A game is typically a structured form of active play, often undertaken for fun or entertainment, and occasionally used as an educational instrument. Games are very different from work, which generally are carried out primarily for remuneration (as in the case of programmers), and from the literature, which are generally an expressive expression of literary or artistic values. The range of activities covered by a game is practically limitless. They can be for leisure, for competitive recreation, for exercise, as an instructional tool, as a social activity or pastime, or even as a form of therapy.
In this article I want to discuss the potential uses for the board games that we commonly enjoy, and explore the extent to which they can be adapted to meet other purposes. Many games can be adapted to be “board games” in one sense, but adapted again for a variety of other purposes. Some games are inherently generic and may well fulfil a variety of purposes.
We will start with some examples of games that can be adapted to other purposes. The classic game, Chess is ideally suited to being adapted as a teaching tool, where each player is forced to form their own strategy before the game begins. Each player has a set of skills and talents which they must balance against another player, in a strategic effort to achieve a predetermined goal. A classic example is the classic game called Chess, adapted as a teaching tool for young children.
Another example is the Pandemic Legacy: For just under a dollar you can download the whole game, the Print and Play files, including all of the printable cards, tiles and other resources needed. You can use the Print and Play files to create an entire world, complete with seasons, weather, seasons and hazards. As you complete missions in each season, your position on the player count changes, affecting how the whole game will work. As you complete missions and complete events in each season, your rating on the player count changes, affecting how the pandemic progresses. This is a great resource for teachers wanting to teach the game, or even for parents and non-teacher alike, since it is both quick and easy to understand, and has a good structure overall.
I won’t go into great detail about the layout of the Pandemic Legacy: For those who have played the game, or are just curious about what it looks like, I’ll say that it’s a relatively simple game, using lots of nice clean images to represent each disease. The design of the pandemic itself is based around a very basic disease, which spreads rapidly through a network of infected people. The layout uses yellow and red colors to represent positive and negative characters, respectively, while blue is used for the staff. It also uses a lot of white for the eyes, to symbolize sterility, another powerful tool to keep the outbreak contained.
The graphics aren’t anything special, but the sound effects are quite realistic. They’re not exactly near to the next-generation offerings, but the sound effects are still quite nice. Some of the sounds are similar to ones used in popular video games, such as” gunshot” or” explosions”. Bottom line, this mobile game by Design Concepts is a refreshing take on an old idea, and one that I think is especially well-suited for classrooms because of the engaging nature of the lessons it provides.