PHOTOGRAPH

Nicely paired with last year’s Saashi designed Remember Our Trip this new edition of Wind The Film returns from Matagot with similar vibes. This time you’re trying to create a run of good holiday snaps for your personal collection. It’s a set collecting card game with some really rigorous rules that make it a bizarrely tension-filled experience.

Players set out a market of cards, based on the number of players at the table, and then each take turns picking some cards from the grid, adding them to (one side) of their hand, and ‘winding the film’ (rearranging one card). All of this is done without changing the order of cards entering your hand. You select them form either edge of the board, and add these to the ‘front’ of your hand. Winding means moving a single card forward, and cards must always be played from the back of the hand in the order they currently sit. When players play these numbered cards to the table in front of them, they can only be played in ascending or descending order, meaning you have to commit to a direction if you’re planning to add more of a suit in the future.

This extremely analogue feeling mechanism provides a kind of taughtness to the game that we’ve rarely experienced outside of abstract games. It relies on your engagement with the ritual, and if everyone around the table is committed, then you’ll end up having a great time snapping away.

And even if you don’t, and overexpose the film instead, you’ll still enjoy the lovely artwork. One for a serious holiday.