Students answer enterprise call with Next Question game

Three students who used their hobby to set up a board game business have found themselves fielding sales orders from far and wide.

The Tipperary teenagers were also advised that their idea is good enough for mass production.

The CB High School, Clonmel, pupils developed a board game and a jigsaw between them as part of a Student Enterprise Competition. They joined forces as they progressed through the competition.

Now the three 13-year-olds, David Kennedy, Oisín Dillon O’Rourke, and Jack Egan, are preparing for the national finals of the competition in Croke Park while simultaneously dealing with customer queries.

Next Question is their board game, which revolves around the interesting concept of “where answering the question wrong is answering the question right”, while they have also come up with educational jigsaws.

The game was play-tested at a convention in Kilkenny and found to be suitable for the mass market.

“Oisín and David are friends and love playing board games so it was a no-brainer that our new enterprise was going to design and produce our own game,” they said.

“We knew that we wanted it to be funny, as laughter is the best medicine. Also, we felt that young people need a break from social media.”

The jigsaw element, meanwhile, came from Jack Egan.

“I did market research and discovered that the best way to learn is to engage the student in the learning process,” said Jack.

“My jigsaws stimulate the students’ understanding of what is being taught.”

Really excited to launch our upgraded games of "Piece it Together" today in Byrne's Toyshop in Wexford. We have three editions Science, Ireland and Europe. They are brilliant for learning while having fun together. Come along To buy your own copy, we'd love to see you later!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/OolcaocuDE

— Next Question (@NextQuestionBG) April 21, 2018

They merged the two teams to cut costs and said the reaction to their products has been “awesome”.

“It has really boosted our confidence and has motivated us to keep going,” they said.

“We have received orders from other parts of the country and got our first order from England during the week, due to Facebook.

“Also, after appearing on TippFM twice, a toy shop in Roscrea sold out of our product.”

Their biggest boost, the students said, was the play-test at the game convention, which is a measure of how popular a game could be.

“We were over the moon to be told that our game is good enough for mass production. How cool is that?”

They have received support from their school and teachers, including business teacher Martina O’Reilly and Sue Anne O’Donnell from the Local Enterprise Office in Co Tipperary.

“At the moment, we are running a board game competition in the school and everyone is having a great laugh and we are laughing all the way to the bank,” they said.

The young tycoons say that their products are “fun, educational, benefit cognitive development, enhance visual perception, improve memory, develop critical thinking and lead to a feeling of happiness”, and that more ideas are on the way.