“La Rochelle, Saintes, Rochefort… This is probably the first game in the world where you can leave home, all the cities are represented,” smiles Grégory Bordier. The creator of board games, the Breton resident based in Ille-et-Vilaine has just launched “Le Jeu de la Charente-Maritime”, a family board game completely dedicated to the department and its treasures.
After several works devoted to the Vendée and Brittany, Grégory Bordier focuses on the Charente-Maritime “where I have ties, especially in Saintonge,” he admits. The results offer a dive into the history and geography of the department “for learning while having fun,” the authors promise. Nearly 500 questions, puzzles and skits have been designed for this event with one peculiarity: many of them have been designed specifically for players aged 8 to 14 years.
“We want to discover extraordinary places”
The “Charente-Maritime Game” was imagined based on extensive documentation but also thanks to many trips to the field. “We wanted to go off the beaten path and discover unusual places. I also included questions in the photos to make people want to go there,” explains Grégory Bordier, who perfected the game’s concept for two years before it was put on the market.
The principle is simple: be the first player or the first team to string together the correct answers to collect the biggest city cards in the department. Nearly 4,000 copies have been produced so far. The board game is only available in shops in Charente-Maritime (recommended retail price: 36 euros). “But we also started sending some copies to homesick exiles,” jokes Grégory Bordier.
