How Let’s Go! To Japan turned a cancelled COVID vacation into a hit board game
Board game designer Josh Wood transformed his cancelled COVID-19 vacation into a hit product. With flights to Japan scheduled for April 2020, Wood had extensively researched and planned his trip before pandemic lockdowns forced the cancellation. Rather than let his detailed itinerary notes go to waste, he channeled his disappointment into creative output, developing a vacation-planning card game based on his research.
Let’s Go! To Japan launched in 2024 and found a receptive audience, tapping into the escapist appeal of travel-themed entertainment during a period when physical travel remained uncertain. The game’s success demonstrated market appetite for experiential, immersive tabletop experiences that capture the joy and planning aspects of world travel.
Buoyed by this success, Wood is now expanding the concept with a sequel. Let’s Go! To France is set to begin crowdfunding on Kickstarter on May 19. This time, Wood took a different approach—he actually visited France ahead of development to ensure authentic, firsthand experience informing the sequel’s design.
Wood’s journey from disappointed traveler to successful game designer exemplifies the creative silver linings many found during the pandemic. As he noted, while others pursued hobbies like sourdough baking, his project became a coping mechanism that ultimately created a viable product. The vacation-planning game genre appears to have found its audience, and the transition from Japan to France suggests Wood has identified a replicable formula that resonates with players seeking armchair travel experiences.