Board Game Design Middle School

Hogan Marquis, Glenburn School, ME

Introduction

The board game industry is in the middle of a renaissance. In my opinion, this golden age couldn't have come along at a better time. Gathering around a table to compete with family and friends is a welcome respite from our plugged-in lives. Games are a way to connect – to put away the phones and controllers, and look across the table at real people. In the 21st century classroom, designing and play testing board games encourages creativity, collaboration, and valuable interpersonal skills.

Objective/Proficiencies

Originally this board game project was designed for a middle school ancient civilizations class. I've also done similar projects when teaching genetics and evolution in middle school science classes. See the sample rubric PDF –

Game Rubric

The students will be able to:

Develop an original idea.
Model aspects of the content assigned with a tabletop game.
Deeply understand a topic that they research.
Teach others how to play their game with rulebook.
Play test games and provide feedback to peers.
Design game components with aesthetic appeal.
Design 3D-printed game pieces for their game.

Materials

Sample board games

Technology

Computer (with Internet access) and printer
Word processing application
- Google Docs
Design applications
- Google Drawings, Google Slides, TinkerCAD

Construction materials

Paper goods, glue, scissors

Gamepieces

Dice, pawns, chips

Process

Phase 1

Play a variety of games with students
- Different game mechanics, difficulties, and topics
Discuss games' strengths and weaknesses
Brainstorm game ideas

Phase 2

Research and develop ideas

Phase 3

Create playable prototypes
Playtest several peers' games
Provide feedback and work out kinks
Refine games
Create rulebook draft
Design custom game components for 3D printing*

*3D printed components must add to the design of the game. Components that could be easily replaced with readily available materials will not be printed. For example, designing and printing exact copy of a penny would be pointless. Just use a real penny.

Phase 4

Create supplements for rulebook
- Pictures, diagrams, etc.
3D print game components

Phase 5

Create final versions of games
Play final drafts of games
Complete surveys for "Meeples' Choice Awards"

Personal Experience in the Classroom

The project started with a love of tabletop games. I tried to find reasons to play games with students in my classes. It wasn't difficult to find games to reinforce concepts and model content I was covering. Settlers of Catan and Catan Dice helped students learn about natural resources and civilization building. Stone Age helped teach about the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras. Evolution: The Beginning helped students understand natural selection. Code Master helped teach students learn about computer coding in a sneaky way.

I started to make my own games to help teach ideas in my classes. Here are a few I've made in the past three years.

In the Lion's Den – African savannah animals compete for resources
Silk Road – Players cooperate in caravans to traveling and trading on the Silk Road
Social Ladder – Players climb ancient India's social ladder
Birds of Paradise – Male birds adapt to the preferences of potential mates
Terracotta – Chinese emperors build clay warriors to accompany them in the afterlife
Salt Road – Ancient Romans colonize Italy, gather salt, and use salt to create valuable goods

Students usually enjoyed playing my creations and the professional games I would build into class. When my school first received a 3D printer from the Perloff Family Foundation, I immediately thought of game prototyping. During a particularly long week of state testing, I made it my mission to 3D print an entire Settlers of Catan set I downloaded from Thingiverse. The files were readily available, and free, so all it took was time. It took longer than a week. At the end of the process I had a good feel for the Makerbot Replicator I was working with. I learned how to troubleshoot printer issues. I modified files on TinkerCAD and Makerbot to make them print quicker and save material. I also created custom pieces to make my classroom set special. In the end, I finished the set off by painting it.

The students loved the Catan game I created with the 3D printer, or at least they loved the idea of it. Not many students played the game. There was no way that I could find time for each student to play a two hour-long boardgame (sometimes much longer). I eventually used a shorter version of the game, called Catan Dice, to teach the same content. My 3D Catan is now used during the pre-vacation doldrums: you know the times when your teacher used to put on a movie before winter break and you'd be falling asleep? Students' time is well spent navigating a board game with peers.

As time passed, I wanted to integrate 3D printing with Social Studies. The entry point was asking students to create games to model aspects of ancient civilizations. They could propose anything they wanted, as long as it fit my rubric. They could pick any ancient civilization and any aspect. I thought that the 3D printer could be used to create custom pieces for the games of my advanced students. Students that developed their ideas early and wanted to go above and beyond could print game components. In the future, I'd like to make this a requirement. I think exposing kids to 3D design in different content areas is important. I like to think that my students use STEM in Social Studies.

The tabletop game project is one of the most rewarding projects I've taken part in. The project has had highs and lows through the past few years. The time commitment is great. I've found that it helps to have the class covering common material and working through the curriculum while this project takes place. For example, the entire ancient civilizations class learned about the Romans, but periodically had independent time to work on their projects. Long stretches of project time can be good for some students, but unhelpful to others that are still developing ideas, brainstorming, or just stuck.

The tabletop game project requires a great deal of buy in from the teacher and the students. In the past few years I've completed projects alongside my students. I like to show them that I'm in the same boat, participating in the iterative design process. Being the lead learner encourages students to be open to failure and persevere when they are having difficulties.

Difficulties**

Large time commitment
Forfeiture of teacher control
Creating original ideas… staying away from UNO and Monopoly clones
Sparking students that aren't inspired
Getting students "un-stuck"

Rewards/Benefits

Real experience of iterative design and inquiry-based learning
Creating original ideas… staying away from UNO and Monopoly clones
Appropriate for many content areas/ disciplines – ELA, STEM, Social Studies, and more
Collaboration and cooperation with peers
Perseverance!
End products that are playable

**When reviewing the list below I found that a great deal of the difficulties could also be rewards. It's all a matter of the lens you're observing through.

End of Project Awards

This year I held an awards ceremony at the end of the project. Students filled out a Google Forms survey to determine the Meeples' Choice winners. For those that don't know, a meeple is a human-shaped game piece. There were categories for aesthetic appeal, connection to content, fun factor, and overall. I printed giant meeples and spray-painted them metallic gold, silver, and bronze. I tallied the results and held a ceremony to give closure to the project.