{"id":17863,"date":"2025-04-01T15:54:43","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T15:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/?p=17863"},"modified":"2025-08-29T15:48:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T15:48:25","slug":"a-la-lettre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/blog\/2025\/04\/01\/a-la-lettre\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00c0 la lettre!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Je ne suis, en principe, pas trop fan des jeux de Roll and Write, ni d\u2019aucun type de jeu o\u00f9 les joueurs jouent chacun dans son coin, cherchant juste \u00e0 obtenir un meilleur score que les adversaires. Je pr\u00e9f\u00e8re qu\u2019ils interagissent, que ce soit pour s\u2019affronter ou pour coop\u00e9rer. J\u2019aime beaucoup, en revanche, les jeux de lettres, m\u00eame s\u2019ils ont un peu moins \u00e0 la mode ces derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Il y a quand m\u00eame un jeu de Roll & Write que je sors assez r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement, le plus simple et peut-\u00eatre le plus ancien, High Score \/ Wurfel Bingo de Heinz Wuppen, dont j\u2019ai m\u00eame achet\u00e9 plusieurs boites pour pouvoir jouer nombreux.  Un jour, je me suis dit que ce jeu pourrait tr\u00e8s bien fonctionner avec, \u00e0 la place des lancers de d\u00e9s et des combinaisons de poker, des cartes lettres et des mots de cinq lettres. Voil\u00e0, \u00c0 la lettre, que j\u2019avais alors baptis\u00e9 Scrumble, \u00e9tait n\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

J\u2019ai pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 le jeu \u00e0 pas mal d\u2019\u00e9diteurs, et tous m\u2019ont r\u00e9pondu, \u00e0 raison d\u2019ailleurs, que les jeux de lettres ne se vendaient plus. Depuis, il y a eu le succ\u00e8s mondial de Wordle, auquel je continue \u00e0 jouer quasiment tous les jours, donc \u00e7a va peut-\u00eatre revenir. Quoi qu\u2019il en soit, mes voisins de Don\u2019t Panic Games, le seul \u00e9diteur auquel je peux rendre visite \u00e0 pied, ont finalement d\u00e9cid\u00e9 de publier mon jeu. \u00c7a a train\u00e9 un peu, six ans entre le contrat et la sortie du jeu, mais ils ont fait un superbe travail graphique et ont ajout\u00e9 quelques petits m\u00e9canismes amusants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le jeu arrive. Les r\u00e8gles sont des plus simples, les joueurs doivent placer une \u00e0 une sur leur grille de 5 x 5 les lettres pioch\u00e9es, cherchant \u00e0 faire le plus de mots de 5 lettres possible. Quelques cases \u00e0 cocher permettent de refuser une carte, d\u2019inverser des lettres, de noircir une case, mais tout cela reste tr\u00e8s simple. Bien s\u00fbr, la r\u00e9partition des lettres est adapt\u00e9e \u00e0 la langue fran\u00e7aise, et le jeu n\u2019est pour l\u2019instant pas jouable dans une autre langue. Si des \u00e9ditions dans d\u2019autres langues sortent un jour, il faudra peut-\u00eatre aussi redessiner la bo\u00eete, une belle bo\u00eete \u00e0 lettres jaune des PTT, fa\u00e7on ann\u00e9es soixante-dix, avec dans un coin un joli facteur avec sa casquette bleue. Dans les coins o\u00f9 les bo\u00eetes sont rouges et les facteurs verts, ou l\u2019inverse, \u00e7a risque de faire bizarre, ou tr\u00e8s frenchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Couleur des bo\u00eetes aux lettres dans le monde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Et une chouette variante \u00e0 laquelle je n’ai pens\u00e9 que trop tard, pour 2 \u00e0 5 joueurs :
Chaque joueur a une main se sept cartes. Chacun \u00e0 son tour joue une carte de sa main, que tout le monde doit mettre dans sa grille, puis pioche une carte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c0 la lettre!<\/strong>
Un jeu de Bruno Faidutti
Illustr\u00e9 par Frank Ferrandis
2 \u00e0 99 joueurs \u2013 30 minutes
Publi\u00e9 par Don’t Panic Games<\/a>
Boardgamegeek<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I\u2019m not a fan of Roll and Write games, nor of any type of multiplayer solitaire games in which every player tries to maximize their score on their own small sheet of paper. I prefer games in which players interact, either to fight or cooperate. On the other hand, I really enjoy letter and word games, even when they have been less popular for two or three decades.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is still a roll and write game I regularly play and enjoy, probably the oldest and simplest one, Heinz Wuppen\u2019s High Score \/ Wurfel Bingo. I even got several copies to play with many players. And one day, I thought that this game could well work with letter cards and five letter words instead of dice and poker combos. This is how \u00c0 la Lettre, which was then called Scrumble, came to be. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I showed the game to many publishers, who usually answered, rightfully, that letter and word games did not sell. Then came the world Wordle craze, so things might change \u2013 and I still play Wordle almost every day. Anyway, my neighbors at Don\u2019t Panic, the only publisher I can visit by foot, finally decided to make it. It took some time, six years between the contracts and the publication, but they did a great graphic work and added a few fun small mechanisms.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game is here. The rules are extremely simple, players must place the drawn letters in their 5 x 5 grid, trying to make as many 5 letter words as possible. A few check boxes allow you decline a letter, to swap letters, to blacken a space, but it stays extremely simple. Of course, the letter distribution is designed for French, and the game cannot so far be played in any other language. I hope there will be editions in other languages, but they might require a different box art. The original has a typical seventies yellow French letter box, with a postman in a blue uniform. In countries where letter boxes are red and postmen green, or the reverse, this might look strange, or very French. Anyway, if you are interested in making this game in any other language, just contact my friends at Don’t Panic Games.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Letter box colors in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A nice 2 to 5 players variant, but I got the idea too late, when the game was already published:
Each player has a hand of 7 cards. Each player on turn plays a card, which everyone must add to their grid, then draws a card from the deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c0 la lettre!<\/strong>
A game by Bruno Faidutti
Art by Frank Ferrandis
2 to 99 players \u2013 30 minutes
Published by Don’t Panic Games<\/a>
Boardgamegeek<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Je ne suis, en principe, pas trop fan des jeux de Roll and Write, ni d\u2019aucun type de jeu o\u00f9 les joueurs jouent chacun dans son coin, cherchant juste \u00e0 obtenir un meilleur score que les adversaires. Je pr\u00e9f\u00e8re qu\u2019ils … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[539],"tags":[540,541],"class_list":["post-17863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-la-lettre","tag-a-la-lettre","tag-dont-panic-games"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2HNOP-4E7","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/A-La-Lettre_Presskit_01.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17863"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19251,"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17863\/revisions\/19251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}