Board game inventors storm to victory at the Young Enterprise South East finals

June 16, 2011 - PRLog -- Last night Cosmic Enterprises, a company formed by a team of 11 school girls from Oxford High School stormed to victory at the Young Enterprise South East regional finals with their environmental board game Emission Impossible, which has been brought by the British toy manufacturer Gibsons. The team had to fight off tough competition to secure a place at the National Finals on the 12th July at the Savoy Hotel.  The UK winners go on to compete against schools from other European countries.

Georgia Gorham, 16,  joint managing director of Cosmic Enterprises, said of Tuesday’s win: “When the judges asked teams who their inspiration was, characters such as Alan Sugar were mentioned. But we said our inspiration was the team that had gone before us.” Georgia added: “We’re attending a special media event next month to launch the game and it will be on sale from the autumn. We have been writing 500 question cards for the game, as well as preparing for the competition and studying for our AS-Levels.” Oxfordshire Young Enterprise senior development manager Sarah Middleton said: “The girls excelled in all areas. We have high hopes for them in the national finals.”

The teenage entrepreneurs first approached Gibsons after managing to gain entry to the Birmingham Spring Fair and convinced the British toy manufacturer their product was the next big thing. The girls, who set up the business from scratch last September, developed a business plan and presented their prototype and idea of producing a board game that highlights the issue of reducing your carbon footprint to the management at Gibsons Head office, to strike a deal which will earn Cosmic royalties from all sales achieved by Gibsons. Joint managing director of Cosmic Enterprises, Olivia Hawkes, 16, said, “Pitching for business with managing directors was amazing and the whole experience has been incredible.”

The Emission Impossible board game is about saving the planet from destruction and becoming a hero. Players choose their hero character at the start of the game such as Planet Princess or the Waste Invader. Each hero has a separate mission; from saving the worlds endangered species to reducing pollution. Players make their way around the board completing challenges and answering environmental questions in order to lose all of their carbon tokens and make it into the centre of the earth, whilst avoiding hazards such as landfills and nuclear power stations.

Cosmic Enterprises and Gibsons have worked hard to reduce the amount of packaging required; so much so in fact that the board itself folds up in order to become the box and hold the contents inside. The game will also be manufactured in the UK on recycled board.

Kate Armitage, Director of Marketing at Gibsons comments ‘We are absolutely delighted to be working with Cosmic Enterprises and to be taking their fantastic game to market. Emission Impossible highlights an extremely important issue for children today and encourages them to be more environmentally aware whilst having lots of fun.’
Gibsons will launch the game in the autumn supported by a nationwide PR campaign.

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Gibsons is a British, family company established in 1919. Using only the highest quality materials we produce some of the UK’s best-loved jigsaw puzzles and games. All of our jigsaw puzzles are made from 100% recycled board.