Valrico 10-year-old creates 'Chicken Poo Bingo'
VALRICO, Fla. - It's almost a rite of passage for kids: Walking into the toy department and picking out a new family board game. But what if that board game had your picture on it?
That's the way it is for 10-year-old Cooper Dean of Valrico. She's the creator of Chicken Poo Bingo.
Two years ago, Cooper entered the "People of Play Young Inventor Challenge." It's an opportunity for young inventors around the country to pitch their game ideas to major companies, and Cooper was one of the winners.
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"Yeah, I was really excited," she recalled.
After that, toy company giant Goliath decided to manufacture the game and put it on shelves around the world.
"They were great. They kept her in the loop and did all these Zoom calls," said Cooper's father, Ryan Dean. "They tried to let her be part of the collaborative process."
The game plays a lot like regular bingo, with one exception: The windup toy chicken.
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"The chicken poops out little tokens on to the board and that’s the bingo number," described Cooper.
She got the idea after watching real-life chicken poo bingo on a camping trip with her family.
You can pick up Chicken Poo Bingo at a bunch of different stores, including Walmart and Amazon. Cooper does receive royalties on the sales of her game around the world.