A skate film turned card game by Elia Lang. Filmed between 2022 and 2025, including mainly his hometown crew out of Basel, Switzerland and a wild mix of guest skaters from all around the globe, this skate film was a way to experiment with cinematic elements and the classic skate video format, blurring the lines as well as trying to escape his comfort zone.

The card game was sold during the premiere phase of this film. All proceeds were donated equally to SkatePal as well as Medical Aid for Palestinians.

If you want to get your own card game and support the Palestinian cause, shoot a message to @eliawithouts or via mail: lang-elia@gmx.de

Keep reading for an interview with Elia to learn more about this project.

Where are you based out of, and where was the video filmed?
I started filming when I still lived in Basel, Switzerland. I lived in Barcelona for a year between and am based in Cologne, Germany now. Most of the footage of Christopher was filmed during his Erasmus stay in Copenhagen. Most spots are also marked on the according card. Of course, there’s not a card for each spot of the video.

Can you explain TopSpoT the card game and how to play?
Basically, it’s not a new game but rather a new version for an all time classic game called “Top Trumps“ (Which is where I’ve lent the idea for the title of the film) So the game consists of 33 unique spot cards, each have individual values for a set of categories. Take, for example, the card “La Plaine“ and category: “difficulty”. This card has a value of 4 out of 10 which isn’t really the best value as it’s kinda sketchy but still skateable without getting kicked out. It’s a famous skate plaza so the ground and curbs are quite smooth, though rather worn out, which gets us a slightly worse ranking. The goal of the game is to get hold of all the 33 cards. You can achieve this by outnumbering your opponent. First up, you distribute all the cards evenly amongst all players. Then, a turn consists of you drawing the first card of your deck and deciding, which category you want to compete in. Next up, all the other players have to draw the first card of their deck and tell you which value it has for said category. If it’s lower, they lose the card to you. If it’s higher, they get to keep it, as well as the card of the opponent. 

What motivated you make the card game, and how long into the filming process did you have the idea?
Actually the idea for the card game was the starting point in making this film. And as I really wanted to complete something from start to finish, I thought to myself I’d have to pull this one off, no matter what. And there have been quite some challenges. For example did I have to print a prototype version of the card game for it to be included in the intro sequence you can see in the film. Which was shot prior to the rest of the cinematic scenes. Even though there have been many occasions of doubt and true questioning what the hell on earth I was doing, creating a card game that’s based on spots I skated with my friends, this project in the end is my most ambitious one and so I am quite proud of the end result. 

Tell me about the skit intro, were the homies all down to act? Where did the idea come from?
So, as we all know, skaters aren’t the most reliable people on earth when it comes down to sticking to a very strict and thought through plan. I mean it completley goes against the spontaneous and on-the-spot mentality that skateboard filmmaking essentially consists of. So for the skit intro, I had to do some very last-minute changes, as some skaters just didn’t show up. The idea was clearly inspired by the many and ever more funny but professional skits Grant Yansura and his WKND crew. The New Balance ad where he has skaters dancing to skate trick maneuvers being my favourite one so far. Also, I wanted to experiment with what a skateboard film can mean to me and so I decided to stick to this rather cinematic approach.

How was the reception for the video and the game at Vladimir? Were people playing it on the jetty or at the skatepark?
I want to take this question and thank Nikola Racan once more for what he and his team do for keeping skateboarding alive and true, year after year. I think the people liked the film and after asking some of the audience, the idea with the card game came through which was one of my biggest fears up until that point. I didn’t see people play it out there but there were some people (including you Noah!) that bought it off of me and by doing so, supporting the Palestinian cause! I guess it serves well for longer journeys and as an alternative to your classic deck of playing cards.

What’s the story with the homie dropping in on vert on the 2-wheeled skateboard?
Haha! So, that guy is called Nico Krebs and can be labeled as a wandering skateboarding encyclopedia. Besides being an absurdely talented skateboarder and person, he owns all sorts of odd and retro skateboarding equipment. For the last four years there has been this king of the road like competition in the whole of Switzerland, called “Roadkill“ Shoutout to Martin Zbinden and crew for organizing it! Each crew receives a brochure with all sorts of crazy and random tasks. And well, for “tallest drop-in“ Nico scored a double up doing this with his beloved ripstik. 

Any favorite memories from making the video?
As always, each session contains of so many funny and memorable moments. One in particular though, and that being the reason I included it in the final cut, was this old fat ass guy, trying to kick us out of public property for no reason, threatening us and asking if we “ever broke our neck?!“ There is a short VX clip of the exact same dude, in the exact same clothes, while being on his phone and threatening us, this time though, five years prior to the later incident. I find this insanely interesting and funny, kinda sad though as well.
 
What’s the best card in the deck / best spot in the video? Are they the same?
There are some ten out of tens in this deck. Some of them because they are very special or unique, others for their sheer emotional value they hold up to me personally. Mudhole DIY and Portland DIY are the best cards in my opinion, but I’ll leave this up to you. As for the best spot in the video, I don’t think you can make such an assumption. I really like the tree that made up for a perfect wallie, which was skated by Julius Pankrath.

Any thanks or shoutouts?
Yes, I want to thank everyone involved in making this project happen and become reality. I think they are all mentioned before but I also want to thank all of my dear friends that supported me in this undertaking. I was studying full-time, working two to three jobs during the making of this film while trying to get as many clips as possible. For that I want to thank everyone who emotionally supported and keeps on supporting me! Oh and of course thanks to everyone who supported this and other skatefilm projects with their donation. Together we managed to collect 1250€ for a good cause and I’d be more than happy for this sum to increase with you buying a copy of the game 🙂