Bruno is one of the most important and known board game designers in the world. He is the author and co-author of more than 100 games, such as Five Tribes, Ishtar, Kingdomino, Queendomino, Mr Jack, Cyclades and 7 Wonders Duel!
He is also the winner of the Spiel des Jahres of 2017, the Oscar of board games, with his game Kingdomino.
But you're not here to hear everything from me, right? With you, Bruno Cathala!
Sure! And you are too flattering with me. ;-)
I’m a just lucky guy who has the incredible chance to be able to mix passion and professional life.
Creating games is not my job, it’s my life. But this doesn’t make me someone « important ».
Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself Bruno?
I’m 56 years old.
I’m living in France, in French Alps, a location with beautiful landscapes.
I have 2 children (25 and 24 years old).
I made mathematical and physical studies and became engineer in material sciences.
I first worked for 18 years in Research and Development in Tungsten Alloys before becoming game designer.
My first game has been published in 2002, and I’m working full time on games since 2004.
I'm also a (bad) guitar player, I love to ride bicycle in the mountains (something like 3000 km each year), and I’m passionate in flying fishing.
How did you initiate in the board games universe? Which one was your first board game?
I discovered there was a life after Monopoly when I was 20 years old, buying a magazine dedicated to games, because I was attracted by the cover.
And it was a flash: I bought my first game, FIEF (still published today), because it was recommended by this magazine.
This game was published because his game designer won a game design contest.
So, I discovered at the same time that there were people creating games (I never thought of that before).
When I played the game, I was so impressed that I decided that, one day, I would have to create one game myself, and win this game contest to be published.
But at that time, it was only a dream. I had absolutely no idea what to do.
I invested my time in my studies, in sport (I was a rugby player up to 35 years old), and later in my professional career and family.
But during all this time, the dream to one day create a game stayed in my mind, waiting for the good time.
And also, during this time, I bought a lot of games, teaching them to my friends.
Passion for games stayed strongly with me since first time I read that dedicated magazine some years earlier.
When did you discover that the hobby could be your job?
I designed my first games aside from my daily job, as a hobby.
And frankly speaking, it would have stayed this way without a specific event.
In April 2004, after 18 years in the same factory, I’ve been fired, due to economic situation.
And I’ve had to face the following situation:
- I was an international expert in my specialty;
- the only firm working in the specialty in France was the one which fired me;
- to find a new job in that specialty, I had to quit my location, (probably in Paris, or Toulouse, something like 500 km far from here, and more probably I had to go to a foreign country);
- I was divorced, my young children living only 2 kilometers far from me.
So, I decided to try to create my own activity dedicated to games, to be able to stay close to my children.
Consequences have been deep, because getting the money you need just with royalties is very hard.
From 2004 to 2014, each month, I was not sure to be able to pay my rent.
But today, I have no more stress, thanks to games like 7 Wonders Duel and Kingdomino, my 2 hits.
You have published a lot of games, but you also have many other games that you team up with names like Antoine Bauza and Ludovic Maublanc. Which aspect for you defines if it'll be shared with other authors or do it by yourself?
The only thing which matters is friendship!
As most as French game designers, we are very connected.
We discuss together very often, and these discussions lead often to teamwork.
If the sparkling idea is born from a discussion with another game designer, it sounds as an evidence to develop the game together.
Teamworking means accepting to abandon some ideas you really like but that your co-designer doesn’t like.
It’s not a problem, it’s the rule in co-working.
But I also like to keep some games to work on them alone ;-)
You won the Spiel des Jahres in 2017, with Kingdomino! What can you tell us about this experience? Did you expect it to happen with Kingdomino?
It was … unbelievable
The nomination itself was a very good surprise. And then, you have to wait 8 weeks before the final decision.
I was really stressed during these 8 weeks.
For a game designer, SdJ is the highest award you can get. Like an Oscar for movies. It’s... the Grail for a knight of the round table!
And it’s given only one time each year.
That means, that, never mind the quality of your games, you can have a game designer life without being nominated, and without winning this prize.
For me, after 15 years of game design, I felt being in the situation « it will be now or never »
And during the ceremony, when they said, « and the winner is…… KINGDOMINO !!!! » I couldn’t breathe anymore for maybe 1 minute.
All the publishing team was in fire around me, and I was petrified for a loooooooong minute.
Frankly speaking, even today, I feel honored, and grateful for this award.
I’m not sure to really deserve it, but yes, it’s definitively an intense experience, with so many intense emotions.
Not sure I will have another opportunity to live this again.
Could you tell us about your process or methodology to develop your games?
Not much to say…
First you need a sparkling idea, coming from you, or from a co-designer, or from a discussion.
I’m never trying to find new sparkling ideas. They just come, when I’m doing something reconnected with games (like cycling, or driving, or taking a shower)
Then I spend a lot of time doing nothing. Just trying to imagine what to build with this idea. A kind of mental procedure.
Then, when it’s clear enough in my mind, I go on my computer to look for pictures, and build what I need to playtest the game.
Then testing, testing, testing (and modifying, modifying, modifying) until the final game experience fulfills my expectations (and the expectations are quite simple: I just always create the game I want to myself. I am my first customer!!).
And at the end, writing the definitive rules and trying to look for publishers.
Is there some specific idea or project that you did not have the chance to do yet?
Yes. But the concept is quite unique, so you will understand I don’t want to share it here ;-)
We are particularly fans of Shadows Over Camelot here in the Bunker. What can you tell us about this project?
The game has a long story. And it leaded me to Berlin for the first time to get a special prize from the jury of Spiel des Jahres (at this time there was no SdJ for expert, but a special prize).
With Serge, we are working on a full new version of the game.
Action will take place later... probably something like 1880, players being the descendants of Knights of Round Table, and protecting the grail.
And we will contact publishers very soon. Let’s see if someone is interested!
We are living in a world health and economics crisis and the board game hobby will not go through it without impacts. How do you see our hobby in the upcoming months/years?
Well... it’s difficult to really imagine the deepness of the consequences.
First, we absolutely need to have a network of specialized shops, being able to give advice, to present and teach games to the customers.
My fear is to see part of these shops disappearing because of the crisis.
2 months without any activity, for some of them, it will be too long.
Then, it will be difficult for new games:
There won’t be any board game event before end of the year, fear.
So, it will be more difficult to communicate with the core public.
But at the same time, during this kind of crisis, we have seen a lot of people re-discovering games and having experimented how it improves social life at home.
And I also have seen that playing online, a platform like Board Game Arena became more and more popular.
So... it’s the evolution’s law: like each time, we will have to invent new ways, we will have to adapt ourselves... or we will disappear.
What can you tell us about new projects? Is there some new game from you coming soon?
Before the end of the year, I can speak of 2 projects:
- First one is DRAGOMINO. It’s a Kingdomino game adapted to very young players (up to 4)
That means that, after a first game, these children will be able to play by themselves, without any help from an adult, even for final scoring.
I worked with Wilfrid and Marie Fort (they won the SdJ for child last year)
- Second one is TREK12
A roll and write game, with Corentin Lebrat, but with something special:
you will be able to discover new things all along your games, depending on some challenges, with new components to discover, hidden in envelopes.
Mr Bruno, thanks a lot for your participation in Cultura Meeple. We are huge fans of your work and it was an honor to interview you, sir. We hope we all go through this crisis as soon as possible to meet our friends and family around a table to play your games! We sincerely hope you and your family are safe and well!
See you all next time!!
