Aspiring entrepreneur Patrick Woods is putting it all on the line this time.

The Kelowna man has spent nearly all of his adult life creating a board game and hopes to strike it rich with an appearance on CBC's Dragon's Den where inventors pitch their product with the hopes that one of the 'dragons' will invest.

Woods' invention is called Big Board Raiders with the theme of corporate takeovers through the stock exchanges.

He says BC's most successful businessmen inspired the game.

"The game was sparked by the takeover kings of the 1970's. I watched many guys back in the 70's, but one that really had my attention was a man we all know as Jimmy Pattison."

Woods, who has had his fair share of battles in life including cancer and homelessness, says the idea of creating a board game has been churning in his mind for decades.

"I created Big Board Raiders because there were no games about money that were fun to play and few that had anything to do with the real world. In 1963, I was 14 when I built the first version, then I put it away."

He says he dusted off his board game in 1975 when he submitted it to Parker Brothers, but it was rejected.

However, the thought of producing a board game never went away and in a few weeks, Woods will be making the business pitch of his life.

"I think I've got a winner. It's just that nobody knows it yet."

In fact, Woods is so confident that he's got a winner that he's produced 8,000 units of his board game stacked in his house.

"I don't have a wife to tell me that the games don't match the lamps or drapes, so I'm happy."

And Woods is predicting more happiness, even if his pitch to the Dragon's Den doesn't fly.

"Even if my pitch doesn't work, I know I'm going to do well because I'll be getting an eight minute national commercial for my product. Other people have gone on the show and been crapped on by the dragons and they've come out of it doing very well. Either way, I can't lose."

Woods appears before the Dragon's Den in Toronto May 25.

Interview with Patrick Woods. (Kelly Hayes)

Link: Dragon's Den