American Inventor finalist hails from Chicago area

May 18, 2006 (WLS) -- The next American Inventor will be chosen tonight on a two hour season finale of the ABC series, and one of the finalists is from the Chicago area.

There are many famous inventors from Illinois, including John Deere, creator of the steel plow, and George Ferris, who invented the Ferris wheel. Now, Ed Hall is hoping to join the ranks with his game that he describes as "recre-educational." He is one of four finalists who want their inventions to be the next big thing.

These are plans for the Word Ace, an electronic tabletop educational game that teaches kids spelling and vocabulary skills. It's the invention of Ed Hall, a former Chicago teacher who is a finalist in American Inventors. Hall's creation was inspired by the fifth graders he taught at Lowell Elementary School, and he worked on the creation with long time friend, Odell McFarland.

"He saw this as a way for kids to sit down with their families, to create an interaction, to create fun to create learning environment that supersedes anything that's on the market today," said Odell McFarland, Hall's friend.

Hall's invention started off six years ago as a card deck but was turned down by toy manufacturers who said that card games were passé. They suggested turning it in to an electronic game, which cost 80,000 dollars of his own money.

"He saw the literacy rate and saw the need for something to help impact our children in a major way. So it was nothing for him to put $80,000 in a dream that would not only help himself, but help millions of other kids," said McFarland.

Over the past several weeks, aspiring inventors competed on the show for their creation to be picked as the hottest new product. Hall's relatives, who have played the game themselves, say it will beat out the others.

"I think it was great. I said it's gonna be a winner," said Annie Pearl Tunstall, Hall's aunt.

One of the final four products will be chosen the best new invention and the inventor will $1 million. You can cheer Ed Hall on Thursday night starting at 7 p.m. on ABC7.

Hall says, if he wins the money, it will go toward inventing more educational games.

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