Flagship - The Independent Magazine for Gamers

1. Can you begin by telling our readers a little bit about what inspired you to create The Da Vinci Game?

I’ve always loved making games and was making a ‘Lord of the Rings’ board game for my kids, when Allison suggested I should work on a game we could publish, as there were already 365 Lord of the Rings games on the market, and we felt one for every day of the year meant the market was probably saturated.

She suggested a ‘Da Vinci Game,’ as we both loved The Da Vinci Code - Allison, because of the spiritual references to the divine feminine, and me, because I’ve always loved codes and riddles.

2. Have you produced any other games beside The Da Vinci Game?

The Da Vinci Game is the only game we’ve had published, however, we’ve got 3 new games being considered - one based on a popular children’s book series (no, not Harry Potter), and the other a fun card game for adults involving famous people from both fiction and the real world, and the last is a follow-up to The Da Vinci Game.

3. What makes The Da Vinci Game unique and stand out from other games on the market?

We created it together, and have both put different parts of ourselves into it. Allison is an artist and designer, and has incorporated a lot of symbolism of the sacred feminine, including designing the board in the form of a pentacle.

I write the cryptic crossword for The Big Issue in the North, and together we wrote the 800 questions in the game - which are a mix of codes, riddles and anagrams.

Many of the questions are rhyming riddles, which I feel makes it immediately more interesting than a standard general knowledge question, as it gives you the chance to work out the answer, if you don’t already know it. The rules of the game are also such that the person moving then reads out the question, and everyone else races to answer it, with the fastest correct answer getting the most tokens, but all correct answers gaining something. This means that everyone’s involved all the time, so no one’s off making tea waiting for someone else’s turn to finish.

4. What were some of the things about the game's design that were changed during play testing?

We play tested the game all the way through the process - so the early play tests were done with hand-written questions and played on a very basic hand-drawn board. This meant that lots of things changed during play testing.

Some specifics include the questions being made easier, and the rules being made more dynamic and easier to understand. The overall shape of the board was decided fairly early on, and we stuck with it, because it works well.

5. Who were the main people involved in designing The Da Vinci Game?

Allison did all the design for the board, playing pieces, and tokens, and we worked together on the clues. Allison worked together with Games Talk, who were also our agent, to design the box, and Games Talk also suggested the current rules format, so that everyone’s involved all the time.

6. How did you come up with the design for the board used in The Da Vinci Game?

The pentacle is a common symbol of the sacred feminine, and Allison wanted to include as much female symbolism, as possible, in the game. It was also where her interest sprang from, because where we live in France, there are 5 peaks all exact distances apart that create a perfect pentacle. We also used the Mona Lisa for the background, as it’s Leonardo Da Vinci’s most famous painting, and included backwards writing around the edges of the board, which again, Leonardo is well known for.

We started with the pentacle, and then worked out where the spaces would go on the board. Five is an important number in the game - there are 5 types of spaces on the board, 5 points of the pentacle, and if you roll a 5, then you can choose to move any number of spaces between 1 and 5.

7. Is it a steep learning curve for new players to grasp how to play the game?

The rules of the game are fairly straight forward. However, it can take people a while to get their heads around some of the clues, as they can involve play on words and somewhat strange logic. For example, here’s one of the Codex clues:

Pam takes a turn, showing where to travel,
She knows all routes on water, road or rail.
(3 letters)

I’ve explained the answer at the bottom of this interview.

8. If you had to compare The Da Vinci Game to any other game, what would you compare it to, and why?

That’s one of those questions I tend to avoid answering. However, if pushed, I’d say Trivial Pursuit. The similarities are that you have to answer questions correctly, in order to gain treasure (in our game) or pieces of pie (in theirs), and that once you have one of each type, you then return to the starting point and answer a final question correctly to win the game.

There are, however, lots of differences - as I’ve already said, our game has riddles, anagrams, logic puzzles, and codes, instead of standard questions. I also feel that the extra rule that the person moving asks the questions, and everyone else races to answer (against each other and a 1 minute timer), also makes the game more dynamic. It’s also more empowering, as you can often work out the answer from the question, and if one player’s really good at the game, then it doesn’t mean everyone else is waiting around for their turn.

