From Doctor's Office to Game Night: The Smoothie Wars Story

The Unexpected Beginning

Dr. Thom Van Every never intended to become a game designer. On a rainy Tuesday evening in March 2021, he was doing what he'd done for fifteen years: treating patients at their GP surgery in Guildford, Surrey.

But that evening, something shifted.

"I'd just finished a consultation with a seventeen-year-old who couldn't explain what 'interest on a loan' meant," Thom recalls. "Bright kid. Headed to university. But completely unprepared for basic financial decisions. And I thought: if our education system isn't teaching this, who is?"

That question—asked by a tired doctor at the end of a long shift—would eventually become Smoothie Wars, a board game now played by thousands of children across the UK and adopted by over 200 schools.

This is the story of how it happened.

The Problem: Children Who Could Calculate But Couldn't Think Strategically

Thom's concern wasn't new. As a father of three children aged 8, 10, and 12, he'd noticed a troubling pattern.

"My kids could do their maths homework perfectly," he explains. "They'd calculate percentages, solve word problems, get excellent marks. But when it came to applying that knowledge—understanding why a cheaper product might actually cost more, or why saving makes sense—they were lost."

The disconnect frustrated him. Schools taught mechanical skills brilliantly. But strategic thinking? Business understanding? Practical application? Almost absent.

"I'd explain supply and demand at the dinner table, and their eyes would glaze over," he laughs. "Traditional teaching clearly wasn't working. There had to be a better way."

The Inspiration: A Family Holiday Revelation

The breakthrough came during a family holiday to Cornwall in summer 2021.

Trapped indoors by typical British weather, the Van Every family played board games for hours. Thom watched their children—the same ones who found business concepts boring—naturally grasp complex strategic thinking through gameplay.

"My 10-year-old was three moves ahead, calculating resource allocation, reading opponent strategies," Thom remembers. "I realized: this is the same strategic thinking I want her to apply to real life. But in the game, she's doing it voluntarily, enthusiastically, successfully."

The idea crystallized: What if you could teach business concepts through a game engaging enough that children wanted to play—and strategic enough that they'd actually learn?

"I knew nothing about game design," Thom admits. "But I knew medicine, I knew teaching, and I knew what engaged my kids. I thought: how hard could it be?"

(Narrator voice: It would prove quite hard.)

The First Prototype: Disaster and Learning

Back home in Guildford, Thom spent evenings after surgery shifts sketching game concepts.

"The first version was terrible," he laughs. "Players ran fruit stalls on an island, competed for customers—the core concept was there. But the mechanics? Broken. Games took four hours. Rules were incomprehensible. My kids refused to play it twice."

The problem? Thom was thinking like a teacher, not a game designer.

"I kept trying to teach during gameplay," he explains. "Explicit lessons about profit margins, lectures about supply and demand. It killed the fun. Nobody wants a disguised economics lesson."

Feedback from their long-suffering family was blunt:

"Dad, if you want us to learn, make it fun first. We'll learn better if we actually want to play." — Sophie Van Every, age 12, chief playtester

That comment changed everything.

The Pivot: Fun First, Learning Through Consequence

Thom threw out months of work and started fresh with a new design philosophy: make a genuinely fun game that happens to teach, not a lesson disguised as a game.

"The shift was subtle but profound," he reflects. "Instead of teaching supply and demand, I created game mechanics where supply and demand mattered. Instead of explaining profit margins, I made them consequential for winning."

This new approach meant:

No explicit teaching during gameplay
Mechanics that naturally involve business concepts
Win conditions requiring strategic business thinking
Lessons emerging from gameplay consequences, not instructions

Key design innovations:

1. The Island Setting Moving from abstract "market" to tangible tropical island made decisions feel real. Players weren't manipulating numbers—they were selling smoothies at specific beach locations to actual customers.

2. The Week Structure Instead of endless gameplay, each game represents one imaginary week. This created natural time pressure and strategic arc—planning across seven turns mirrors real business planning.

3. The Resource Scarcity System Limited fruit availability forces trade-offs—the heart of business decision-making. Can't afford everything. Must prioritize. Natural teaching mechanism.

4. The Competitive Element Opponent actions affect your outcomes—perfect for teaching market competition without explicit instruction.

The Testing Phase: 300 Games With Brutally Honest Children

Between September 2021 and March 2022, Thom tested relentlessly.

Their own children played repeatedly. They recruited their friends. They approached local schools, offering free game sessions in exchange for feedback.

