It started with... a coffin

Somewhere in France, on a trip, I saw a group of people in a garden playing a game I didn't know. They were pushing a strange disc with both hands, set in a long wooden trough. It was a cheerful group. Old and young, women and men, all played together. I learned that it was an old game called "La Meule." A grindstone.

After returning home, I visited my uncle, a cheerful carpenter in Moravia. I told him that I wanted him to make me a miniature version of that phenomenon from France. And to make it out of some nice wood. If it didn't work, at least it should be pretty!

My uncle, an elderly gentleman, thought for a moment and said: "I once bought a few planks of real mahogany for my coffin. They've been lying here for years..."

And so it happened that our first BROOS table was made of mahogany. My uncle's coffin went down the drain!

Why a sheltered workshop?

When I watched that group of players in France, I noticed that the most skilled among them was a female player who was clearly mentally disabled. With saliva dripping from the corner of her mouth, full of concentration and tension, she confidently scored one thirteen after another. She defeated everyone—beautiful, strong, smart!

It occurred to me that if disabled people could play the game so well, they could also manufacture it. And so, to our mutual satisfaction, I established cooperation with the HELPSOUL sheltered workshop in Moravia. They even had to buy a CNC milling plotter and learn how to process the .dxf format!

Communication with them is sometimes difficult, but it's always worth it.

Paolo

"El Afilador"