Matchgolf was devised and designed by Peter Penfold and Keith Harris. An avid board game enthusiast, Peter came up with the idea while serving in the British Diplomatic Service in Trinidad at the end of the 1970s. He says that he wanted to devise a board game that combined skill and luck and did not use a dice. He selected golf because of the sport’s worldwide appeal. Peter sketched out his ideas for Matchgolf and then sent them to Keith living back in Britain. Keith and Peter had been close friends since boyhood growing up on a council housing estate south of London. Keith took Peter’s idea and designed a mock up of the game, all by hand, and sent it back to Peter overseas. And there the game lay for over 20 years. While Peter continued his career as a diplomat serving in a number of countries around the world, including the hot spots of Africa and becoming Governor of the British Virgin Islands and British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Keith turned his talents to the business world, establishing Insight Cartons, one of the most successful packaging companies in the UK and winning a number of prestigious industry awards such as Innovator of the Year in 1992 and 1997. Now both in retirement, they have decided to dust off the original idea and “bring it into the 21st century”. The launch of MATCHGOLF at the 2006 London Toy Fair is the culmination of their efforts. MATCHGOLF has been described as the most significant new board game for the past twenty years. A game of skill with that “stroke of luck”, it is a game for golfers and non golfers alike of all ages. It is a game for all the family and friends to play together and the perfect antidote to all those solitary computer games. Promoting a board game at a Toy Fair is a far cry from the turmoil of African coups or the cut and thrust of the packaging industry, but Peter and Keith bring to the venture the same passion and commitment they displayed in their respective successful careers. “MATCHGOLF is a game that brings friends together”, they say, “something we have been for the past 50 years!” | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
