Designing a game for 4-6 year olds
Observations
We were given games to be familiar with and then play the same games with 5 year old kids from the Basis Independent Brooklyn School.
Some of the observations were that kids like to interact with physical objects and interacting with other kids, some kids are shy or get distracted easily but competitiveness boosts interest in social activity. A good game should give every player equal opportunity to interact with the game.
Concept
This concept is sort of a mix between Jenga and Uno. The players have to stack blocks on top of each other in a pair of three's, based on the outcome of a custom dice roll.
There are twelve blocks, that are extruded planks with profile shape of a square, a circle and a triangle. There are only nine blocks of every shape. The dice has six sides that correspond to square block, triangular block, circular block, Turn cancel, Reverse and Free pick. Even though the game would be suitable for 2-4 players, the game can be played alone or as many as 9 players. Each player rolls the dice and based on the outcome starts stacking the corresponding block shape on the pile, until the blocks fall. The player who makes the blocks fall down loses or gets out of the game, and this keeps going on till there are only one winner is left. The blocks would also be colored according to the symbol color on the dice.
The game is simple to understand, has minimal objects and can also be competitive.
Prototyping and Play-testing
