Dragons’ Den pitch was slammed for being poorly prepared - it’s now worth over £95million
The Dragons' Den cast said the board game would struggle in competing against big names like Monopoly but the business has gone on to be hugely popular.
Dragons' Den: Rachel Lowe pitches 'Destination London' in 2004
A Dragons’ Den reject business pitching a London-based board game has gone on to be a hugely popular family game.
Rachel Lowe went into the den in 2005 asking for £75,000 to back her board game, Destination London, about being a black cab taxi driver.
The dragons were not entertained by the business prospect with Doug Richard claiming the pitch was so poorly prepared Ms Lowe couldn’t “even have a basic business discussion” with the investors.
Rachel Elnaugh said the game would struggle to be a winner in competing against big titles such as Monopoly.
But the entrepreneur soon proved the dragons wrong with the game becoming a huge success and outselling Monopoly in 2005.
Ms Lowe came up with the idea for Destination London while she was working as taxi driver to get extra income for her law degree.
To win the game, players compete as taxi drivers moving from destination to destination to get game money.
She had a deal in place with Hamley’s when she went into the den but the dragons were still not convinced it could get off the ground.
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The game has gone on to appear in many high street stores and has achieved more than £1.2million in sales.
Ms Lowe was awarded an MBE for services to business in 2009 and in 2017, she founded Rachel Lowe Games & Puzzles.
Under the brand, she has created games and puzzles based on big entertainment names such as Hotel Transylvania, Call the Midwife and Mr Bean.
In 2021, Ms Lowe’s business was said to be worth £96million. Shortly after founding the company, Ms Lowe launched a board game for the Jumanji film series, which became a top seller on Amazon and won Product of the Year at the Toy Industry Awards in 2019.
She also launched a new Beano board game at the start of 2022 in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the start of the Dennis the Menace comic.
At the time of writing, Destination London is available to purchase from Amazon and from other online retailers.
Dragons’ Den is available to view on BBC iPlayer.
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