Exploring concepts in games

Its definitely been a while since I played some of the games as a child. As I started to think of them just so many rushed into my memory that I found it suddenly very difficult to start talking about it. Writing about it infact helps me to structure it a bit- however, games and childhood can give anyone an adrenaline rush!

Some of the first few games I played in particular were with those who were close to me. Like with my family, I would play the traditional Ludo and Chinese Checkers with my older cousins and extended family.

What I compelled me to play them was that it followed a simple strategy of rolling the dice and reaching a final destination. I also would play "carrom" and "snakes and ladders", and such games indoor with them as well. I guess even those had similar goals of completing your game by reaching a final destination. The thrill would be that during the game, there would be obstacles like other players trying to get in before you and blocking the way, or finishing the race before you because your luck is not favoring you when rolling the dice! Few card games what I played regularly were "Mem-suri"(The Queen thief), with my grandparents. It had a great feeling of suspense because no one would know who has the queen and when you pick cards from other players you could suddenly receive the queen. The goal of the game is to finish your cards by making sequences and not have the queen with you when you close. Picking cards from the player next to you was fun because you wouldn't know maybe you would pick the queen! There would be lots of drama around simply pretending to have the queen and fooling others.

We would play this game in the between of longer time consuming card games like "Rummy", which would be more around sequencing and longer as you need to find the appropriate cards to make the sequences. My elder sibling and I would always return from school and join our grandparents as they would often sit to play these games in the afternoons post lunch.

Few other family games that I played were Scrabble and Pic-charades. The point systems on these games would help you to win and score for your team. These games had a very dynamic learning experience with different kinds of players. I enjoyed playing them with my dad for particularly the learning experience. Some of the games which I played outdoor were "Stapoo", which is like hopscotch. The fun around this game was pure skill of single-legged hopping! Another game which we often played in my design school was "Chungi".Its basically just rubber tied together and it becomes bouncy. All the players need to stand in a circle and you need to just keep the chungi flying in the air. Another simple skill!

Few group games that I have played were "Pithoo" and "Kho-kho". Both these games need 2 teams and are strategy oriented.

Sketchnotes of a Classic Tabletop game: Guess Who?

"Guess Who?" has been quite a lot of fun playing at my home and growing up. The fun induced by this simple mystery 2-player game is phenomenal. As a player, you need to guess the opponent's face card and then solve the face mystery! There is a board filled with around 20 faces that need to be navigated through by asking relevant questions about their features. Its the suspense till the end that makes the players push themselves to guess the face of their opponent. Because its just in front of you it makes it super easy. After a few rounds of repetitions, one gets a hang of the pattern of asking questions and then its no more a mystery, and so its also the time to close the game. If you play it after a longtime, one could easily keep playing for a couple of hours!

Aesthetics of popular tabletop game-boards

Sketching the gameboards of these popular Tabletop games from memory, so it is not very detailed in here. However, I learnt how similar or related they were. Chessboards and Checkers boards only have a difference of block-size and number of blocks perhaps. The gameplay and the objects makes it so different! While the game Backgammon is actually very similar to checkers in terms of gameplay (that the players need to get all their pieces home) however the board looks very different with the triangular pattern.

The game Monopoly and the Life have a similar style of boxes and moving along a path and its a never-ending path. Monopoly has a more structured path, maybe because its more business oriented, while Life is more curved and looped path, to resemble the nature of life's ups and downs!

Formal elements of popular game: Twister

Noting out the elements for twister was fun! I had infact played this game back in my design school during one of our college fests, where we had painted the twister dots on one of the roads and were playing on the road!

Concept Map of the popular board game- Scrabble

Inspired by Dubberly concept mapping style, I attempted to map out one of my favorite tabletop games- Scrabble. Through this map essentials like the levels of game mechanics and dynamics can be shown very well. I feel its such a simple game with a deep learning experience. Few months ago, I got the opportunity to play this game after really long with a family friend's son. It was easy to teach him, but it was not very captivating. I am wondering how might this game be enhanced to also appeal to a new generation?