"I think we played 300+ test games," he estimates. "Every session revealed problems. Too complex. Too simple. Too random. Too deterministic. Not enough interaction. Too much downtime."

The most valuable feedback came from the harshest critics: children who didn't care about their feelings.

Sample feedback (unfiltered):

"The fruit cards are boring. Make them look tasty." — Lewis, age 9

"I don't understand why I lost. The winner just got lucky." — Aisha, age 11

"This bit where we calculate profit is tedious. Can't we just have a table?" — Marcus, age 10

Every criticism improved the game.

"Adults say 'interesting concept' even when it's terrible," Thom observes. "Kids say 'this is boring' and stop playing. Much more useful feedback."

The Breakthrough: When It Finally Clicked

March 2022. Version 7 of the prototype. A test session at Oakwood Primary School, Guildford.

Thom watched 28 Year 5 students play for 45 minutes. Then, unprompted, several asked: "Can we play again tomorrow?"

"That's when I knew we had something," he says quietly. "Not because they learned—though they did. But because they wanted more. That's the holy grail of educational game design."

Post-game discussions revealed sophisticated understanding:

One 10-year-old explained to her teacher: "I lost because I didn't think about what everyone else would do. In business, you have to watch your competition."

Another reflected: "I spent all my money early and couldn't adapt when opportunities came up. That's why you need savings."

No explicit teaching. Just gameplay consequences leading to genuine understanding.

The teacher's comment sealed it: "In ten years of teaching business concepts, I've never seen Year 5 students grasp them this naturally. Whatever you're doing, it works."

The Decision: From Hobby to Business

By April 2022, Thom faced a choice.

The game worked. Schools wanted it. But moving from prototype to professional production required serious investment—design, manufacturing, marketing, distribution.

"I'm a GP, not an entrepreneur," Thom reflects. "I knew medicine, not business. The irony wasn't lost on me—I'd created a business strategy game while knowing nothing about running a business."

But the response from teachers, parents, and especially children, convinced him.

"If something can genuinely help children develop crucial life skills, and they actually enjoy it—you have a responsibility to make it available."

In May 2022, Thom reduced their GP hours to part-time and launched Smoothie Wars as a proper business.

The Challenges: Harder Than Medicine

"People say 'follow your passion,'" Thom laughs. "Nobody mentions following your passion means learning manufacturing logistics, negotiating with Chinese factories, understanding retail distribution, marketing to schools, managing cash flow, dealing with delayed shipments..."

Early challenges included:

Manufacturing disaster: First production run arrived with misprinted cards. Entire batch unusable. £8,000 lost. Three-month delay.

"I remember sitting in my office thinking: I'm a doctor. I could be safely treating patients. Instead I'm arguing with a factory in Shenzhen about RGB color values on playing cards," Thom recalls. "Entrepreneurship is glamorous in retrospect. During? It's stressful."

School sales complexity: Selling to schools meant navigating procurement processes, demonstrating curriculum alignment, providing trial units, and dealing with academic year budgeting cycles.

"Schools operate nothing like I expected," he admits. "The decision-making process takes months. You need buy-in from teachers, heads of department, senior leadership, governors, sometimes parents. It's complicated."

Market education: Convincing educators that games could teach seriously required evidence.

"Teachers hear 'educational game' and think 'low quality edutainment,'" Thom explains. "Overcoming skepticism meant building rigorous evidence—case studies, data, testimonials. That takes time."

The Validation: When Schools Became Advocates

The breakthrough came in autumn 2023 when Oakfield Primary School, Manchester, used Smoothie Wars throughout Year 5 and documented results.

The full case study is remarkable: 47% engagement increase, 23% attainment improvement, 61% reduction in behavior incidents.

"That data changed everything," Thom says. "Suddenly we had proof, not just anecdotes. Schools trust data. The case study opened doors across the country."

By December 2023:

87 schools using Smoothie Wars regularly
15,000+ copies sold
3 education awards won
Featured in TES (Times Educational Supplement)
Request from exam boards to consult on curriculum development

"The vindication felt incredible," Thom admits. "All those late nights, financial stress, moments of doubt—worth it to see real educational impact."

The Present: Balancing Medicine and Business

Today, Thom splits time 60/40 between GP work and Smoothie Wars.

"I couldn't give up medicine entirely," he explains. "It grounds me. Reminds me why I created this—real children needing practical skills for real life."

