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

A board game designer from Hemel Hempstead has been recognised as a small business doing great things by Theo Paphitis.

Ellie Dix runs The Dark Imp, a small board game publishing company specialising in games for families with children aged 8 and up.

On Monday evening Theo Paphitis, the business mogul, announced the winners of his Small Business Sunday competition, in which he rewards small businesses doing great things, and Ellie was one of the six winners.

Here's the winning Tweet from @DarkImpGames: "@TheoPaphitis I help parents create an irresistible offline world that rivals the online one. I design board games that engage even the trickiest teenagers. In Doughnut Dash players program thieves to steal doughnuts from a factory & from each other! #SBS https://thedarkimp.com"

Ellie, who has two sons, said: "It was great to be announced as a winner, I was really pleased.

"I have created lots of games and published my own games, there are 8 different games available on the website.

"As we head into a second lockdown, board games are more important than ever. Board games help to bring families closer together, strengthen relationships and forge shared memories.

"I get inspired by lots of different things, for this particular game it was actually the shape of the board that inspired me to create the doughnut factory.

"One of the games that is really popular at the moment is the Christmas Cracker, which has six games inside.

"It's eco-friendly and can be re-used each year, the pieces can be used for 6 different games and there are some ideas for people to create their own games with the pieces too.

"We are a board game family and I have written a book about the benefits of playing board games, I have seen how it brings people together, and the boys really enjoy it."

Ellie is author of the book, The Board Game Family: Reclaim your children from the screen.

For more about Ellie's company The Dark Imp, visit: thedarkimp.com.