NORTH DEATH – After Sudbury Matt Cousineau, is another Franco-Ontarian from the north who is launching into board game creation. The goal? Putting Northern Ontario on the map, literally.
This is a new adventure started by Voyageur journalist Éric Boutilier, who spent the last six years developing his game Tripped, which will be called Trébucher in the future French version.
“One weekend, I decided to develop an original concept. I had a map of Ontario that I often talk about and I thought I could do something with that,” says the North Bay resident who claims to have developed playing cards previous tables for the game Jeopardy.
The game is a race across North America, using different modes of transport, tracks, railways, cruise ships and planes. With permission
He says he was inspired by several games and worked on the concept for a year before his friends tested it. The result is a combination of Snakes and Ladders and the Amazing Race TV show.
The goal of the game: collect stamps for the passport by visiting six different communities, and by successfully overcoming obstacles placed by other players.
Sudbury in the North Bay?
About a hundred cities in North America appear on the game map, a good number of them are located in Canada, Ontario and especially in the North.
“We decided to study large communities to see which towns we should put on the map. So, there’s Thunder Bay, Moosonee, Hearst, Pickle Lake,” Mr. Boutilier mentions.
On the left is North Bay Mayor Peter Chirico, and on the far right, Paul Lefebvre of Sudbury. With permission
To complete the map, the man who has also blogged about transportation in the north since 2017 invited people from the two largest cities in northern Ontario to choose which North Bay or Sudbury their place should be won in the game.
What better way to promote this competition than a match between the two mayors of these two cities? Paul Lefebvre, mayor of Greater Sudbury, and Peter Chirico, mayor of North Bay, clashed Tuesday on the second day of the annual conference of the Association of Northeastern Ontario Cities.
The winner earned 20 points for their city. The results of the votes should be published in the coming weeks and, with them, the name of the chosen town.
Focus on small communities
For the Franco-Ontarian creator, the design of this map was also an opportunity to highlight small communities that are often forgotten in the face of large institutions.
“I grew up, I still live in northern Ontario and it was important to me to promote different communities, not only in the north, but across the country,” he said.
“It was just a question of location, we couldn’t put a city like Ottawa or another community on the east side. “
“We find among others Hearst, a predominantly French-speaking community, Acadian communities, Quebec communities, communities from the Arctic, from Western Canada. »
The national capital, Ottawa, will not be on the map like other large cities in the south of the province. The short distances on the Canadian map in the south and east explain this choice according to the French-speaking North Bay.
“It was just a question of location: we couldn’t put a city like Ottawa or another community on the east side,” he explains.
Éric Boutilier says that he received very positive feedback from the first people who played the game with permission
Respect native languages
To best respect regional areas, the Franco-Ontarian has chosen to represent the cities in their original languages with, in Central America, names in Spanish, in Canada, names in French, in the Arctic, names in Inuktitut, just like in Greenland.
For now, the game is only designed in English but a French translation is planned soon. “We are currently seeing how we could translate the game, some terms, the name of the game,” said Mr. Boutilier, who specifies that the name of the game in English uses a play on words.
And he said: “We want to find a word that could explain the game well in French, then translate well in the guide and that is something that will come. »
This game focuses on the spirit of competition, while also making people laugh. With permission
Crowdfunding campaign
It was thanks to a close friend who started working for Quinn & Sherry, an award-winning board game design studio in North Bay, and was willing to pitch the game to its president Mark Sherry that Mr. Boutilier able to start your marketing. game.
“We were hooked as soon as we started playing,” said Mr. Sherry, who became TRIPPED’s biggest fan. “Everyone we’ve shown the game to immediately wants to play it again. »
A crowdfunding campaign will begin at the end of May.
2024-05-08 19:36:26
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