A former maths teacher has designed a board game to help people overcome maths anxiety.
Creator Christopher Curtis, who used to teach at Frome College, Somerset, has developed a new game, Prometheus, which is said to 'rival chess'.
Chris gifted the board game to Prime Minister Boris Johnson when he had Covid-19 as a ‘humanitarian gesture'.
It has been designed to help people overcome maths anxiety and is cantered around moves that can be made on a chess-like board.
The three main pieces are shaped like spheres, pyramids and cubes and moves can be made based on the number of corners or vertices on the pieces.
Chris said Boris Johnson thanked him personally for the gift and for aiding him on his journey to recovery.
Speaking about the first lockdown, Chris told the BBC : "It was such a difficult time for everybody and we just wanted to give a little ray of hope to him as a humanitarian gesture."
He spoke to the Frome Times, adding: “Prometheus is an innovative and exciting strategy game that appeals to people of all ages.
"The game is easy to play and similar to chess, but more dynamic. It involves a variety of different shaped board pieces, with the objective of capturing the sphere of your opponent.
“Knowing that Prometheus now takes pride of place at Number 10 Downing Street of course is marvellous, but knowing that the game is and will continue to be played and enjoyed across the world is the dream come true.”
Chris worked as head of maths at Frome College for more than 25 years.
During his time at Frome College, he was asked to design a creative structure for the college’s new combined maths and art building.
He got in touch with the late artist, John Robinson, who agreed to construct a piece for Frome College in the form of a five-foot Prometheus flame.
Chris said: “Prometheus came to me in a dream over seven years ago after the commissioning of the Prometheus sculpture at Frome College.
“I just started to develop the idea and I caught myself saying, ‘I might actually have something here’. I wanted to create something more fun than chess and I think this is it.
“I am proud to be launching a game into the mainstream that brings people together in a way computer games cannot.”
Last week, Chris held a successful fundraising Prometheus evening in Bradford-On-Avon, raising over £500 for Breast Cancer Now and giving people the chance to try out the game.
He is now hoping to attract some interest from the country’s bigger retailers.
He told Frome Times: “What we need to do now is get some large orders in from the likes of John Lewis and Harrods. We’re just hoping to get a big order in to get us to that next level.
“I’ve always felt that if you’re passionate about something and you believe in it and put the hours in, you can eventually get what you want. This feels like evidence of that.”
