation of a new board game which is set to be launched on the market.

Darren Hackett, from Holbury, wanted to find something new for his kids Zack (4) and Max (6) to do after they had exhausted nearly all of their toys.

He said: “I had an idea for updating snakes and ladders into a 3D game. I called it Unlucky for Some and set about building a prototype in my shed.”

Labelled “chaos in a box”, it took Darren, who works for CBRE at Fawley oil refinery, months to perfect the game and his wife Skye had little faith in what he was doing at first.

He said: “I was coming home from work and spending all my time in the shed. She found it funny that I was so intent on creating the game.

“When I had actually finished it, she was very reluctant to play it at first. But when she did, she told me, ‘Wow, this is actually really good!’

“She then helped me perfect it and get a proper version of it manufactured abroad.”

The couple have already had interest from major board games makers but want to create and market the game themselves.

Darren explained: “It is based on chaos theory and the aim of the game is to get to ‘Limbo’ and roll a 13 on a 20-sided dice. The first player to roll a 13 is the winner of the game.

“But along the way there are lots of traps like, for example, if the marble which acts as your marker lands on certain squares a tab gets pulled and it falls into the box, then you are back to square one.

“It’s a very unpredictable game which is why it is so much fun.”

He added: “We’ve played it with friends, and everyone loves it. When they come round now the first thing they say is, ‘Get the board out!’

“The funny thing is that at first the kids weren’t that interested in playing it as they were a bit young, I think. But even they are now starting to get into it.

“The good thing about the game is that it appeals to all ages from six upwards.”

The couple have now created a Kickstarter webpage to launch the game and are set to appear at the NEC in Birmingham in July at a new games event.

Visit hackettgames.co.uk