While researching SEO for my own WineBoo-K, I stumbled upon a European designed board game called "Bouquet-The Wine Game", a game designed to have a great time with your friends and provide you a substantial amount of knowledge about wine. Whether you are an amateur or a connoisseur, the game is  ingeniously designed so the two can play against each other on equal terms-"you will be amazed when you see how that is achieved!"

THE STORY

When studying to be a certified sommelier at the Restaurant Academy in Stockholm, Sweden in 1994, Britt-Marie Backe invented the Bouquet  to find a better way to master  all she needed in order to get her certificate and  to have more fun doing it.

"My techniques of studying have never been very brilliant, and this led to that I had to construct small tests on every subject for myself.  I am sure I made up more than 100 questions on every single district we covered."

AN IDEA POPS UP:

"It was during this period; the idea of a wine game came to me.  There must be a way to learn all these facts in an easier and more fun way, instead of having to read all these indigestible books.  In 1996, I finally took the decision to pursue my idea.  I resigned from my position as director of marketing at the Grythyttans Gastgivaregard,-a beautiful inn in the south-central part of Sweden, and started working actively with the game."

The game pieces are hand painted wine corks which Britt hand painted herself to start and then found another (secret, undisclosed) technique for painting the corks.  She has painted over 62,000 corks herself.  That is only the beginning of what she did herself to get the game rolling. 

"When constructing games, one might think ordering game boards, dice,playing cards and boxes is as simple as booking a round trip tour. However, that was not the case for me." When ready to present her game to the press at her first press release, she had a big surprise and a lot of work ahead of her with only two days to spare." It all came from different places and loaded on pallets in a complete mess.  The 1,100 game boards came flat, meaning she had to fold each and every one of them herself.  The question cards came unsorted on 22 pallets with 49 stacks of cards on each pallet.  Again, having to sort all of them herself.  The storage of her 1,000 games was in her and her fiances apartment, where her career of sorting and folding over 4,500 games began until she finally found a company in Estonia who would  print, assort,fold, pack and deliver the final product for half the cost.  She received shipment of 1,000 to 2,000 games at a time (each weighing 5 lbs.) and carried each of them  up to her apartment.

Her passion for this board game and the business became almost obsessive, even choosing it over her boyfriend who was fed up.

The press showing went very well and she had major coverage in many newspapers.

It turned out so well, she decided to commercialize it in Scandinavia as wine was rapidly becoming more popular there.  It didn't take Britt long to produce and sell more than 10,000 games of her own design.  Since  2004 she has adapted the game to fit the American market and brought it to the United States where her Bouquet is trademarked and very successful.  You will find Bouquet-The Wine Game in online wine clubs, bookstores, wine shops, magazines, amazon and beyond.  San Francisco, Oregon and Washington were here first markets in the United States.

Bouquet-The Wine Game can be viewed and purchased through the website retailing for just under $45.  You can also get an online sample by trying a hand of Bouquet or have a question sent to your email on a daily basis.

Check it out:  www.bouquetthewinegame.com

 

 

 

 

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