Sell out Swedish board game takes on UK scientists

London, May 11, 2011.

Three Swedish science graduates played Trivial Pursuit and got bored. They wanted more of an educationally rewarding challenge. So they created their own general knowledge game. With ONLY science questions.

‘The Art of Science’- a surprise sell out in Sweden, is now available to the knowledge-thirsty British public. A challenging trivia game in science, ‘Art of science’ is clearly going against the family-focused board game market of today. 

Swedish Acabo Games is launching the first ever game of general knowledge in science and technology in the UK. The popular game was an instant sell out in Sweden when released last autumn and a 2^nd edition with an additional 30% questions is now available both in Swedish and in English.

Having identified a gap in the market based on their own desire to combine entertainment and scientific knowledge, a group of young Swedish scientists at the renowned University of Uppsala, devised the popular ‘Art of Science’. The objective of the innovative board game is to collect points in your preferred category of biology, chemistry, physics, maths, technology, or the risk category of ‘miscellaneous’ – which allows the players to excel and compete on equal terms across the board. In other words, it’s a level playing field between a mathematician and a biologist, for example. The game also includes strategic features to increase the level of excitement.

"The Art of Science" is only one of several board games aimed at students and academics, that the company will launch this year. “Our games are not only fun, they also have an educational value - and what’s more, they are free from sports and TV-show trivia”, says Lovisa Morner, marketing director at Acabo Games. ‘The 2000 questions were pooled from a network of enthusiastic academics, professors, PhD students, and first year graduates alike, says Lovisa. It was clear to us early on that we had tapped into a huge market, as our project became the talk of the campus.

Acabo Games' vision is to become the first choice regarding knowledge games among academics in the world.

The company, Acabo Games, was set up in 2010 as a project of the school of Entrepreneurship in Uppsala, a year long programme for engineers and scientists who want to learn about business development and entrepreneurship.

The games can be ordered from the company website and will also be sold at selected bookstores and board game stores throughout the UK.