Explora Catalunya: New card game celebrates Catalonia's heritage through play

When Moya Sands first came to Catalonia, she was immediately struck by its rich traditions and distinct identity.

"Catalan people are extremely proud of their culture, their heritage, and their language," she tells Catalan News.

"I thought I had a basic idea of what the culture in Spain was like until I arrived here, and I was floored. I absolutely loved it."

Sands is an educational games creator and the founder of Happy Clan.

Originally from County Down, Ireland, she has channeled her admiration for her adopted home into a new project: Explora Catalunya, an illustrated card game designed to bring families together while celebrating Catalan culture.

Simple family game

Explora Catalunya is inspired by the classic Happy Families card game, where players collect sets of related cards to win.

"It's a card game that's for families, for children. It's very simple to learn," Sands explains. "It's all about observation and memory and learning."

Explora Catalunya features seven families of cards, each representing a different aspect of Catalan life: cities, nature, food, personalities, folklore, festivals, and symbols.

Within each family there are six cards. The folklore family, for example, has the present-pooping Christmas log Tió de Nadal, two dances  – the Ball de Bastons and the Sardana, castells (human towers), gegants (giants), and correfocs (fire runs).

The game celebrates Catalan culture "in a way that is fun and visual," for all the family, says Sands. "It says 6 to 99 on the box because we encourage all family members to play from grandparents to parents to grandchildren."

Fun illustrations

A key part of the game's appeal lies in its artwork, created by Xevi Domínguez, an illustrator from Calldetenes, central Catalonia.

"He was absolutely fantastic," says Sands. "He has a way of bringing the different aspects of the culture to life in a really fun, comical and extremely detailed way." 

Each card is a small celebration of Catalonia – bright, whimsical, and full of familiar details that locals will instantly recognize and newcomers can discover, from Sant Jordi and Pau Casals, to calçots and the Costa Brava. 

"It's quite emotional when you see things that you love represented in images and in a game," Sands says, "and then being able to share that game with your friends and family."

From Ireland to Catalonia

Explora Catalunya isn't Sands's first cultural game. Prior to it, she created Exploring Ireland, a similar concept inspired by her homeland. "I saw how people loved to learn about their own culture through play," she explains. "And I wanted to bring that experience to Catalonia."

"As a foreigner living here, I feel I have an obligation to share and promote and celebrate this culture with people outside of Catalonia," says Sands.

"People's faces light up"

Since launching in October, the response to Explora Catalunya has been "really positive," Sands says.

"It's been really exciting and rewarding to see people's faces light up when they see the box, take the cards out and look through them."

Explora Catalunya comes with instructions in Catalan, English, Spanish, and French, and includes fun facts about each card in all four languages.

The game is currently available through Happy Clan's website, as well as in several independent shops around Barcelona, including Jugar X Jugar on Avinguda Gaudí and Come In, the English-language bookshop.