Part of the EIT Culture & Creativity’s 100-to-Watch portfolio, Wizama is creating hybrid board game experiences that can help devise solutions to global challenges.
Franck Botta loved playing board games on weekends with his daughter. Then one day she told him she didn't want to play. She preferred to play games on her tablet, with its moving pictures, vibrant colours, and sound effects. Franck realised it was time for a radical change.
He set out to create a hybrid gaming platform that would preserve the essence of board games – the elements that have kept them cherished for generations – while embracing the appeal of digital experiences. This concept led Franck and co-founder Florent Guitton to found Wizama, a startup based in Châteaugiron, Northwestern France.
Wizama has developed SquareOne, a board game set that combines physical pieces and cards with a digital board that can instantly identify these objects on its surface. The product maintains a highly social format that brings people together around the same table.
Beyond entertainment, the system shows great promise as a collaborative tool for professional decision-making. Experts can use it to explore scenarios and tackle shared challenges together.
One board, multiple games
Initially, SquareOne was developed with leisure in mind. The system – now available for pre-order – offers 16 games, developed in collaboration with major publishers including Ravensburger and Asmodee. There are classics like chess and backgammon, to reimagined modern favourites like Labyrinth and Ticket to Ride, alongside entirely new games.
From the outset, SquareOne was designed with sustainability in mind. Its four figurines and 54 cards can be reused across multiple games, encouraging developers to build within the same ecosystem.
Wizama holds patents on two core technological components that enable the seamless player experience. Firstly, an image recognition system reads and communicates dice scores. Secondly, the figurines and cards interact with the board using a version of Near Field Communication (NFC) – the same RFID-based technology used in contactless payments and digital keys.
Serious Gaming: a new tool for tackling global challenges
SquareOne also has excellent potential for strategic planning and complex problem-solving. The use of games in education, policymaking and other professional contexts is often referred to as Serious Gaming.
Serious Gaming is an emerging area of interest for EIT Culture & Creativity, reflecting the growing use of creative tools and mindsets in professional contexts. Game-based approaches are increasingly used in fields such as education, training and policymaking, for stress-testing, decision-making and conflict resolution. These experiences are typically scenario-based and collaborative, bringing participants together to tackle a shared challenge. They have been used to address complex sustainability issues, from water resilience to food system security.
By bringing together stakeholders with complementary expertise, Serious Gaming can help groups to test strategies, improve decision-making and better understand the consequences of different actions. The interactive and immersive nature of these exercises can also push participants beyond their usual perspectives, encourage new ways of thinking, and even reveal future skills and jobs needs.
After developing a dual-use application for French Defence, Wizama is already in discussions with organisations in several sectors, reflecting growing interest in interactive tools for scenario testing and decision-making.
Scaling with EIT Culture & Creativity support
Since its formation, Wizama has grown to be a team of nine, alongside a network of external contractors. The startup joined the EIT Culture & Creativity's 100-to-Watch portfolio in 2025, after participating in our Scale Post-Acceleration Programme.
"The main benefit of our EIT connection is to have opportunities to present our solution to more people, and the mentoring from recognised industry leaders,” says Florent Guitton. Indeed, among other flagship events, Wizama joined and EIT-hosted session at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2026 in Barcelona, where they showcased the technology to investors and partners – which has led to ongoing collaboration discussions.
SquareOne has already received several distinctions, including the CES Innovation Award and the UX Design Award. In June, Wizama presented its technology at VivaTech 2026 in Paris, and looking ahead the company is seeking further investment to scale production and expand its reach.
Wizama is a shining example of how cultural and creative technologies are opening up new approaches to complex problem-solving. With support from EIT Culture & Creativity, these innovations are helping Europe explore new ways to build resilience, sustainability and long-term competitiveness.
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