Want to play 'Corona'? Board game invented by German sisters sells out for Christmas

The aim of the game is to buy all the groceries on a shopping list for an elderly neighbour who is shielding

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  Rebecca, Lara, Stella and Sarah Schwaderlapp play 'Corona', the board game invented by Lara and Sarah. Reuters

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  The sisters invented the game to pass away the time during lockdown restrictions in Germany. Reuters

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  'Corona' can be played by up to four players. Reuters

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  The aim is to buy all the groceries on a shopping list for an elderly neighbour who is shielding against the virus. Reuters

At a loose end during Germany's pandemic-related restrictions, four sisters decided to put their long hours indoors to good use – by inventing a coronavirus-themed board game that is selling by the thousands.

Corona can be played by up to four players, who compete to buy all the groceries on a shopping list for an elderly neighbour who is shielding against the virus.

Players collect and swap game cards, and the winner is whoever delivers all the items first. Hurdles along the way include encountering the virus, which sends you into quarantine, or finding that hoarders have already snapped up all the pasta or toilet rolls.

"The basic principle is one of solidarity," Sarah Schwaderlapp, 20, said from the family home in the western city of Wiesbaden.

"Each of the players can decide to co-operate with the others ... or make things harder for them by blocking their path with viruses."

The sisters worked on the game most evenings during the spring lockdown, gradually incorporating more elements from news broadcasts about the pandemic.

"That was the case with hoarding. And we saw about the balcony concerts in Italy and turned that into a playing card, too," added sister Rebecca.

Impressed with his daughters' efforts, father Benedikt Schwaderlapp decided to commercialise the game by hiring an artist to design cards, the board and a box.

So far he's sold 2,000 copies, and signed up a toy store as a secondary distributor.

"Because the game has been so popular, it's been quite a challenge for our family-based operation – packing and posting 500 games within a very short period," he said. "Demand has been massive from across Germany."