Magic Keys
A rule that fits in one gesture: trying a key in a lock. Kinderspiel des Jahres 2024.
2022 · Happy Baobab · Art direction, illustration
Context
A game by Markus Slawitscheck and Arno Steinwender, published by Happy Baobab, then by Game Factory in Germany, Blackrock in France, Megableu in the Benelux and Gémklub in Hungary. Players gather keys in an enchanted forest; only one opens the chest.
What was at stake
An audience that cannot read yet, across several markets: from age six, everything has to go through the components. The keys, the lock and the chest carry the intent on their own, so the first game can be played without explanation, in any language.
The work
Art direction and illustration, with Camillia Peyroux. For the new edition, manufacturing costs had to come down without touching the moulded keys: the box and the size of the path were rethought around what first looked like an impossibility.
Results
Official selection at the 2022 International Design Awards. Kinderspiel des Jahres 2024, Deutscher Spielepreis for best children’s game and the Lys Children award in Quebec the same year. A promise made in Nuremberg, and kept: bringing a Spiel des Jahres award home to a Korean publisher.