Wolverhampton millionaire creates his own board game and sells out in two hours

Property developer Samuel Leeds regrets not ordering thousands more in time for Christmas, after being "inundated with messages" since he brought the idea to life. Property Millionaire – The Board Game became an instant hit, with shipments going as far as Africa.

The motivation was to teach his three children, aged three, four, and five, about property and investments in an entertaining, understandable way.

The 31-year-old said: "I wanted to teach my children about how to invest in property when they get older.

"So I invented a game for them to make it fun - but then I thought it would appeal to grown-ups too."

As a child, Samuel would play Monopoly with his family, and said it was one of the things that sparked his interest in property.

He believes the attraction of the game is that, unlike Monopoly, it teaches players to understand different investment strategies.

"Don't get me wrong, Monopoly is great - but it's more about making other people bankrupt," he said. "This game is all about becoming a property millionaire through methods that work in the real world."

Since coming up with the idea two years ago, Samuel and his wife Amanda were continuously playing the game and perfecting it through 'trial and error'.

"We would use homemade objects as counters, and I'd take notes on a piece of paper to make changes as we went," he said.

"About six months ago it was finally ready, so I went down to the local printer shop and got it printed. We had the family over to play it and they were obsessed with it!"

After a successful trial run, Samuel had 600 sets of the game produced and announced it on his social media pages – they were sold out in a matter of hours. An order was immediately put in for an extra 6,000 games to be produced, though they are not expected to arrive in the UK from China until early in the New Year.

"I've been inundated with messages from people saying how much they love it and enjoy playing it with their children, some as young as 12!" he said.

The businessman, who grew up in Perton, was 21 years old when he became a property millionaire, and later founded his training firm Property Investors.

Samuel's YouTube channel now has 390,000 subscribers with some videos attracting more than a million views. Mr Leeds has also advised a string of celebrities and sports stars on their property investments, including Love Island's Jordan Hames, freestyle football world champion Liv Cooke, former Liverpool midfielder Kevin Stewart and rap artist Krept, of Krept & Konan.

He has spent three years working on the board game and revealed that he plays it regularly with his wife at their mansion in Buckinghamshire.

"We’ve become a bit obsessed with it, and it all gets very serious because we have both been highly successful in property. I've completed hundreds of property deals over the past decade and my wife is a successful property investor in her own right. She is also a chartered surveyor by profession.

"When I play her, I feel I have to win or I would never live it down. But she’s a very, very clever opponent. She also finds it funny that my photograph appears on the banknotes and wants to knock the smile off my face. I won’t tell you the results of our titanic battles – what happens in the house stays in the house!"

Mr Leeds' business, Property Investors, was formerly based at Hilton Hall, on the outskirts of the city before being relocated to London in 2019. The company last year turned over more than £10m. He also owns the historic Ribbesford House in Bewdley.