Alexandre Seba drew the right card. In 2018, this Montpellier resident released a first version of his homemade board game, Smile Life. Five years later, more than 60,000 boxes of this ultra-addictive party game have passed. At Mad Distribution, responsible for placing the title in stores across France, it was even the best-selling game in its catalog in 2022. And for this new year, the round promises to be smiling, for the author from Montpellier: Smile Life is currently out of stock. A reprint of the game is planned in the coming weeks.
“Smile Life benefited from a snowball effect, confides Alexandre Seba, its creator. Often people play the game with their friends, family, and buy it right away because they had a blast. There is very good word of mouth. “But it is above all a video of the youtuber Pierre Croce, which tested Smile Life in the summer of 2020, which allowed the game to explode. To date, more than a million Internet users have viewed this fiery part. “It made it possible to take a step forward,” continues the author from Montpellier.
“It was, at first, a very small project! »
However, five years ago, when Alexandre Seba released his game on the sly, he would never have imagined attracting tens of thousands of players. “It was really, at the start, a very small project, launched in 500 copies! “, he notes. This game, the Montpellier man imagined it when there were a lot of changes in his life. At the time, jostled by a lot of changes in his life, he imagined a game where he had to play the right cards, to give meaning to his existence. In Smile Life, you have to collect as many smiles as possible, symbols of happiness, by meeting people, getting married, starting a family, studying brilliantly, getting your dream job, etc. While avoiding breakups, dismissals or small tours in prison.
For Alexandre Seba, the pickaxe was good. Today, as an author and publisher, he makes a living from his game. Which is far from easy, in a “very competitive” sector, assures the Montpellier resident. There are a lot of new things coming out all the time. Often with big publishers. So inevitably, it doesn’t catch on in the first weeks, we unfortunately move on to the next one… That Smile Life has managed to make a name for itself, it’s really cool. To revive players’ curiosity, Alexandre Seba has released three extensions to his card game in recent years: Trash, for lovers of dark humor, Apocalypse, where the world is collapsing, and Girl Power. And the next step, for the Montpellier author, is the translation of the game, for international distribution.