He revealed to the general public games like Quarto, Quadropolis and Not Alone or the strategist Abalone awarded in 1988, published the following year and which sold 4.5 million copies in more than 30 countries, twenty years later.
The success and fame of the international competition for creators of board games in Boulogne-Billancourt, which has just closed its registrations for 2021, is not weakening.
The Boulogne-Billancourt ludic center (the CLuBB) is celebrating its 40th edition this year and 124 games are already running smoothly.
A third comes from Ile-de-France, a quarter comes from abroad and the rest comes from all over France.
“Since the inception of the contest, over 90 award-winning games have been published, not to mention the many finalists who accessed the edition through the contest.
It helps young authors to get their feet wet, ”underlines Erwan Berthou, head of the design competition.
“It's a great springboard!
»Confirms Laurent Escoffier, former participant in the competition.
This 53-year-old Châtillonnais presented his first game to the jury in 1992 and won when he was only 25 years old.
Then, for twenty years, the creator presented a new game almost every year, while keeping a main activity of graphic designer in an advertising agency.
"A jury that does not care about the commercial aspect"
“I won the first time, I started again, it became almost a ritual.
It's a great competition with a jury of enthusiasts and curious people, who don't care about the commercial aspect, which opens doors to experimentation, ”he says.
Laurent Escoffier has won the competition seven times, the last time in 2016 with his son, and half of these award-winning games were finally published.
The others were according to him, “original” but “not necessarily editable”.
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Now recognized with fifteen games published to his credit, the game creator wants to make room for other authors.
“After 2016, I stopped doing this contest because I felt that I no longer needed this publicity.
It was perfect at the start because I hate canvassing, ”he explains.
Laurent Escoffier (left) and David Franck, co-main author, created the game “Attrape Rêves” awarded the Ace d'Or game of the year 2020, in Cannes.
DR
His last consecration, he owes it to his children's game Catch Dreams, co-created with David Franck, who won the Ace d'Or game of the year 2020 at the prestigious international games festival in Cannes.
Published in 2019, it sold 40,000 copies.
One of its biggest successes, designed with the same collaborator, remains Loony Quest, which has sold over 150,000 copies in ten countries.
“The vast majority of games have a circulation of 5,000 copies.
Beyond 10,000, that's good, ”explains Laurent Escoffier.
Board games take advantage of the health crisis
The latter considers living from his creations "moderately well" but remains a "
free-lance
"
graphic designer
.
“Those who live well are around twenty.
Like me, there are about thirty of us, but it's better than 20 years ago, where three were living well and 10 were making a living, ”notes the Châtillonnais.
Recently, game authors have federated into an associative group called the Society of Game Authors (SAJ), which brings together between 200 and 300.
The board game sector is one of the few sectors that is coming out of this health crisis rather well.
With confinement, families have rediscovered the moments of conviviality that they can offer for an ultimately affordable price compared to other leisure activities.
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"The protozone
(Editor's note: the creators of game prototypes)
has exploded in 10 years and this year, board game stores have done really well", confirms Erwan Berthou.
Of the 124 smooth running games, 30 will now be selected on the game rules and will pass the prototype test phase.
Ten games will be selected for the final and will be presented to sponsor editors.
The final will take place in Boulogne-Billancourt during a public event, the CreaGames, in September, subject to sanitary conditions.
The jury, made up of representatives of shops, illustrators, game authors, toy librarians and former publishers will choose their four favorites after having tested the ten selected games themselves.
