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Board ideas

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sesame3246
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Hello, everybody. I'm making a board game that teaches children about world geography and culture as part of a personal project. Main gameplay revolves around a spinner divided into the continents of the world and an extra "fun" category along with the corresponding cards. All the cards have questions on them that relate to the world and cultural components of different regions around the world. I've been having a bit trouble deciding on what type of board I'd like gameplay to develop on.

I have two ideas as of now:

1) A normal path (like in Candyland) that ends up with the player who reaches "finish" first winning

2) A map of the world with corresponding illustrations for the regions of the world; 1 question answered correctly = 1 card gained, player with most cards at the end wins

I don't know which to choose or whether there are better ideas. Please share your thought, advice, or any new concepts you might have. Thanks! :)

Jay103
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There are many games with

There are many games with variations of this, from pictionary (follow a path) to trivial pursuit (get 6 pieces in different categories). Which do you like to play more?

I guess another question would then be, "Is this just Trivial Pursuit, but with continents?" Presumably not, since Trivial Pursuit is testing existing trivia knowledge, while you're trying to teach. So then yet another question is, "Are you teaching by letting kids get stuff wrong and then they read the answer and hopefully remember it, or is there a deeper mechanic?"

let-off studios
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Game Format

Jay103 wrote:
I guess another question would then be, "Is this just Trivial Pursuit, but with continents?" Presumably not, since Trivial Pursuit is testing existing trivia knowledge, while you're trying to teach.
Yeah, that would be my first question. Is this a trivia game, or do players use their knowledge to do something else in the game? Are they racing against others, "Around the World in 80 Days," or tracking a globe-trotting Carmen Sandiego figure? Are they gambling their accrued points against other teams, a la Wits & Wagers?

Is there something they're attempting to accomplish, while using their superb geography knowledge as an advantage over other players/teams? Is there some way that someone can add to their base geography knowledge by playing this game, besides being corrected when they provide a wrong answer?

sesame3246
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I suppose I am testing

I suppose I am testing existing knowledge with the game concept I currently have in mind. Could you give me an example of a deeper mechanic that would help children learn more effectively?

I know of a game called Great States that I used to play as a child; it was centered around the geography and culture of the United States. It features a board that has an illustration of a map of the U.S. with icons and landmarks for each state drawn within the state borders. Much of the gameplay relied on players having to locate them quickly enough to find out which state they correspond to.

I was thinking of implementing such a mechanic in my game, but I decided it would be too difficult and the board would be too crowded; there are far more nations in the world than there are states in the U.S.

Any advice? :)

sesame3246
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Joined: 11/09/2019
That's my dilemma. As of now,

That's my dilemma. As of now, the concept I have is simply trivia. I'm not quite sure how to add to their knowledge without making the game too crowded or too confusing.

Do you have any ideas for something they could try to accomplish or learn with in an effective manner?

I'd appreciate some advice. :)

Jay103
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Hmm.. that's probably an

Hmm.. that's probably an example of a non-trivia mechanic..

If you had a map and you had to locate something as quickly as possible, a new player could search and eventually find it, but the more you play the faster you'd get. A new player with no knowledge wouldn't be locked out the way they would be in a trivia game.

If you have a trivia game with all new players, everyone's gonna miss every question, which isn't going to be fun.

Tim Edwards
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A race to the finish is

A race to the finish is always good. Maybe each region of the world could have a distinct gameplay challenge? So, India is a mini snakes and ladders, another area has questions for extra moves (Ancient Greek universities?) or trivia persuit style - get X number right before you're allowed to exit the region...

A series of mini games, I suppose.

Probably a madcap idea, but you might be able to do something with it. :)

questccg
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An aside!

sesame3246 wrote:
I'd appreciate some advice. :)

Perhaps you could design some more "dynamic"!? "Candy Land" is a "Roll & Move" game that is mostly centered on LUCK (dice rolling or wheel spinning like in "The Game of Life", etc.) There isn't too much deep thinking or strategy in this.

But perhaps instead of JUST "Trivia", you could ADD a "Push-Your-Luck" (PYL) mechanic! What I mean is that instead of having six (6) Categories, you could maybe have six (6) SCORING LEVELS. If you are incorrect you lose your turn (and gain 0 Points). So Question #1 = 1 point, Question #2 = 3 Points (1+2), Question #3 = 6 Points (1+2+3), etc.

This is just to ADD some strategy for the players.

Some categories may be EASIER and therefore "encourage" players to test their LUCK and try for a 2nd or 3rd question.

Quote:
I can't think of much more that you can do with Trivia...

Also on your MAP (which could be local or regional or even global) instead of punishing players who get the wrong answer, how about establishing a growing "influence" in the map.

For example if the MAP is Western Europe and Player #1 answers one question and earns "1 Point", a cube is placed of his color. That indicates the "influence" to "control" the territory (or space). To BEAT Player #1 NOW, you would need to answer 2 Questions...

And so it would be a MAD RUSH ... To move around and ANSWER one (1) Question. Each point gained gives you "+1 Point" to some score (total in the end). Then it becomes HARDER to score "3 Points" by answering 2 Question in one of the territories (or spaces).

If Player #2 did this, the previous player would lose 1 Point and Player #2 would gain +3 Points!!!

The idea is to REQUIRE a score that puts players "up-wards" of 3 Questions answered. Some percentage (%) of Level 3 and Level 2... So that the game is not TOO DIFFICULT.

Just sharing some ideas, cheers!

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