Hemel Hempstead company wins Best Imagination Gaming Game of the Year award

Doughnut thieves dash to the finish in the family and education board game awards
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A board game designer from Hemel Hempstead is celebrating after her company won the Best Imagination Gaming Game of the Year (BIGGY) award for her game Doughnut Dash.

Ellie Dix runs The Dark Imp, a small board game publishing company specialising in games in unusual formats for families and schools, and she is the brains behind Doughnut Dash.

The Imagination Gaming Awards recognises games for families and education. Their aim is to identify more tabletop games that are not only great fun, but crucial in helping to develop key life skills.

Ellie Dix runs The Dark ImpEllie Dix runs The Dark Imp
Ellie Dix runs The Dark Imp

Ellie, a mum to teenage boys, said: “I’m absolutely thrilled. There were a huge number of games submitted this year and most from established publishers with big teams.

"As a one-man-band I didn’t for a minute think I’d win a category, let alone Game of the Year!”

Chris Standley from Imagination Gaming said: “Referred to more popularly as the IGGY's (Imagination Gaming Games of the Year), the awards are solely funded by Imagination Gaming

and independently assessed by panels of experienced educational professionals and family game enthusiasts, the awards now cover 10 specific categories to recognise the benefits all

Doughnut Dash won the Best Imagination Gaming Game of the Year (BIGGY) AwardDoughnut Dash won the Best Imagination Gaming Game of the Year (BIGGY) Award
Doughnut Dash won the Best Imagination Gaming Game of the Year (BIGGY) Award

ages can get from combining learning, fun and education.

"In Doughnut Dash - this year’s big winner - you must manoeuvre your gang of two thieves to steal doughnuts from the factory floor and from other thieves.

"The player who has the most valuable stack of doughnuts at the end of the game wins.

"Actions are programmed in and movement around the factory gets increasingly bizarre. And who doesn’t love a doughnut?"

Ellie, who has been obsessed with board games from an early age, designs and publishes all The Dark Imp games herself, she also designs and develops board games for other companies.

The BIGGY isn’t her only award. She’s also been successful in Theo Paphitis’ Small Business Sunday Competition, the Best Business Women Awards, Independent Toy Awards, Cardboard Edison Awards and the Board Game Workshop Contest.

She said: “I have two teenage boys and test all my games out on them first. They are very harsh critics, so if they like it, I know I’m on to a winner!”

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Hemel board game designer wins Theo Paphitis's Small Business Sunday Competition

"All games submitted into the awards were in the running and only one of the submissions received claimed this award.”

He goes on to say that Doughnut Dash won the award because “It’s a little bit ‘different’.

Chris added: "It’s a game which proved popular, not only with the families that made up our judging panel, but with Imagination Gaming ourselves.

“It’s a deceptively simple and colourful game with hidden strategies, ideal for families new to modern board games and experienced gamers alike!”

Dark Imp games are designed to delight and engage families, even those who don’t normally play board games. These are not children’s games, but games in which the whole family can

compete on a level playing field: true multi-generational play.

To hook in new families, Dark Imp games come in unusual formats - on coasters, on placemats, in travel tins and even in Christmas crackers.

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