Welcome to the "Cash Trap" Boardgame Information Page
Debbie Keigan – Family games are a fun pastime, but for those wanting a family game that has a little bit of a competitive edge and an abundance of different emotions, ‘Cash Trap’ will definitely oblige. Staying silent is rarely an option!
- Coiledspring Games – “Watch Out for Cash Trap in 2006”
- Josef Kollar – World Cluedo Champion – “After 2 games you are probably hooked”
- Mind Games Olympiad – Selected Cash Trap as a competion Game for 2007
- Tom Vasel – Board Game Geek – “Good enough to be a success”
- Toy Retailers Association – Listed Cash Trap a hot game for Christmas 2005
- Great games don’t date!!
- Age 6 and up, teenagers, adults, everyone. Very much a family game, easy and fun to play. Mild strategy requiring both skill and luck. Children love to play against any adult.
ORIGIN
Cash Trap was originally produced as a family boardgame in 2005. Attended Essen and New York Toy Fair, we had many great industry reviews and it was tipped to be a success. Circumstances at the time meant we had to stop before we started. After all these years we are once again able to relook at promoting our fun and simple strategy boardgame. This new opportunity has allowed us to tweak the game just a little bit, adapting an idea from top boardgame reviewer Tom Vasel, (from Boardgamegeek) – making it even better than it was before.
FIND OUT WHY WE NEVER FOLLOWED UP ON IT’S SUCCESS in the ‘Why in 2006 did we put Cash Trap Aside’ Section.
Rules and Objective
Suitable for players 6 years and older.
Read Industry Reviews
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.
Cash Trap was tested on literally 1000’s of players before production. Lego buyers that used to stay at our hotel played in the evenings and said it should be produced, and we have many more favorable reviews that are documented.
Coiledspring Games
Games distribution Company in the UK. Saw Cash Trap at Essen In 2005. We made their Newsletter.
Mind Sports Olympiad
Played by this group in 2006. After which Cash Trap was selected to be a competition game for 2007.
Toy Retailers Association
(report via games for xmas) Toy Retailers Association identified Cash Trap as a hot pick for Christmas.
World Cluedo Champion
& Scottish Monopoly Champion – Josef Kollar 2006. Read his full review.
Tom Vasel – Designer
& reviewer for Boardgamegeek. Read his full review, he gave me the idea for the revision.
Review continues, press here.
Halesowen Boargamers.
Mike Head, he wrote a full review on behalf of this UK based boardgame Club.
Shrewsbury Boardgamers
Garry Lloyd of Tricky Light, he wrote a full review on behalf of this UK boardgame Club
Brass Jester
Individual comment from member of a boardgame club, his family enjoyed it and wanted to pre order.
Why in 2006 did we put Cash Trap Aside
Because you can’t do everything.
To give something it’s best shot at success you need to dedicate time and energy and we had neither. We owned and ran a very busy pub restaurant, we also lived on the premises and outside of working 24/7 my release was getting Cash Trap produced. Once produced we obviously wanted to sell it, so we found time to put it in front of people at trade shows and events and as you can see we got the reviews we hoped for. But soon after we got back from the New York Toy Fair in 2006 we got notification that we had won “Cheshire Dining Pub of the Year” A prestigious award that resulted in so much business for many years that we hardly had time to sleep – play time was definitely over.
Following your gut, your heart, isn’t always practical and so we made the decision to literally shut it down. Playing games is about having fun, so if a game plays as well as Cash Trap, it will always stand a chance of being a success. We, my husband and I said and always new that when we got out of the business and settled into a somewhat semi retirement state we would find the time to follow through on our Cash Trap adventure. Our adventure has begun.
I'd Appreciate your Feedback
If you have played Cash Trap ( revised version) and would like to send me details of how your game played or an actual review please email me at the following address:
Debbiesgamestoplay@gmail.com
If possible can you let me know the following information.
1) Approximate age group of players.
2) No. of players playing.
3) Approximate time it took to play.
4) You can say if you enjoyed it, but if personally it wasn’t your thing, can you still see it as being a fun game for the majority of family boardgame players?
5) Would you buy it either for yourself or as a gift?
THANK YOU
Proposed New Name & Theme
CASH TRAP
This family board game could have any theme, but we wanted to base it around something that everyone could relate to, money certainly fits that criteria. If an agent takes it on, the theme and name can stay, or not. What matters is that people get to play and enjoy the game.
Given the few tweaks we have made, the opportunity now arises to give it a new name and box design. Money in one form or another will always have universal appeal so if we were to do a new print run, we think we might call it: “SNEAKY TRADERS” The commodities used could then be: Gold, Crypto/Bitcoin, NFT’s, Bonds, Cash etc.
History
Always a story to tell, but i’ll make this part as simple as possible.
- Originally created in 1985/86 whilst on maternity leave.
- Always wanted to make a fun strategy game that more than 2 people could play.
- Played for months testing it out with me as the only player.
- Wanted to call it Breakout, but Atari wouldn’t let me.
- My grandmother stitched together little moneybags filled with rice and I made a prototype cloth board, rolled it up and put it all in a bigger money bag.
- Living in a hotel, I had customers test it out, Lego buyers included.
- I wanted constructive advice and all that came back was, “It’s great you should sell it to Waddingtons”.
- I was 21 at the time, working hard, newly married, bringing up our son and certainly no spare money.
- Jump forward about 20 years to 2004, (and lots of game tests later), we had the money to risk.
- Finally gave it a name and got it made.
- Took it to the trade fairs and got great reviews.
- 2006 our already busy life became busier and we couldn’t follow through.
- And here we are now. Retired and ready to make this work.
About Me
I was an only child, lived above either a pub or hotel. Books didn’t interest me, nor TV. Spent a lot of time playing games with my grandparents, from Sorry through to Chess. My parents ran successful businesses, success usually coming from a lot of hard work. I was taught many things, but being the best that you can be and giving the best that you can, were very very important lessons.
A positive attitude, always a solution, never give up. It’s a state of mind and I was brought up with that mentality, and loved it. Whatever challenge I set myself, the bar was always set high.
In 2008 a customer, (who loved playing my game), was a manager for the BBC TV entertainment department producing game shows, he asked if I would take part in helping to develop gameshows. I went along and loved it for sure. (see 1st email)
I wrote a UK world cup football song in 2010, produced it etc. and it was played on the radio many times. The chorus part was submitted into a Coca Cola competition for best chant. I won (see 2nd email)
And there have been many more personal achievements along the way.
The never giving up mentality, is where we are now with Cash Trap. It’s not that it has failed, it is that the timing has never been right. But now it is and we are looking forward to the months and years ahead.
More in Store
Over the years I have penned or mocked up the ideas of many games. Some are for outdoors, I have a simple idea based on card games, I devised a 3d game back in 1996, seen by an industry specialist, I was told to return when I completed it – but as always, because of work it never got finished. I have files full of notes, I have boxes full of play parts, all exciting stuff. The picture you see isn’t meant to make sense, it’s just a sample of how creative I’ve been over the years. These ideas are just that, they don’t work yet but they could!!
Video Snippets
A small church group were happy to let us video them playing for the first time. Interest is kept throughout even from he young players. And watch those expressions.
Videos Coming Soon