About Us
LITTLE ACORN GAMES
Hi! I'm Jen; wife to Rob, mum to two young children aged 8 and 6, founder of Little Acorn Games and the creator of our 2 games: Funny Fairies and PJ Pirates!
As a young family, we love family board games! It’s as simple as that. For pure, simple, innocent fun with plenty of friendly banter thrown in, great board games are our go-to thing. It is through this love of children's board games that I had the idea for our first game Funny Fairies, and to try to get it out into the world, I founded my company Little Acorn Games Ltd.
Our aim: to instil a love for family board games from an early age, helping children to reap the many social and educational benefits that playing board games together brings!
THE FUNNY FAIRIES STORY
After playing some 90’s classics in Autumn '18 with my then 5-year old daughter, I had that ‘lightbulb moment’ and the basic concept of Funny Fairies was born. I felt I had thought up a children's board game that my little girl would enjoy, so I set to work making a home-drawn paper version. Three months later (yes 3 months, there was a lot of rubbing out) and Funny Fairies was ready to play!
Our children loved it from the start, as did their cousins, friends, friends-of-friends...and I began to think I may have hit on something quite special. They loved the character-based game idea and quickly developed favourite cards which they hoped to pick up, adding to the excitement. Also, the more we played, the more ideas I had of how this children's board game could be extended to grow with the family and keep the fun going for longer, adding strategic elements along the way.
I felt I had happened upon a fresh approach to board games for kids; a game accessible to a wide age range with excellent play value through using extendable rules and a focus on fun whilst encouraging strategic thinking... I had to try to get it out into the world!
BRINGING FUNNY FAIRIES TO MARKET
Thanks to the hugely talented illustrator Ian Ward (www.ianrward.co.uk) and the brilliant designer Paul Benfield (www.guppimedia.com), Funny Fairies now consists of bright, engaging illustrations and professional eye-catching packaging.
I ran a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter ending 11th November 2019 to raise the funds needed for the first mass production run, with the games arriving in the UK in April 2020, 18 months after the idea was born!
Funny Fairies is now available to buy over on Amazon UK!
GAME NUMBER 2: PJ PIRATES
Following the success of Funny Fairies, I decided in January 2021 that it was time to take a deep breath once again and take the plunge with game number 2: PJ Pirates!
I have had this game designed in my head pretty much since Funny Fairies back in Autumn 2018, so it has been extremely exciting to see the ideas finally come to life.
It has been an absolute pleasure to work with Ian and Paul again and I couldn't be happier with the end product!
PJ Pirates is now available to buy over on Amazon UK!
DREAMS DO COME TRUE
Since launching in April 2020, we are beyond thrilled to have won the following awards:
- In July 2020, Little Acorn Games was picked as one of Theo Paphitis's (of BBC Dragon's Den fame) 6 weekly Small Business Sunday #SBS winners
- In August 2020, Funny Fairies won the Silver Medal for Board Games in the Independent Toy Awards 2020
- In August 2021, PJ Pirates won the Silver Medal for Board Games in the Independent Toy Awards 2021
- In October 2021, Funny Fairies was Shortlisted in the Young Einsteins Category of the Imagination Gaming Family and Education Game Awards 2021