One of our creative exercises, lead by Jorge Lopes Ramos, was to make 3 games in 10 minutes each with a set of utensils. As if making a game in such a short time was not hard enough, he added another restriction: We could not give direct instructions to the group who would play our game afterwards. Instead, we should come up with a more creative way to instruct them.
With 16 participants making 3 games in groups of 4, we had a lot of different approaches.
I remember:
- Communicating intent via naming the game.
- Instructing the players to move via rhythm.
- Demonstrating the game via theatrical improvisation with team members as game props.
- Singing a short song before the game begins which contains hints to how the game should be played.
- Trying to get across how the game is played by setting it up properly or having pieces whose usage should be clear.
- Leading the game by having team members interact with it, resetting the game if played improperly.
- Preparing an informative display out of props.
Some approaches were more successful, others… less. But all of them were pretty fun for both players and creators!
And now, here are the games I participated in:
Animal Jacks
Throw a stuffed hamster into the air, try to grab as many other animals as you can before it touches down. Then it’s the other player’s turn. We tried to communicate the instructions by alluding to the game Jacks.
Team: Owen Bell, Nicole Pacampara, Hope Erin Phillips and Tobias Wehrum
Blowing Spinners
Twirl your spinners, blow them into the goal area and try to knock other spinners out! We demonstrated the game via a theatrical improvisation using team members as game props.
Team: Grayson Earle, Dawn Hang Yue Wong and Amanda Tom and Tobias Wehrum
Human, Farm Animal, Dinosaur
Rock, Paper, Scissors in its most exciting variant! We tried to get that across by making a little display with props and arrows.
(Interestingly, players thought that the display was part of the game and manipulated the props. Thinking about it, that might make a fun game mechanic if used properly.)
Team: Jessica Blanchet, Peter van Haaften, Titouan Millet and Tobias Wehrum