9. Will there be a follow-up game for The Da Vinci Game?

Yes, we’re working on a follow-up at the moment. It’s likely to be a separate stand-alone game which has overlaps with The Da Vinci Game, but also significant differences. We’ve also made a ‘Da Vinci Game Book,’ and are waiting to hear from a distributor about that.

10. What was the single most difficult thing about designing and bringing The Da Vinci Game to market?

I think we had a pretty smooth start, particularly as when we sent the game to the agent Games Talk, they phoned us back the same day to say ‘Yes, we’d like to represent you AND we’ve already found a publisher - Fun and Games.' That’s very rare in the toy and game world (and probably other publishing businesses, too).

The biggest challenge was probably that we were working to a tight deadline. As we’d chosen a difficult format for ourselves (rhyming two-line riddles, many of them written in iambic pentameter), it took a long time to create all the clues, plus the time to design the pieces, illustrate the board, etc., and we wanted to launch the game fast.

11. The Da Vinci Game has 800 puzzles, riddles, logic problems, and codes in it. What made you decide on that particular number?

We felt that 800 clues gave the game longevity - if you use 50 clues per game, then you can play the game 16 times before you repeat questions, which is good value for money. There’s not more questions, primarily due to manufacture and transportation costs, as the box is already quite heavy, and more questions would have necessitated increasing the retail price.

12. For the person who is considering buying The Da Vinci Game, but who might be on the fence about making the purchase, what would you say to them convince them to go ahead and buy the game?

If you enjoy riddles, codes, or anagrams and like playing games where you have to think a little, then this is the game for you. We also get regular emails from players asking when we’ll make an expansion set, and telling us how much they love playing The Da Vinci Game.

13. Who did the artwork for the game's various components?

Allison designed the artwork for the board and all the components, with the help of Leonardo, who painted the Mona Lisa J. Games Talk worked with Allison to create the box.

Allison and I also created the game’s website (http://www.thedavincigame.com), as one of our many hats is that of website designers (see http://www.1websitedesigner.com).

14. What made you decide to make The Da Vinci Game into a board game, instead of a card game or an online game of some type?

The game idea itself just seemed to lend itself best to a board game, and we also both play board games ourselves more than we play card games or online games.

15. Why a Da Vinci game, and not a game named after some other famous artist?

It was as much the other aspects of Leonardo’s life that drew us to him, not just his art. He was an enigmatic character himself, could create mirror writing without a mirror, and used codes and symbolism in his paintings. This, plus the popularity of The Da Vinci Code, made him the obvious - in fact the only - choice.

16. Looking back, what has been the most rewarding thing about creating The Da Vinci Game?

I think the most rewarding thing is when we get emails from people saying how much they love the game. Knowing that tens of thousands of people have played a game that we invented is really quite a thrill.

17. Will The Da Vinci Game have a booth at any upcoming game fair or convention?

Not in the immediate future. It was at the London Toy Fair and other conventions in January and February, though.

18. What advice can you give to someone who is considering creating their own board game?

Be open minded and play test the game as much as you can, before you send it out. Ideally, give people the game and instructions, then leave them to it (at least give them time to get into the game while you’re not around). I’ve found that asking players to fill in feedback forms gives much more detailed feedback than just chatting about the game. This tells you what you need to change, and what to keep the same, though go with your own instincts, too!

Other than that, research the market, make sure you can send the game to a named individual, not just an ‘enquiries’ email address, write a good cover letter selling the unique points of your game, and if you feel you have a winning product and your play testers tell you you have, then persist and send the game to a range of publishers and/or agents. Believe in yourself.

19. Of all of the games out there, what is your personal favourite other than The Da Vinci Game, and why do you like it so much?

When I was growing up, I’d have definitely said Dungeons and Dragons, which is a role-playing game, rather than a board game, as I love using my imagination and feel that role-playing games give you limitless possibilities to do this.

