The board game created by young people will be available in 114 Latvian libraries

The board game "Shurpu turpu" created in Latvia will be donated to the most active public libraries in Latvia with the aim of promoting the inclusion of board games in the cognitive and educational process. The patriotic family game has been created by young women, thinking about Latvia's centenary and drawing attention to the country's domestic tourism and nature protection.

On March 9 of this year, the Great Reading Festival was held in the Ziedon Hall of the Latvian National Library, where not only the most diligent Latvian readers, librarians, authors and publishers were awarded, but board games were also donated to libraries. The board game company SIA "Brain Games" donated its newly released game "Here and There" to 114 of the most active Latvian municipal libraries, which participated in the Latvian National Library's reading promotion program "Jury of Children, Youth and Parents".

"It is a great pleasure to support the culture of board games in libraries. At the end of last year, nearly 100 children's and school libraries in the Vidzeme region received a gift of ten board game sets from "Brain Games". This year, following the initiative of the company, it is the public libraries of Latvia that will receive the new board game "Shurpu turpu". There is certainly a place for board games in libraries, as they can be used in many ways: games as part of the learning process; entertainment that unites all players involved in it; also promoting reading and board games are things that perfectly complement each other," says Aiga Grēniņa, chief librarian of the Children's Literature Center of the National Library of Latvia.

" Shurpu turpu " is an educational and entertaining board game that allows you to visit the most beautiful places in Latvia with your family and friends without leaving your home. The game dedicated to Latvia was created by the young girls Annija Rošane and Vita Konopecka, the illustrations for the game were drawn by cartoonist Gatis Šlūka, and it was created in the "Cultural Canon" competition of the Latvian Academy of Culture.

"I have always been fascinated to see that young people can do much more than us and that young people themselves can dare to dream. Glad to see that "Shurpu turpu" is another reminder that young people can! Many thanks also to the libraries that do so much to encourage young people to strengthen their knowledge and create a positive environment for growth. We also see that the market of board games is growing by 20% per year on average, and games are becoming an increasingly important tool for libraries, families, schools, various organizations and groups of friends, both globally and here in Latvia, and are a reason to be together and spend time meaningfully. The world's largest board game database BoardGameGeek has more than 100,000 different board games registered, and at SPIEL , the world's largest board game exhibition, more than 1000 new board games are presented every year, which are very encouraging numbers and certainly reveal the diversity and unexplored possibilities of the big game world ," says Raivis Kalniņš, head of SIA "Brain Games".

The game is intended for everyone who wants to travel to Latvia: both adults and children. Its area is a map of Latvia divided into 4 counties with 60 attractions. To win, you must visit one facility in each county and complete an end-game quest that players draw at the beginning. The grateful format of "Shurpu turpu", which envisages 2 to 6 players from the age of 7 and a playing time of 30 minutes, allows the game to become an exciting learning task for students in science or geography lessons. On the other hand, playing it at home with the family promotes interest and the desire to see the places known in the game in person as well.