Roberto Fraga is a French-born game Designer whose creations have sold all over the world. His games have proven to be especially popular in the United States with the recent release of “Go Go Gelato” which made a very positive impression on players at the New York Toy Fair in February of 2017. Roberto’s games have won awards, and his “Dr. Eureka” was a best-seller for Blue Orange Games in 2016. Roberto recently discussed his experiences as a game designer and his hopes for the future:
Inspiration
Blasting News (BN): When did you get into designing games initially?
Roberto Fraga (RF): I started when I was 12. My parents were factory workers and didn’t have much money to buy me toys and were not that many choices back in 1972. Since I was a big fan of space operas and historic novels, I started designing games around those themes. I had a lot of imagination and was very persistent.
BN: Right now many toys or games do you have on the market and what are your age ranges?
RF: My first game was called “River Dragons, ” and it was marketed in 2001. I have now had more than 100 of my games published and forty are still on the market for an array of ages.
BN: How do you generally think up ideas for your games?
RF: I like to start from an object, or a situation, or a place.
Most of my ideas come during my travels like magic shows in Spain or experiences like watching a spider come down from the ceiling. I got the idea for “Doctor Panic” when I broke my leg and went to the emergency room! I created “Go Go Gelato!” in ten minutes while playing with small plastic cups and colored balls on my table and right at that moment was an ice-cream seller on TV!
BN: What are some of your most unusual and/or favorite products?
RF: One of my French games, “La Danse Des Oeufs” involved ten plastic eggs in a real egg box, and “Trumpelefant” used party blowers required the players to play as elephants. “Dr. Eureka” is probably my best idea so far but I also really like “Captain Sonar” because it’s a very innovative game that opens the door to games that make you live an experience… And this is what I want to offer when I discover a new game: live a new experience that is playful, eccentric, and incredible!
Games
BN: What has been the most rewarding part of working as a professional Inventor?
RF: From 1982 to 2010, I worked more than a dozen different jobs, but I have always designed games on the side. In December 2010, I decided to leave my job as a commanding officer of a Coast guard speed boat so that my hobby would become my real job. My freedom is the most rewarding part of my job.
BN: Where do you hope to be in ten years’ time and what advice can you give to aspiring game designers?
RF: I think in 10 years I will still be creating games because ideas are never missing. We can’t even imagine what will tomorrow’s playful world be made of. If we had already invented everything, then life would have no meaning!
Do not be afraid of the thousands of games being published each year since there will always be room for new and original ideas. Above all, do not soak your brain into other games, you just need to take a quick look at novelties to get an idea on today’s trends. Someone who consistently plays many games will inevitably be influenced and will have a less original production of ideas, which are everywhere around you, and you just need to intercept them and translate them into games.
BN: Are there any future projects that you would like to mention?
RF: In August, we will gather 200 players from ten different nationalities during six days, in an ultra-modern high school in Montpellier, south of France.
It will be turned into the “USS Enterprise” since the theme of the gathering is “Star Trek.” We will be in Quebec from August 24 to September 11 for game demonstrations and then travel to Korea at the end of September, to Spain in October, and then Germany for the ESSEN Toy Fair.
