THE world's first indoor jungle adventure game, the brainchild of a County Durham man, has proved a phenomenal success in Europe.

SAS Jungle, poised to become one of Sweden's biggest attractions, was devised by Garry Taylor, of Trimdon Village.

The game, which demands teamwork, imagination and cunning, combines the best elements of paintball and computer adventure games.

Mr Taylor, 39, grew up in Trimdon Village and went to school at Sedgefield Comprehensive.

He moved to Sweden nine years ago, when he got married, and started up a paintball business.

Mr Taylor said: "I had an outdoor place which used to do very well, but that could only work in the summer months, so I decided to open an indoor paintball arena.

"That's been done before, and I know that paintball has pretty much stood still for years.

"I came to thinking that everybody's playing computer games, so what I did was I put it together with paintball."

The result was SAS Jungle, housed in a huge arena near Malmo, in which teams have problems and tasks to solve as they move around the game in search of lost treasure.

The arena has been designed to resemble a jungle, with waterfalls, huts, bridges and rivers.

A sound and light system produces effects, including the sound of helicopters flying overhead.

Mr Taylor, whose family still live in Trimdon, said: "The whole place has been designed for team building, so we get a lot of big companies, but it is a lot of fun and anybody can take part."

The venture has proved so successful that another one is planned in Germany.

And Mr Taylor has other ideas. "In about a month's time we'll be starting a hostage rescue training package," he said.