Calling all travel experts: A new card game turns overseas journeys into a competition | Canada Voices

This is the weekly Style File, featuring what’s on the radar of The Globe’s lifestyle desk from the worlds of travel, home and design, wellness, fashion or beauty. Sign up for The Globe’s arts and lifestyle newsletters for more news, columns and advice in your inbox.

A game for the travel-savvy

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A new card game makes players use their trip-planning strategy to win

The next time you’re stuck in an airport, play a hand of Trip Chaser to while away the delay. It was created by Albertans Dalene and Pete Heck, who spent eight years globetrotting, were crowned National Geographic Travellers of the Year in 2014 and now focus on travel marketing in their new home in Annapolis Valley, N.S. When travel shut down during the pandemic, the game-loving couple spent two years developing a travel card game, developing rules and honing gameplay. In Trip Chaser, two to six players figure out how to visit 11 countries from North America and navigate the good and bad of travel when drawing from a wild-card deck full of the Hecks’ own experiences. “So many memories are baked into the game,” Dalene Heck said. “Like, we were in a bar in Hamburg and they had a nail-hammering contest – I mean can you imagine? We didn’t break a finger, but that’s in the game.” Trip Chaser is a self-funded passion project the Hecks launched earlier this month. It is $45 at tripchasergame.com – Catherine Dawson March

Structural shift

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The design read of the year captures Norman Foster’s infinite impact on our world

Architect Norman Foster is responsible for a generation of iconic spaces. The Hong Kong airport, the Reichstag in Berlin and Apple stores from San Francisco to Singapore bear the 88-year-old’s tech-forward but wellness-sensitive signature of glass and steel. Taschen’s XXL edition two-volume monograph of Foster + Partners’ built portfolio and works-in-progress is already on its way to becoming equally ubiquitous and recognizable. One book presents a staggering review of unpublished project images while the other packages a series of essays on Foster’s philosophy and inspirations with almost 1,000 sketches. – Andrew Sardone

Norman Foster edited by Philip Jodidio, US$350 at bookstores and online (taschen.com).

Art market goes digital

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An online marketplace makes buying fine art more accessible

A new online platform called ArtRow has launched that promises to make it easier for individual sellers and purchasers of artwork to find one another, while also providing professional vetting to ensure authenticity and fair market valuations. Built for the “everyday user,” Vancouver-based art historian and ArtRow founder Lara Tomaszewska says what differentiates her site from other online art platforms is that private sellers can apply to sell their artwork, and if accepted, the sellers receive services including suggested retail pricing, guidance on condition reporting and in-depth art descriptions. Prices of artwork now on the site range from $300 to $165,000, which Tomaszewska says allows “everyone to find vetted works of art they love.” Typically, sellers of art seeking professional art brokerage services must physically consign artworks to galleries or auction houses and sales often come with exclusivity agreements. ArtRow removes these barriers by providing an open platform for anyone to buy or sell artwork from their home, providing access to a new supply. Sellers on ArtRow (artrow.com) also maintain possession of their artwork until a sale is finalized. The platform features well known Canadian artists such as A.J. Casson, William Perehudoff and Joseph Plaskett (featured here), and international artists including Jack Shadbolt, Susan Point, Alexander Calder and Marie Khouri. – Gayle MacDonald

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