Best-selling board game to launch a bilingual Welsh language version

One of the UK’s best-selling board games is launching a Welsh version due to demand from Welsh speakers.

CONFIDENT? which was created by couple Ceri Price from Llanelli and Natalie Podd from London sells in five languages and six editions across the world.

Now HYDERUS? – CONFIDENT? Wales Edition is launching in retailers across Wales from today.

A fully bilingual board game with questions about Wales and the world, the makers hope it will be a huge hit with the Welsh public – be they Welsh speakers, learners, non-speakers or as a gift to visitors.

With no prior experience in the industry, Ceri and Natalie set up Confident Games and developed, financed and launched CONFIDENT? independently.

Ceri runs the business day-to-day, and being a Welsh speaker from Llanelli, the idea of a Welsh version was always close to his heart:

“We’ve received amazing support from the Welsh public since we launched CONFIDENT?, and I was constantly getting asked whether we’d make a Welsh version,” he said.

“So to see if there was enough interest, we put a Welsh sample of the game on our website for people to download. Hundreds of people played it and gave us feedback.

“The message was clear – people were crying out for more games they could play in Welsh, and Welsh learners wanted a bilingual game to practice the language. That gave us the confidence to go ahead with it. We decided to make it bilingual with brand new questions – half about Wales, half about the world – so that everyone in Wales and beyond could enjoy it.”

Noting the rise in popularity of the Welsh language and the enduring appeal of board games, Ceri hopes these two factors will make the Welsh version of the game a success.

“The Welsh language is the fastest growing language on Duolingo in the UK and board games have never been so popular, so hopefully the Wales Edition combines these two really cool things in a fun way,” he said.

“There’s nothing else quite like it and we think the Welsh public will really enjoy it, both because it’s about Wales and because the game itself is really fun. Being from a Welsh-speaking family, it’s hard to find games that we can enjoy together in Welsh, so I’m really hoping that this helps people socialise more in the language – it could be really good for it. Even non-Welsh speakers will love it – they’ll learn a thing or two about Wales, and they might even pick up some Welsh along the way.”

Earlier this year, the creators ran a competition for Welsh school pupils to suggest questions for the Wales Edition. They were inundated with over 500 suggestions but could only pick 20 to go in the final version. The winners’ names appear in the game next to their questions and they get free copies for themselves and their schools.

The game contains a huge variety of questions about Wales, covering Welsh culture, history, geography and famous natives, with celebs such as Rob Brydon, Katherine Jenkins and Huw Edwards confirming their answers.

Carbon neutral

The award-winning UK Edition of CONFIDENT? launched in 2018 to rave reviews. It became an instant hit with people of all ages.

By Christmas 2020 it was in the Top 5 Bestselling Board Games on Amazon, with extra question packs available due to popular demand.

The game is sustainably made and is one of the first in the world to be certified as carbon neutral. On top of this, a tree is planted for every game sold with 100,000 planted to date.

HYDERUS? – CONFIDENT? Wales Edition is available at book and toy shops across Wales – the creators are encouraging customers to support their local shops when they can.

It’s also available on the company’s website www.confidentgame.com/wales with free delivery, as well as on Amazon.

For launch weekend only (September 10-12), Ceri will be hosting a pop-up shop at John Lewis in Cardiff – an opportunity to meet the inventor and play the game.

The game’s RRP is £22.99, and with every game bought, a tree is planted with non-profit Trees for the Future. It comes with 200 question cards, 6 dry-wipe answer boards and pens and a scoreboard. It’s suggested for ages 10 and up and 2-30 people can play.