Andrea “Liga” Ligabue: Italian Style - Ghenos Games

Editor’s note: Liga published this interview in February 2009, but I think it was overlooked at the time, so I’m republishing an edited version.

Hi gamers,

After having first interviewed daVinci Games in December 2008 for a new series of interviews with Italian publishers, I went to catch Anna and Alfredo Genovese from Ghenos Games, which has been establishing a position for itself in the publishers’ plaza thanks to its nice sports simluation games, starting with Bolide and leading up to the most recent release, Leader 1, which had great success at Spiel 2008.

Read on to learn about a new special edition of Leader 1!

[Liga] Hi, Anna and Alfredo, and welcome to Boardgame News. Ghenos Games is already an established name in the game world, but how did the company come into being. Can one of you summerize the history of Ghenos from its beginning to the current day?

[Anna] We started off by publishing Bolide, our car-racing game, for fun and people seemed to like it. After attending the most important game fairs, we liked the world of game publishing more and more. At the conventions, we found many people who choose to play as a form of healthy gathering. All of these reasons pushed us to stay longer in this world, and we decided to publish more games. We have specialized in sports simulation games, but we are now looking for other games that could be part of a “travel and adventure” topic.

[Liga] That’s nice, but please tell us something more – is “we” only you and Alfredo, or someone else also involved in Ghenos Games ? I know Bolide was designed by Alfredo, as was Rugby World, so it sounds like in the beginning Ghenos was closer to being a self-publisher than it is now, what with you since having published Race the Winds, Camper Tour and the great Leader 1. Where do you now place Ghenos Games in the publisher pantheon?

[Anna] Well, “we” mainly means Alfredo and myself as his wife. At the start, other friends were involved but they’ve since left; only Ari has stayed, and he has gone from being only a friend to now becoming a partner.

Yes, at the beginning we were much closer to being a self-publisher, as you said, but Alfredo soon realized that Ghenos needed other ideas. Therefore, we started looking for other solutions, although it seems more like the solutions came to us. I do not really know where to place ourselves. We are publishers but our past working experience makes us feel like outsiders in a certain way. We’ve certainly grown a lot from the end of 2005 when we started, but we realize that we still need to improve – and this is an aspect we like and we continuously aim to improve.

[Liga] So now we know what Ghenos was and what it aimed to become. What about Ghenos today and in the future?

[Anna] Ghenos is growing and working in different directions. For example, Leader 1 will be printed in a special version on the occasion of the Giro d’Italia centenary, which is a recognition of the quality of our games. Furthermore, this is an important occasion for all game publishers like us: It allows common people to know that there are more games than those they usually see on the shelves. This is especially true for the Italian market.

[Liga] That’s really great news! Do you think this release could be a good opportunity to introduce more people to our hobby?

[Anna] This is one of the aims we have for this whole operation – the chance to reach more shops and therefore more people, which will make customers aware of the existence of many games. Let us hope they will enjoy playing Giro d’Italia: The Game so much that they will find games more attractive in general.

[Liga] Can you say whether there will be differences between Leader 1 and the special Giro d’Italia edition? Will you make the tracks of the Giro d’Italia 2009 available on the Ghenos Games website? I think doing so would be really nice for both gamers and fans.

[Anna] The special Giro d’Italia edition has a few differences compared to Leader 1. First of all, the cover is pink. Second, the game will contain a booklet showing how to build all 21 stages of the 2009 Giro. Last, there will be 15 special cards that can be played, each of which gives a characteristic to the rider according to its speciality (leader, rouleur, climber).

[Liga] Now that you have several games in your catalogue, which is the one you are most proud of?

[Anna] It is very difficult to choose: Bolide and Rugby World are Alfredo’s “creatures"… you should ask him. I think he likes Bolide a lot, and although he did not design Leader 1, the dedication we put in to producing this game makes us really feel proud of it. In general, before we decide to produce a game, we test it, we work on the rules, we try new solutions to find the best way to make it pleasant from all points of view, including graphics and components. Our work is so dedicated that we feel each game is ours.

[Liga] Do you have any news about your next releases or ideas?

[Anna] Not officially: we have some games by other authors and a few by Alfredo, but they all need more work. Some are sports games, but some have different topics.

[Liga] Nuremberg is close. Are you going there to show new titles or just to search for new games ?

[Anna] Yes, Nuremberg is very close and we will be there sharing the stand with Counter/Stratelibri. We will show some prototypes. but also be aware of new games.

[Liga] Thank you, Anna, for your time. Good play, and see you in Essen – or somewhere along the Giro d’Italia!

Ghenos Games has a preorder special for Giro d’Italia: The Game – the commemorative version of Leader 1 – that ends on March 20, 2009. Details on the Ghenos Games website.

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