A couple from Manchester who designed a successful conversation-based party game are looking to deal in a new owner to level up the business.
Gareth and Emily Breeze came up with the idea for The Shame of Life at their kitchen table in Moss Side in 2019, and after building up a cult following on social media, took the idea to Kickstarter, where they secured funding within eight hours.
The game provides players with conversation topics under the headings ‘discuss’, ‘describe’, ‘debate’ and ‘dilemma’, and they must answer the question on the card, no matter how weird it might make them sound.
It has now sold more than 40,000 units and is available around the world with five expansion packs in addition to the original game pack.
Gareth and Emily have now decided to focus on different pursuits and have listed the business with Hilton Smyth Business Advisers to find someone to take the business to the next level.
Gareth Breeze said: “I believe the next step for The Shame of Life is to take the brand to a purely digital model. This needs time and attention I simply don’t have. I’m concentrating on working with charities to help them improve their user experience, and my time is too limited to be there to transition the business to an app-based model.
“With the dawning of AI, there is a real gap in the market for an intuitive and personalised conversation generator, which our brand is perfectly positioned to create. New language versions, made so much easier as an app-based model, will also give a great new revenue stream as this is an untapped market. An app-based model, driven by AI, could create a user base into the millions if the app has a ‘free-to-use’ element to it.
“It will be a fantastic investment for someone who has the time and skill to make it the phenomenon it deserves to be.”
Adam Vary, sales negotiator at Hilton Smythe Business Advisors, said: “Gareth and Emily have created a brilliant physical game model that already has a following of tens of thousands of people. They’ve cultivated a buzz around the game on social media and developed a plan that will help the new owners take it from strength to strength.
“We look forward to seeing who will take on the role of dealer in the next stage of The Shame of Life.”
