Roberto Fraga and Yohan Lemonnier took the tension of Battleship and transformed it into a direct hit of exhilaration in their team party game. Prepare for the deepest of dives

Words by Owen Duffy

CAPTAIN SONAR

Captain Sonar was partly inspired by co-creator Roberto Fraga’s own time at sea as part of the French navy and coast guard

Released in 2016, Captain Sonar is a tense and frantic game of submarine warfare that casts players as rival teams of mariners hunting one another through the ocean’s depths. Inspired by films like The Hunt for Red October, it’s a captivating battle of co-ordination, risk and cunning.

We spoke to its creators to discover the story behind this breathtakingly original game of naval warfare, and how the experience of real-life military service inspired its innovative design.

RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP

Captain Sonar is the product of a partnership between designers Roberto Fraga and Yohan Lemonnier, both of whom discovered games at an early age. While they’ve become known as board game creators, they first encountered the tabletop hobby through other means.

“I started playing roleplaying games at the age of 11,” says Lemonnier. “I haven’t stopped playing since, and now I’m 45.

“Over the years I’ve played Stormbringer, Call of Cthulhu, a bit of AD&D, Vampire: The Masquerade, Star Wars d6. The main attraction has always been the fact that you could open a dimensional door in your bedroom and cross through it with friends to travel in imaginary lands. It’s been an incredible tool to discover myself and to learn how to interact with others. In my opinion, it’s such a powerful tool to bond with others that it should be mandatory in schools.”

Fraga, on the other hand, first got into gaming through tabletop battle games.

“I started to create my first science-fiction wargames when I was 14,” he says, “and I’ve just never stopped creating games. Obviously I love to play them as well, but I’m more of a game designer than a player. My parents only really played some traditional Spanish card games when I was growing up, so I was alone in my passion.”

Both men eventually discovered modern board games; for Lemonnier, the experience was particularly memorable.

“I rediscovered board games in the year 2000 with a few friends during New Year’s Eve,” he recalls. “We were in Alsace, in France, near the German border. Our car broke down, so we were trapped at our friends’ house playing Kahuna and Ticket to Ride with fan-made translated rules.