Once upon a time, Tris decided to invent a board game. He was fed up with playing games that dragged on too long, were too complicated and too hard (he’s a bit thick). So Linkee was born, although back then it was called something completely different and went on too long, was too hard and too complicated.

Fast forward six years. Linkee had undergone multiple name changes and rule tweaks and was now in pretty good shape. Instrumental in transforming Linkee from a few bits of scrap paper made from a cornflake box into a smart little game was Ben.

Ben and Tris have worked together in advertising for 15 years. Ben does the pictures; Tris the words. Together they had created a simple game that was fun to play, but they didn’t know what to do with it so it lived in the bottom of a drawer.

Then, one day, along came Dean. Now Dean has got a degree in something useful (business) unlike Tris and Ben, (microbiology and graphic design, respectively). It was the breakthrough Linkee needed. Suddenly they had the perfect team: two creative types and someone to run the show. A Steve Jobs (Dean) to Tris and Ben’s Steve Wosniak.

After thoroughly testing Linkee on friends and colleagues, and seeing how much fun they had playing it (and contributing questions to it) they had the confidence to take the plunge. So they encouraged Dean to give up his job and work on Linkee full time, for free. (They got him drunk first and made him sign something so there was no backing out.) That was early 2012 and Dean’s office was any Pret that happened to be near the agency Tris and Ben were working in.

In September 2012 Linkee was launched, selling out twice before Christmas. In 2013 they made it their mission to make Linkee as famous as possible. They also started work on spin-off versions, including Dinkee Linkee for kids (teaming up with schools to help them write the questions), a multiplayer app, Linkee the TV show and Linkee USA, France, Spain…. In short, they’re aiming for total Linkee world domination. So watch out world.

Linkee Dean

The get-stuff-done one. Good with the numbers. Likes a spreadsheet or two. Great at finding nice, talented people to work with Linkee. Has the world domination master plan.

Linkee Ben

The arty one. Designed the Linkee brand identity. Finds packaging mildly erotic. Partial to any kind of clever clogs digital invention.

Linkee Tris

The inventor one. Created Linkee at the same time as inventing the chocolate toothbrush. Doesn’t always get it right. Loves a good pub quiz but only wins if Big Tim turns up – he knows everything.