Somerset maths teacher says board game given to prime minister rivals chess

The game was designed to overcome maths anxiety

A board game that was given to Prime Minister Boris Johnson when he had Covid-19 has been toted by its creator as a rival to chess.

Prometheus was invented by Frome College maths teacher Christopher Curtis to help others with their maths.

Pupils from Stonar Independent School's chess club in Wiltshire said the strategy game was "more difficult that chess but easier to learn".

Mr Curtis said he gave it to Mr Johnson as a "humanitarian gesture".

The game, designed to help people overcome maths anxiety, focuses on moves that can be made on a chess-like board.

Moves can be made based on the number of corners or vertices on the three main pieces, which are shaped as pyramids, cubes and spheres.

'Lovely letter back'

Mr Curtis said after he sent the game to the prime minister, Mr Johnson personally thanked him for helping him on his journey to recovery.

Referring to the first lockdown in 2020, Mr Curtis said: "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 sent a lovely letter back," he said.

Mr Curtis said he named the game Prometheus to celebrate the ancient Greeks.

"I just had this vision one day in my mind of play pieces on a board moving around with corners.

"Chess is a great game, but it's too long," he added.

Stonar Independent School year 12 pupil, Bella, said she thought the game was "tactically intense".

She said it had "more complexity to it than draughts and is also more playable than chess".

'Sharpens your mind'

Year 13 pupil, Aaron, said he loved how it "sharpens your mind".

"The evolving strategy is exciting, with seemingly endless possibilities for problem solving and risk taking," he said.

Alfar, from year 12, said: "It's tactically and strategically more difficult than chess but easier to learn."

The board game has also been donated to a fundraising event on 26 October at The Weaving Shed, in Bradford-on-Avon, raising money for charity Breast Cancer Now.