Educational Board Game Design

1. Educational Board Game Design Part OneAdvantages, Limitations,Types & Structures

2. Strengths of Board Games • Easily Stored • Self-Contained • Familiar Format

3. Limitations of Board Games • Class use requires multiple copies • Easily played just for fun unless the educational content is well integrated • Losing one piece can render the whole game useless (though less so than for card games)

4. Types of Board Games • Linear Movement or Race Games • Pieces move along a path (e.g. Monopoly, Candy Land) • 2-D Pattern Games • Object is to build patterns of pieces (e.g. Go, Othello, Scrabble)

5. Types of Board Games • Battlefield • Pieces attack other pieces, removing them from the board (e.g., Chess, Risk) • Combination • Games which combine elements of the other 3 categories (e.g. Backgammon)

6. Board Game Design Phases • Do Front End Work • Draft a Preliminary Design • Produce Prototype • Conduct Field Trials • Revise as Needed • Publish, Disseminate and/or Use

7. In Search of Elegance • Elegance = congruity between the forms of the game and structures within the content, such as... • Movement through space, time • Shortcuts • Obstacles • Patterns of elements • Prizes, trophies, treasures

8. Example Content+Game Structures • Content: Movement through space or time • Getting a Masters degree • Stages of digestion • Evolution • The process of impeachment • Game: paths in a race game

9. Example Content+Game Structures • Content: Shortcuts • Marrying into money • Mutation • Scientific breakthrough • Finding the “smoking gun” • Game: jumping along or between paths in a race game

10. Example Content+Game Structures • Content: Obstacles • Insufficient money or other resources • Not enough votes • Mountains or deserts to cross • Lack of data • Game: blockage in paths in a race game or the absence of a path

11. Example Content+Game Structures • Content: Patterns of Elements as Goal • Balanced meals • Balanced life • Electoral College votes • Game: acquisition of cards or tokens in particular combinations

12. Example Content+Game Structures • Content: Elements with different levels of power • Superintendent vs Principal vs. teacher • Large countries vs small • Microsoft vs just about anyone else • Game: use of game pieces that can move more flexibly or that can overcome other pieces

13. Example Content+Game Structures • Content: Elements with different levels of value • Rare coins vs common ones • Real estate in La Jolla vs. somewhere else • Gold vs silver vs bronze medals • Game: tokens or play money to allow the acquisition of these elements or to use as scorekeeping devices

14. Example Content+Game Structures • Content: Choices and Decisions • Go on to college, or get a job? • Attack the Nazis now, or wait? • Buy Qualcomm or Apple stock? • Game: branches in the path of a race game, or strategies for deploying pieces or tokens.

15. Example Content+Game Structures • Content: Variations in Risk • Buying futures options vs. stocks • Running an attack ad against your opponent • Quitting your job to start a small business • Game: parallel paths with more penalty squares on the shorter path, or chance cards in different stacks depending on risk.

16. Example Content+Game Structures • Content: Changing Environment • The stock market turns from bullish to bearish • After the revolution, those closest to the king are now most in danger • Drastic climate change bodes ill for reptiles • Game: changing the rules or structures during the game.

17. Example Content+Game Structures • Content:Random or Uncontrolled Events • Weather • Prices of raw materials • Other people’s behavior • Game: dice, spinners, or chance cards