Born in Lyon and regularly attending thriving games festivals, Nathalie Zakarian played an integral part in setting up a game café in the early 2000s. "Moi j'm'en fou, je triche" opened its doors in Lyon on the 24th of May 2003 on the national Games Day. She presided over this association of more than 4000 members in 2009, and today she oversees its coordination.
For Nathalie, the most thrilling part of working with the public is to help people discover a passion for playing games even in people who first claimed not to be into gaming!
Similar cafes then emerged in France and she enjoyed supporting each of them. From these encounters and cooperation was born the idea to create a network: Le réseau des Cafés Ludiques. These places welcome all players from beginners to experts, giving everyone a space for regularly playing their favorite games or to share the fun of playing with new people. They also aim to bring the generations together around a gaming table.
Among other skills, Nathalie is interested in cryptography, has a respectable score in TOC (Find Hidden Object - Role Play) as an investigator, knows how to manage three children including two teenagers, doesn’t practice Hoffner Violin Bass and Irish drum often enough, and rarely brags about having a thorough knowledge of the evolution of Kangmar Dome’s metamorphic layers.