by SC Feature Writer Reanna Haase
Outside your window, six inches of snow bury the last signs of warm weather. Inside, you’re wishing you could trade the cold air and icy roads for shelling on sun-soaked barrier island beaches. What if there was a way to embrace that nostalgia?
More than just a keepsake for Sanibel residents, Hasbro’s new board game, Sanibel, can transport players to some of their fondest memories whenever they’re missing the sunshine and salt air, said SanCap Chamber President and CEO John Lai, who has played a key role in connecting the Hasbro team with the community.
“Sanibel evokes an emotion in players – the universal experience of walking the beach and collecting seashells,” said Brian Baker, Hasbro’s senior vice president of board games.
The renowned game designer behind the island’s namesake game, Elizabeth Hargrave, is a Florida native and grew up visiting Sanibel with her family. Baker said that when Hasbro’s Avalon Hill team heard Hargrave’s concept, they were convinced this was a game they needed in their portfolio.
“Our team connected with her, learned about her concept, and were hooked immediately,” Baker said. “We knew this would be something special.”
The adventure-style strategy game places players on a beach-themed board, where they collect shells found along the Gulf Coast. Players earn points by placing each shell tile earned on their personal Tetris-style game board.
“She leaned heavily on both personal experience and extensive research – even using scientific names – to ensure the shells and details are authentic to the island,” Baker said. “That was equally important to our team as well – every element was chosen with care, from the watercolor art and narrative design, to the lighthouse itself.”
Like many others who visit the island, Hargrave is a generational visitor to Sanibel, having grown up coming with her family. The idea of Sanibel even came about during one of their family trips.
“I was actually at the beach with my family, and my dad said, ‘You should make a game about collecting shells on the beach,” Hargrave said. “He’s actually a huge shark tooth collector, so I had to also put the shark teeth in, along with the seashells.”
During a panel discussion at the SanCap Business Luncheon in December, Hargrave shared that Sanibel is about more than just designing a unique game for Avalon Hill; it is about commemorating time spent on the island with her family.
“She’s releasing a game that honors all of the great times that she and her family had on Sanibel Island,” Lai said. “Listening to that felt somewhat serendipitous, particularly as it was in our 50th anniversary year and with the game being released in what we are considering the most important season in a very, very long time.”
The game is currently in its soft launch phase, and Lai said that Sanibel stores haven’t been able to keep it on their shelves. This excitement is not just among locals – Hasbro previewed the game at the world’s largest public board game convention, Essen Spiel, in Germany, and Baker shared that it was well received.
“Excitement is not just limited to Southwest Florida. The response has been incredibly positive globally,” Baker said. “I recently saw someone share that after hearing about the game, he decided to surprise his wife with a weekend trip to Sanibel Island and then gave her the game upon arrival.”
The game is scheduled to hit Walmart shelves in May, followed by other mass retailers in the fall. Lai said he sees this as an opportunity not just for locals and visitors to reconnect with their love for the island, but also to introduce new people to a place they will love.
“It opens up a whole different market when people don’t know Sanibel and pick up that board game because of its beautiful, artfully created box,” Lai said. “When they pick up that box, and they don’t know what Sanibel is or where it is, they Google it, and they find that it’s a place that they want to make memories.”
Baker shared that during the team’s time researching and visiting the island, they learned about the challenges islanders faced due to natural disasters over the past few years, and the commitment to restoring and preserving the community was inspiring.
“The continued will and resilience of this community is something that deeply inspires us,” Baker said. “If Sanibel helps introduce new audiences to that story – and encourages appreciation, support, or future visits – we would consider that a meaningful success.”
And for anyone looking outside their window at six inches of snowfall, their first visit might begin with them looking at the watercolor box on their living room table.
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