Roan Walsmith is an entrepreneur and inventor who is winding down a $5,000 Kickstarter campaign to polish his product — a dice-based battle game he says is both fun and helpful in boosting players’ math skills.

He has sold 70 units in local stores and online, but wants to mass produce the product. The $5,000 Kickstarter campaign had raised $1,350 from 38 backers as of this morning, but Roan gets nothing if he doesn’t reach his goal in the next eight days. He hasn’t thought a lot about what to do if he fails, focusing on pushing the monthlong campaign for now. He has even come up with a system of incentives for donors. 

Roan points out that teachers and parents love the education element. The object is to avoid running out of points and being eliminated from the game. Kids like it, too.

“They liked it because it’s math and it’s fun,” he said. 

Jason Walsmith said the project has potential and is still evolving. Roan created a logo and a Facebook page and worked on the project for a year before launching the Kickstarter campaign. 

Now the future Des Moines Roosevelt student will watch the final days of his fundraising effort before deciding how he’ll roll the dice in the future.