Product test
P’achakuna: by llama over the Andes
by Ramon Schneider
How Brändi Dog is made
14.1.2020
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Thomas Kunz
Dog is one of the most popular games in Switzerland. The Brändi Foundation has been producing it for over 15 years. I was allowed to visit their production facility in central Switzerland and try my hand at it myself.
Dog is Switzerland's cult board game par excellence. I remember playing it as a little boy with my family in the living room, competing for victory. We split into two teams of two. The loser then had to take over an "Ämtli" from the winner. Only winning counted for me, so my sister had to do the washing up for me or tidy my room.
Although there are several manufacturers of the games, the best-known of them is the Brändi foundation from central Switzerland. It has been committed to the professional, cultural and social inclusion of people with disabilities for over 50 years.
Almost everything is done by hand
When sorting, I have to pick out the same number of marbles of each colour. There's an ingenious system so that I don't accidentally miscount. There are several rows on a piece of wood, each with four recesses the size of the marbles. I fill each of these rows with one colour. I then pull the piece of wood towards me by a handle and all the marbles fall into the bag underneath. Voilà!
I notice how many of these small steps are carried out by hand. There are deliberately hardly any machines that work automatically, as the employees of the Brändi Foundation are dependent on such work.
After all the recesses have been drilled, an external company takes over the boards. They cut the boards into four equally sized "puzzle pieces" and deliver them back to the Brändi Foundation. As the colours and wood fibres of the individual pieces need to be uniform on sale, they have to be made from the same piece of wood. I have to be careful not to mix up the order of the parts in the next step.
I am watched closely over my shoulder
Quality control is written in capital letters
Although the individual production steps are already checked, an error can creep in here and there. Every game is therefore subjected to quality control. Are all holes present? Do the elements fit together? Is a marble missing? Only when everything is in order can the individual parts be sent on to packaging.
Before the contents go into the box, it first has to be folded. I am amazed at the speed at which the employees work. I can't keep up with them. On the contrary. I'm quite clumsy and can't manage a neat fold. So before I produce any more waste, I prefer to leave the work to the skilled hands again.
Finally, the game board, marbles, playing cards and instructions are placed in the box, sealed and stored. The cult game is finished. Now Brändi Dog just needs to find its way into your living room so you can play marbles with the whole family. <p
