North Bay board game makers release 'Tripped' that features northern Ont. locations

North Bay board game creator excited for new game North Bay's Eric Boutilier came up with the idea for the board game Tripped more than five years ago.

North Bay's Eric Boutilier says he came up with the idea for the board game Tripped more than five years ago.

Boutilier described it as "Snakes and Ladders meets the Amazing Race."

"So it's a travel game across North America," he said.

"You have different modes of travel. You have a passport that you have to fill with the different city cards that you visit throughout the game."

A contest was held on the game's social media platforms to have either Sudbury or North Bay featured. In the end, both were included.

"The demand was just incredible," Boutilier said.

"It just wasn't going to be right to exclude one city versus the other so we decided in this go around to have both. And there's a few other northern communities -- you have Moosonee, Hearst, Thunder Bay and Pickle Lake."

"It’s just a lot of fun to see a board game that has communities that people from this area will recognize," he added.

Boutilier teamed up with Mark Sherry, also from North Bay and creator of 'The Game of Things' to help it come to life.

"About 20 some years ago, the traditional way was to, you know, raise money from family and friends, get some games … go sell them in stores and then hopefully find a distributor," Sherry said.

"We did that and we have sold five plus million games of The Game of Things. So we had success there. But this time around … the market shifted and Kickstarter is where a lot of new games get launched. And so we thought we try our hand at it."

Tripped will be officially available on the website starting Nov. 12 at 11 a.m. EST and will be sold for $70 each.

The goal is for people to have the game in time for the Holiday season.