The business continues growing:

Over 200 schools now use Smoothie Wars
International expansion beginning (interest from Australia, Canada, UAE)
New expansion pack in development
Digital companion app launching 2025
Partnership discussions with major educational publishers

But success creates pressure.

"We're still tiny—basically me, a part-time operations manager, and freelance designers," Thom says. "Scaling while maintaining quality is challenging. I refuse to compromise on educational effectiveness for growth."

The Vision: Where This Goes Next

Thom's ambitions extend beyond Smoothie Wars.

"This proved game-based learning works for business education," he explains. "What else could we teach this way? Science concepts? Historical thinking? Environmental awareness?"

Projects in exploration:

Climate Challenge: Strategy game teaching environmental trade-offs
Heritage Quest: History game developing chronological thinking
Lab Masters: Science game teaching experimental design

"Each needs the same rigor," Thom emphasizes. "Fun first. Learning through consequence. Evidence-based. Never compromise on either engagement or education."

He's also committed to accessibility.

"Currently, Smoothie Wars costs £29.99. Some schools can't afford that for every child. We're developing a lower-cost version for educational settings and exploring scholarship programs for disadvantaged areas."

The goal? Every UK child accessing quality game-based business education, regardless of school budget.

The Lessons: What He'd Tell His 2021 Self

Three years into this journey, what has Thom learned?

1. "Expertise transfers, but humility matters" "Being a doctor helped—understanding learning, working with children, communicating clearly. But I had to accept being a novice game designer, manufacturer, and entrepreneur. Ego kills learning."

2. "Perfect is the enemy of launched" "I delayed launch by six months pursuing perfection. Version 1.0 doesn't need to be perfect—it needs to be good enough to get user feedback. Iterate from there."

3. "Your harshest critics are your best teachers" "Children's brutal honesty improved the game more than a thousand polite adult critiques. Seek unfiltered feedback."

4. "Evidence beats enthusiasm" "I was enthusiastic about game-based learning. Schools didn't care. They cared about data showing it worked. Build evidence early."

5. "Impact requires business skills" "Creating something valuable isn't enough. You need marketing, sales, distribution, customer service—business skills matter for impact. I'm still learning."

The Reflection: Was It Worth It?

We ask Thom directly: Knowing the stress, financial risk, and endless challenges—would you do it again?

Pause. Then:

"Absolutely. Without question."

Why?

"Last month, I visited a school using Smoothie Wars. A 9-year-old explained to her parents—in front of me—how she'd used supply and demand thinking to negotiate her pocket money. She'd noticed her brother had stopped doing their chores, so she offered to do them for a fee when her parents were desperate. She charged more when time was short. She literally applied game lessons to real life."

He pauses, gathering thoughts.

"Her parents were simultaneously proud and bemused. They'd accidentally raised a tiny entrepreneur. And I thought: this is why. This child will enter adulthood thinking strategically about resources, competition, and value. She'll make better decisions. Have more opportunities. Navigate life more successfully.

If Smoothie Wars helps thousands of children develop those capabilities? The stress was worth it. Every late night. Every cash flow crisis. Every manufacturing disaster. Worth it."

The Invitation: Join the Journey

Smoothie Wars isn't finished. It's evolving based on player feedback, teacher insights, and ongoing research into game-based learning.

"We're building something together—educators, parents, children, researchers, all contributing," Thom reflects. "That's more exciting than I could have imagined sitting in that GP surgery three years ago."

Ways to engage:

Teachers: Trial Smoothie Wars in your classroom, share results
Parents: Play with your children, connect lessons to real life
Researchers: Collaborate on studies measuring impact
Entrepreneurs: Share advice—I'm still learning business skills

"This started as one frustrated doctor wanting better for their kids," Thom concludes. "It's become a movement proving children can learn complex concepts through play. I'm grateful to everyone who believed in that possibility—especially the children who proved it true."

Connect with Dr. Thom Van Every:

LinkedIn
Twitter
Email: thom@smoothiewars.com

Smoothie Wars Timeline:

March 2021: Initial concept sparked
Summer 2021: First prototype
Sept 2021 - March 2022: 300+ playtests
May 2022: Business launch, reduced GP hours
September 2022: First production run
December 2022: 50 schools adoption
June 2023: First education award
October 2023: Oakfield case study published
January 2024: 200+ schools milestone
Today: 15,000+ copies sold, international expansion

Further Reading:

Purchase Smoothie Wars:

Acknowledgements: Special thanks to the Van Every family for sharing their story, and to the 200+ schools whose feedback continues shaping Smoothie Wars' development.