They are seated in twos, threes, fours or more around wooden tables. In front of them are dice, cards or a board. Installed in the large halls of the Jacobins convent in Rennes, the hundreds of participants are united by the same desire: to play. Organized by the association La Toile ludic, the show reindeer at play will have brought together several thousand board game lovers this weekend. Not surprising. From the famous and eternal Uno to very complex expert games, the board game market has literally exploded in recent years, gaining more followers every day. Accentuated by episodes of confinement, this passion seems to have no limits. Imagine that every month, more than a hundred new games are released in France. Who are these new players? Encounter.
For two years, he has only thought about that. New author of board games, Ludovic Lépine is part of the LEAF, the Extraordinary League of Ile-de-France authors. Based in Paris, this association brings together “inventors” of board games. “I spend my evenings cutting out images, thinking about the process, testing the mechanics,” explains the enthusiast. Banker during the day, he dreams of seeing one of his inventions sold in stores. “It’s a very competitive universe, few authors manage to make a living from it”. Ludovic supervises Emilie and Guillaume for their first game of “Deliflery”, a game simulating a home delivery company. “The theme came to me from seeing people getting anything delivered around my house. When you have found the idea, you think about how to play. Without guarantee that it pleases.
Authors like Ludovic, France has more and more of them. As it has more and more simple fans of small popular party games like Dixit, Blanc Manger Coco or the TTMC. “The game is evolving at breakneck speed because it can reach a very large audience. Everyone can find their way there, there is something for all ages and all tastes,” says Loïs Boutin, vice-president of La Toile Ludaise Rennes. After playing role-playing, the Rennais turned to board games “for ease and to save time”. “For the role plays, you have to spend four hours preparing everything. While there, you just have to take out the box. The man is a big fan capable of engaging in expert games whose games can last two hours. His crush? “Terraforming Mars. A strategy game where you have to build an empire. “A bit of a geek? “It’s a prejudice that sticks to our skin. But it is an increasingly feminine universe which has become much more democratized, ”says the president of the association Anaïs Maugey.
The young woman is one of the “Sunday players” who likes to gather around a table to have fun. “What I like is to play. Sometimes it tends, sometimes it relaxes, it makes you laugh. It’s another way to meet, a way to learn who we are too. How we lose, how we win, how we lie. The success of the Rennes en jeux fair organized by his association testifies to the incredible dynamism of the sector. For its fourth edition, the event was able to attract nearly 8,000 onlookers over two days. “The audience is very family-oriented, there are people of all ages, from all social classes. The president likes to insist on the intergenerational aspect of the board game, capable of bringing together 6-year-old children and grandparents around the same table. Here, everyone has their role, their reflexes, their ideas. “We play quite often with our friends at home or in bars. There is sometimes a strategic side, a playful side,” explain Méline and Nathan, in the middle of a game of Skyjo.
“We had abandoned board games for video games”
Already very vigorous before the Covid-19, the board game market experienced a blow with the episodes of confinement. Forced to stay at home, the French have rediscovered the pleasure of playing together. “We were isolated, we had this need to play, to find each other,” recalls Anaïs Maugey. Game designer Ludovic Lépine believes that the return to favor of board games is due to a generation. “In the 1980s or 1990s, we had abandoned board games for video games. These people who are now 40 or 50 years old have had children, they have rediscovered this pleasure. The banker admits it, for a few years, he became addicted. An addiction that seems rather healthy to believe the smiles taped to the faces of the participants.