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December 22, 2017

Portland administrator scores with board-game invention

Tom Deschenes, a college administrator who lives in Portland, has turned his interest in board games into a commercial success by inventing one of his own, Maine Public reported.

Inspired by Gothic novels, Deschenes invested countless hours and thousands of dollars of his own money to develop “Quest for the Antidote,” described as a “runaway success” by one local vendor.

The game challenges players who have been poisoned by mad King Mithradates (based on a real king of Persian and Greek ancestry who fought the Roman Empire) to find ingredients for an antidote as they combat monsters, each other and their own fading health on a fictional island, the Portland Press Herald reported.

In Maine, the game can be found at Rainbow Toys in Falmouth and Bull Moose, which saw a 132% surge in board-game sales in the past year.

“Even if we didn’t sell another whole game until 2018 — like we sold zero board games between now and then — we’d still be up like 90,” Bull Moose’s Mick Pratt told Maine Public.

The game is also getting recognition overseas, including France, Germany, Austria, England and Lithuania, where Deschenes said there’s at least one fan.

“Quest for the Antidote” retails for $38.76 on amazon.com.

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