News From France

By Catherine Soubeyrand.
June 12, 1995

Sometimes there is little news about games in France for weeks or months and then there is suddenly lots of news. Strange isn't it? Descartes/Eurogames (the second is now part of the first but the name has been kept) announces "Menace sur Ter" (Threat on Earth) a game realized in partnership with Unicef, about the ecological balance. They have already produced Vertigo a few years ago on this theme.

Ludodelire: their next track for Formule De is the Grand Prix of Japan. It should be available in September. New rules for Terrain Vague are available. They should reduce the length of a game. [Ken: How do we get them?]

There is a new publisher of boardgames, Vents d'Ouest (Western Winds). Previously they only published comic books. They have two new bike race games: "La Bourre" and "Trajectoires". Also, "BD, le jeu" where the aim is to try to have your comic strip published. A little blink from this new company in the field of boardgames!

Unicorn publishes "Symbioz" a game for 4 players (price about 260F) set on the planet Xagul, where many strange creatures live: zerbs, crapits and kroguls. In 12 turns you must succeed to create 3 symbioz (don't ask me what they are) in order to win. Components: a gameboard and 100 pawns. It seems fun, maybe a bit strange? Will write more once I have tried it.

The Game Cabinet - editor@gamecabinet.com - Ken Tidwell