30 SECONDS - A SOUTH AFRICAN GAME

Calie Esterhuyse invented 30 Seconds, a fast-paced general knowledge game, 14 years ago. Since then, more than 500 000 sets have been sold in South Africa. There are also versions for the Netherlands, Ireland and the USA. Versions for England, Australia, France and Germany are being released. The idea was born late one evening in 1996 at Danie and Annelie Morkel's home in Gordon's Bay. A guest, tennis player Marius Barnard, suggested the 20 guests play a game by writing each one writing a name on a piece of paper and putting it into a bowl. Each guest took out one piece of paper and had 40 seconds to describe it to their team mate. A year later, the same game was palyed at Martin and Margaret Botha's beach house in Great Brak River, and Calie thought of making it a commercial game. It was launched in stores in 1998.

He was born in 1963 in Cape Town, one of three sons (Niel and Jan-Willem being his brothers). He attended Laerskool Riviera in Pretoria. His father, a legal adviser, died when he was 10 years old, and the family moved to Stellenbosch, where his mother, Rita, was matron at a Stellenbosch University house. Calie matriculated from Paul Roos Gimnasium, and studied at Stellenbosch University. In the early 1990s, he started Calco Games with the first product, Goldquest, based on sport. 30 Seconds took a year of research. At that time, the game was known as Rudy Nappi - the name written by the young rugby player Schalk Burger at the Great Brak River party. Rudy Nappi was an artist, whose pictures were on place mats at the beach house. The name 30 Seconds only came towards the end of the research year, during a conversation with Sampie Terreblanche (son of the economist Prof. Sampie Terreblanche), who was pressed for time. Calie used to date Sampie's eldest sister during their school days.