Ex-con’s board game

Press, 26 December 1987, Page 16

Ex-con’s board game

Most ex-cons have problems finding a job when they leave jail. Not Mr Trevor Pepperell, a former fraudster who spent his time in Wormwood Scrubs in London inventing board games. He was once a director of London and County Securities, a fringe bank which sank in 1973, setting off the secondary banking crisis. That brought trouble of a different kind for Mr Pepperell. Three years after London and County went down, a Department of Trade report accused Mr Pepperell and his boss, Mr Gerald Caplan, of fraud. Mr Pepperell was later arrested in West Germany, extradited to Britain, charged with embezzlement and forgery, and sentenced to 20 months porridge.

Inside, he invented nine board games based on finance, risk and reward — subjects on which he can claim expertise. The first two games to be launched, “Bottom Line” and

“Lady Luck,” have already sold 70,000 sets between them; a third, “Silver Bear” (the name of Mr Pepperell’s company) will soon be on the market. Its theme? Making money in a bear market. Mr Pepperell says his time inprison proved invaluable to his gamesmanship. His advisers were “some of the finest hoodlums, fraudsters and extortionists in the country.” One thing they insisted on was that, until the last move, everyone should retain a chance of winning. Mr Pepperell has invented a term for such a game: “minium integrity.” Copyright — The Economist