Entertainment | Jean-François Callen’s Gazette

PixelVault.cards provides online editors for the main components of a board-game prototype, from cards and boards to rules and play money.

Entertainment AI-translated text 2026-09-29By Jean-François Callen19 views

Pixel Vault Wants to Put Board-Game Prototyping Inside a Web Browser

Cards, boards, rules, play money and print-ready preparation are brought together in one online workshop.

Inventing a board game sounds simple until the designer has to build fifty double-sided cards, draw a correctly sized board, lay out the rules and prepare usable print files. PixelVault.cards focuses on that less visible part of game creation. Running in a browser, it brings several prototyping tools into one workspace. Creation remains free after registration, while a licence is required when the designer needs production exports.

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Gamersmile combines retro game tips, challenges, quizzes, rankings and player profiles in a single community website.

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Entertainment AI-translated text 2026-09-28By Jean-François Callen21 views

Gamersmile Wants to Bring Something Back to Retro Gaming: Playing Together

Cheats, high scores, quizzes, collections and Recalbox challenges turn the French website into more than a database of old game codes.

Old video games have long survived on the Internet through code lists, walkthroughs and databases. Gamersmile takes a broader approach, combining cheats and tips with scoreboards, quizzes, player profiles, collections and Recalbox challenges. Behind the nostalgia lies a simple idea: a game released thirty years ago can still become a place for competition, conversation and community in 2026.

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At Avenue 83, La Tête dans les Nuages fills 2,200 square metres with arcade games and immersive attractions just outside Toulon.

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Entertainment AI-assisted text 2026-08-28By Jean-François Callen33 views

La Tête dans les Nuages: the Avenue 83 arcade where adults become children again

Giant arcade machines, Mario Kart, virtual reality, a three-level laser game and team challenges fill 2,200 square metres near Toulon. It is wonderfully tempting — but keeping an eye on the card balance matters almost as much as the high score.

You walk in intending to have a look. Five minutes later, somebody is driving a kart, another person is shooting aliens and the children have already identified three more machines they absolutely need to try. At Avenue 83, La Tête dans les Nuages spreads arcade games and immersive attractions across 2,200 square metres. It feels a little like a funfair transported into the future. Spectacular, family-friendly and dangerously tempting, it comes with one warning: time disappears quickly in an arcade — and money can follow it.

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This summer, Toulon’s public library network becomes the setting for a literary treasure hunt for families with children aged seven and over.

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Entertainment AI-translated text 2026-08-18By Jean-François Callen32 views

Toulon’s Libraries Turn Reading into a Treasure Hunt

With “Pirates des Cara'Bib 2: Le Secret du Livre maudit”, Toulon is using games and adventure to encourage families to explore its library network until 29 August.

A cursed book, a pirate determined to rule the seven seas and a creature that must be stopped: this summer, Toulon’s libraries are using adventure to lead children towards books. Free to take part in and open to families with children aged seven and over until 29 August 2026, “Pirates des Cara'Bib 2” turns the city’s library network into a playground. Behind the pirate story lies a very contemporary question: how can reading hold children’s attention in an age dominated by screens?

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