-
- Player board
An ambitious project by an international team.
Board game, scale models, deluxe book, and exhibitions,
all dedicated to an almost forgotten legend of aviation:
The Schneider Trophy Epic.
Board game, scale models, deluxe book, and exhibitions,
all dedicated to an almost forgotten legend of aviation:
The Schneider Trophy Epic.
HydroRacers comes from a renowned team of experts covering all aspects of the project. The well-known game production skills of Platypus Game, the aviation expertise and passion of Hun in the Sun, and the historical advice of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force), all combine for an exciting and very different new game.
Platypus will be in charge of the gameplay and the production. Hun in the Sun will take care of the design for beauty and accuracy. Aeronautica Militare will be in charge of providing the most accurate material and to support the team activities in the aviation field.
The Schneider Trophy, where the fastest planes and most daring pilots competed in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators for personal glory and national prestige. You will be amazed that these beautiful designs were created back in the 1920s and 1930s.
The look ‘cutting edge” today!
Collector's
A "deluxe" version of HydroRacers and the Expansion, including 8 painted miniatures and the added gameboards, plus a premium quality wooden box, the giant book, and many other features.
The Game
HydroRacers puts aircraft and pilots from four nations against each other in a speed race on famous courses of their day. Players must manage the course, the time, and the power of their machines to take the lead at just the right time to win the race, all while minimizing risks and damages to their planes. And, the game lets you make WAGERS on the outcomes! Start with the basic version (Cup Mode) and then graduate to the deeper version (Trophy Mode) with more complexity and greater options.
In the Trophy Mode, players alternate between races and preparation phases, where they make repairs and improve the performance of both their planes and pilots.
Check the Rules here
The competition is played in the historic places that have seen the nations compete: seaside locations, trading ports or beautiful tutristic locations such as Monaco or Venice. The detailed nautical maps are the same as in the book and show the real tracks and those of the game.
Based on Hideaki Ozawa‘s research and three-dimensional modeling for the Book and MBVision‘s industrial design experience, 8 scale models of the most famous seaplanes have been designed and will be produced in 1:144 scale. Designed for the board game but also as collector’s items.
View more about Models
All game components such as player boards, pilot cards, race time boards, maneuver cards are inspired by characters, techniques and manuals of the Schneider Trophy era.
In Hydroracers players will be immersed in the forgotten epic of the Schneider Trophy, an international aviation race of pure speed that between the 20s and the 30s of the last century brought four nations, the most experienced designers, the most daring pilots, the most skilled mechanics to challenge each other in front of the world to conquer a small, symbolic cup, among the need of affirmation, economic efforts, extreme sacrifices, technological research.
The international team is composed of experts from different disciplines: game design, illustration, aviation history, cartography, infographics, graphic design. Two publishers brought together for a board game in partnership with a surprising new entry: the Aeronautica Militare, the Italian Air Force
Complete hand-painted set
Based on Hideaki Ozawa‘s research and three-dimensional modeling and MBVision‘s industrial design experience, 8 scale models of the most famous seaplanes have been designed and will be produced in 1:144 scale. Designed for the board game but also as collector’s items.
reviews
a project by/publishing
Francois-Gilles Richard
Co-Publisher & Producer
PLATYPUS GAME
Author and illustrator of board games and role-playing games for Descartes Editions and game designer of video games for Infogrames. FGR founded the company Work & play which offers training solutions through games. In 2020 he founded Platypus Game and published his first game via the KickStarter platform with “the Great Race”.
Max Pinucci
Co-Publisher & Designer
hun in the sun
Designer, professor and biplane pilot, CEO of MBVision and Hun in the Sun, Max Pinucci is an aviation author and illustrator. After the success of his Airships North Pole Race board game, he conceived the Hydroracers project involving experts in game development and aviation experts. He also curated the historical and iconographic aspects of both the book and the game
Rosario D’Auria
Historical Advisor
aeronautica militare
Colonel of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force), Commander of the Centro Storiografico e Sportivo dell’Aeronautica Militare, he is a great fan of aeronautical history and especially of board games. He has involved the prestigious Aeronautica Militare, for the first time for a board game, in view of its centenary in 2023.
game design
Emmanuel Albisser
Game Design
42 years old, journalist by training. Emmanuel is the type of person who spends an average of 25 hours a day playing games. He is an absolute fan of racing games but not only: family games, strategic games, games of chance, immersive or less immersive games, German games, Euro games, or even Ameritrash (in his moments of madness), everything goes. He claims that everything can be a game (and secretly dreams of organizing a world championship of heads or tails). Hydroracers will be his second published game.
graphic & illustrations
Hideaki Ozawa
Research & 3D Design
Aviation expert, 3D artist and illustrator, his twenty years of work will be used in the book and the game.
Elena Degl’Innocenti
Art Direction
Art director of MBVision, is in charge of the supervision of the graphic design and the editorial project.
contribution
Kevin Duke
Marketing & Communication
Copyrighter and marketing professional, he is an he is an expert in games, crowndfunding campaigns, customer relations.
Eric Fortunato
Aviation advisor
Private pilot and aviation expert with more than 30 years of working experience in aircraft certification and airline operational approval domains.
Andrew brown
Game advisor
Copyrighter and marketing professional, he is an he is an expert in games, crowndfunding campaigns, customer relations.
Marco ferracci
Technical development
R&D and design manager of MBVision, dealt with production processes and 3D prototyping.
Nello Fontani
Cover box & trailer
2D/3D illustrator and animator, works in videogames production. He painted the cover box of the game.
Valentina Pala
Maps & layout
Graphic designer, collaborating with MBVision for 15 years. She took care of the maps and the layout.
Lorenzo Ninci
Game advice
Programmer, game and videogame designer, he worked on special features of the game.
Emmanuele Campinotti
Technical development
Product Designer of MBVision, he collaborate in 3D visualization and design details.
Manuela Coticone
Game advice
Board games and social media expert, she has been an important collaborator for the Airships board game project.
the book
Thanks to the experience and success of his book AIRSHIPS and 25 years of illustrations and research about seaplanes, a big size high quality book that favors the visual aspect, the accuracy of the ilustration and an extremely elegant editorial layout
the game
In Hydroracers players will be immersed in the forgotten epic of the Schneider Trophy, an international aviation race of pure speed that between the 20s and the 30s of the last century brought four nations, the most experienced designers, pilots, mechanics to challenge each other in front of the world to conquer a small, symbolic cup, among the need of affirmation, economic efforts, extreme sacrifices, technological research.
the models
Based on Hideaki Ozawa‘s research and three-dimensional modeling and MBVision‘s industrial design experience, 12 scale models of the most famous seaplanes have been designed and will be produced in 1:144 scale. Designed for the board game but also as collector’s items.
the exhibition
Alongside the book and the game, based on the materials produced and on multimedia contributions, we will design a traveling exhibition made of digital images on screens, architectural video projections, large format digital prints, holographic films, virtual reality, simulators, objects and documents of the period.
