Glyn Richards, founder of Fingagolf, was the first to enter the Dragons’ Den tonight.
Players of this tabletop golf game fit miniature clubs onto their fingertips and hit a tiny ball around the bite-size course.
Fingagolf allows players to play draws, fades and backspin – but also to slice or hook.
How did Glyn find the experience?
“You’re stood in that lift and you’re about to talk to five millionaires and I’m about to pitch them Fingagolf,” he told the Southern Daily Echo this week.
“I was thinking: ‘how did I get here?’
“It made me smile a lot and I thought ‘I’m fine with this’ – because I’d done so many trade shows in UK and America and in Germany.
“I knew there was nothing wrong with the game – but it was nerve-wracking.”
Older viewers will have immediately thought of the classic football game Subbuteo.
Indeed Glyn – from Southampton and currently living in Thailand – said: “I used to take a Subbuteo ball to the beach when I was a kid – I would smooth up the sand and flick the ball down the golf course.
“I was trying to tee the ball on sand, somewhere in my mind I was trying to make the game where you can get the ball in the air.”
Glyn has made games his whole life. He continued: “None of the things I made were commercially ever going to make it – so I thought I needed to stick to my day job.
“[But] when I launched Fingagolf I thought ‘hang on a minute’ – because I could see the glint in the eyes of people who played it.
“I played around with materials and something clicked three years ago with cardboard and a foam ball.”
Fingagolf is produced by Hamnashida Games Ltd with an annual tournament held at Board in the City in Southampton.
The other businesses pitching in the Den tonight were Sea Sisters, Yes Friends and ReVibed Drinks.
All Dragons’ Den investments made by Deborah Meaden
All Dragons’ Den investments made by Peter Jones CBE