Now, my favourite game is The Transformation Game, which was produced at Findhorn, a spiritual centre in Scotland. The Transformation Game is my favourite, because it helps players to work through real life challenges and to gain insights and understanding on the way.

Allison’s favourite game changes daily. She’s loving mousetrap at the moment, but before that it was Scrabble, and next week it could be Risk and world domination!

20. Sometimes, games face controversy of various sorts. Has there been any controversy surrounding The Da Vinci Game?

Remarkably little. I think that the world’s becoming a more tolerant and accepting place, and that people are becoming more used to non-Christian symbolism, like the sacred feminine symbolism used in the game. Either that, or anyone wanting to create a controversy has been concentrating on The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, and our game managed to slip through the net!

21. Has the game been more successful or less successful than you expected, or did you have any expectations either way?

I guess we’ve always been dreamers, so we had imagined the game selling millions of copies, which is hasn’t. However, it has sold nearly 60,000, which is still great, going with a small distributor.

22. What is the object of the game? In other words, how does a player win, when playing The Da Vinci Game?

To win the game, you must race against other players to correctly answer a range of riddles, codes, anagrams, and logic puzzles. The fastest correct answer wins the most tokens. You then use these tokens to have a go at winning four treasures:

The Codex - which is a rhyming riddle.
The Logic Key - A logic puzzle with a numerical answer.
The Rose - a geographical rhyming riddle.
The Vitruvian Man - an anagram of a famous creative person or creative work (e.g. a painting, painter, novel, author, film, actor, etc.)

Once you have won all 4 treasures, the first player to reach the Ankh space and correctly answer a final riddle wins the game.

23. If you had it all to do over again, is there anything that you would have done differently?

We did our main marketing campaign about 6 months after the game was launched. I’d have done more marketing the instant the game became available in the shops.

There’s also occasionally a point in the game where you have all the tokens you need, and must then make your way to a Treasure space. I would speed this up, by adding a rule that if you collect 4 tokens of the same type, you can teleport straight to that treasure space and immediately try answering the riddle to win the treasure, without needing to roll the die to move there.

24. Has your experience with developing The Da Vinci Game changed the way that you look at games?

Yes, it has. When I see a game in the shop, or am playing a game, I normally perform a kind of ‘game analysis’ on it and evaluate what I like, what could be improved, etc.. Mind you, I’ve always invented games for my own pleasure, and regularly invent my own rules to games, so maybe that’s not such a change, after all.

25. What do family members, friends, or associates think about you creating The Da Vinci Game?

Generally. our family and friends are thrilled and delighted that we’ve invented the game. Because of the nature of the game, it means that we can’t actually play it ourselves, because we know all the answers, so it’s great seeing people we love playing it for us. And, I’d like to take this opportunity to say a quick thanks to all the people who play tested The Da Vinci Game for us!

26. How many people can play a game of The Da Vinci Game at one time?

3 to 6 players or teams - We've seen the game played with about 10 people, but the teams could be larger.

27. What is this thing that you mentioned called The Big Issue in the North?

The Big Issue is a charity magazine sold by homeless people.

28. What was it like being at the London Toy Fair and other conventions, and how was the reception there to The Da Vinci Game?

It was actually the distributor - Fun and Games, who took the game to the London Toy Fair and the other conventions. We live in France, so unfortunately, don't make it over to the UK very often.

29. What other kind of artwork does Allison do, when she's not designing game related material?

Allison paints landscape and portrait paintings (see http://www.allisoncarmichael.com )and illustrates children's books. She also does graphic design for websites, logo design, promotional material, etc..

30. How much does The Da Vinci Game cost, and where can anyone interested in buying the game purchase it from?

The game normally retails for around 20 to 25 pounds, and you can see a list of where it's available from on http://www.thedavincigame.com/buydavincigame.html. In the UK, shops include amazon.co.uk, Gamleys, and Men Kind.

Comment on question 7:

The answer to this riddle is ‘Map’, as you have to ‘turn’ or write backwards the name ‘Pam’.