Two million and 250 thousand teams: it's a record number of registrations for FantaSanremo, the online game invented by a group of friends from the Marches linked to the Italian Song Festival whose 73rd edition will begin next Tuesday.
"By Monday evening, February 6, we aim for 2 million and 500 thousand teams and who knows if we will reach the peak of 3 million", Giacomo Piccinini, 31, from Amandola, in the province of Fermo, one of the creators of the game that is depopulating throughout Italy and even beyond national borders.
"It all began in 2020 in the Papalina bar of La Corva in Porto San'Elpidio - Piccinini recalls - 47 of us participated in that offline edition and the game we had invented had fascinated us so much".
On that occasion, the prizes up for grabs were a ham for the winner and a salami for the last classified.
"We always continue to reward the first and last, but now there is only 'eternal glory' up for grabs and therefore no prizes", underlines Giacomo.
In fact, it was Covid that made the "fortune" of FantaSanremo: "We creators are all musicians or show technicians and the pandemic had blocked all our activities - Piccinini continues - and this is how we thought of putting the game online, collecting 47,000 entries in 2021. Strengthened by this result, we started to really believe in it and we structured ourselves in every respect up to the 2022 edition with 500,000 entries".
This year there is a boom in 'members': "it is difficult to say how many teams we will reach, the goal we aim for, at this point, is 2 million and 500 thousand teams".
The success of the game has also required a rather drastic change of regulation, "this year - explains Piccinini - the assignment of bonuses and maluses will change, for example and the main rankings will be that of the artists, the coaches and the super league which takes its cue from the Superlega which is talked about in the world of football".
But the creators still have a dream in the drawer: "undoubtedly today's Sanremo Festival is a great event with a renewed formula and therefore highly coveted, this is due exclusively to Amadeus - says Giacomo - But in 15-20 years, when 'Love' will be tired,
