Meet the Northamptonshire marketing consultant who turned his 40-year-old football card game into reality

For Colin Tomkinson from Northamptonshire, turning a game he made up as a child into an actual product available for anyone to buy is a dream come true.

The former digital marketing consultant has made his football card game into reality from his home in Stoke Bruerne after receiving an inheritance from a family bereavement in 2018.

StrikR Card Football had a successful Christmas last year but Colin hopes the return of the football season will spark more interest in the game 'suitable for ages six to 1966-year-olds'.

"It's quite a risk but it was something creatively I have always wanted to do, especially something for kids," he said.

"I love the game and I thought it could be an easy-to-play game for children, which is partly educational too."

The game is based on an ordinary pack of 52 cards with the four suits but with StrikR, each card is a different footballer all with their own pun-based name like Tricky Ricky and Goal Lee.

StrikR can be played in several different ways by pitting the cards against each other, which Colin classes as the different levels of competition - training, league, cup, derby and European.

"It was an idea I had as a child and it was the age before phones and tablets - it's very much a traditional game and I would spend hours playing it," he said.

"I was a Manchester lad and grew up going to Manchester City but I tried to keep any personal bias out of the game."

Despite having the idea some 40 years ago, Colin went into digital marketing and decades went by before he decided to take the plunge and turn it into a product.

He had a specific design for the tin which he wanted to be like a birds-eye view of a stadium with a see-through lid, which he organised with a Bedford-based company.

The cards were designed with a help of a professional before being printed in China and sorted into packs in Colin's home by him and his family.

Once they were ready, he created the website himself and managed to get them listed on Wicked Uncle, an online toy shop, as well as some Northamptonshire retailers last year.

"Whatever you set out to do something in life, when you do it, it's a special feeling of satisfaction and that's how I feel," he said.

Despite the increase in digital games, Colin believes the coronavirus pandemic has made physical games almost a novelty which he hopes will help aid StrikR's appeal.

He also has plans to increase the range of games available and work with football clubs to raise money or create branded packs.

Regardless of the future, just seeing family members or friends' children enjoying his game fills him with pride.

"It a special feeling and there have been some real highlights along the road like putting it together with my family and going to toy fairs," he said.