The Point Game
By Karen Lorena, Dana Avesar, and Si Ping Lim
Keywords
Creative Thinking, Perspectives, Point of view, card game, values,
Pictographic, Representational
Goal and Summary
The intention of our game is to share different perspectives about collective values and
ideas amongst a group of people playing the game. It takes the form of a card game and
photography project. The goal is to promote creative thinking, reflection about
important values, and discussion around these topics by prompting the promotion of
different points of view.
Question prompts that initiate the gameplay.
Mechanic
The central mechanic of the game is the promotion of creative answers by using open
ended photographs to answer abstract and collective questions that relate to everyone.
The game asks the players to come up with interesting perspectives by giving them
“seeds” to respond to the question, which are the photographs, and challenging them to
use them as premises for their points of view.
Rule Set
Rules Iteration One:
All photo-cards are facing up on the table.
One person picks a question card and has to answer it by pairing it with a photo card.
Everybody has to guess why he/she chose it.
Closest answer to why she/he chose it wins.
If you win you keep the card and get to go first on the next round.
Rules Iteration Two:
Photo cards are shuffled, and 5 cards are randomly distributed to each player
Players pick a question card from the pile
Everybody picks a photo card (out of their own deck) to support their response to the
question, and explain why they chose it.
Everybody votes for the most creative answer except their own. and that person
scores a point.
Basic tech outline
Deck of cards with images (photos)
Deck of cards with questions/prompts
Players
User Scenario
An ideal user scenario for this game is to play amongst a diverse group of players
because it would bring out more interesting points of view, however it would work
with any group of people because the topics explored are abstract and hard to define.
For example, a family can play the game and use it to discuss and think about values
such as: democracy, justice, and wealth. The individuals come from the same
background but the game still acts as a vehicle to discuss open ended topics. However,
it would also be extremely interesting to play amongst a group of people who come
from different parts of the world, where each person grew up in an environment that
entertains distinct outlooks on these values.
The space where the game is played is ideally a relaxed environment where users are
able to listen to each other (a quiet room or outside space). Players can be sitting down
or standing up.
After introducing each player to each other the rule set is explained and the game
begins. Whoever presents himself at last is the first one to answer the question/pick a
card.
Feedback
This prototype worked really well in the first playtest we conducted. Most of the
questions and photographs worked as we were expecting they did. The players were
interested, collaborating and having fun. It was interesting seeing that none of them
debated why someone chose a certain card as their answer, meaning that our goal of
sharing perspectives and values was getting across. It was also very interesting to see
the meaning people gave to cards when prompted with challenging questions.
Some things we noted were the following:
It would have been better to have a deck of cards for the questions/ prompts
instead of a list of questions​. This is because it adds randomness and allows all the
players to play instead of one being responsible for asking the questions.
Some photographs were picked more than others.​ After seeing this pattern and to
add challenge to the game, we introduced a new rule that said that each time you
“win” a round you get to keep the card. That way we get to keep score without writing
it down AND add challenge to the game as you have to think quick and come up with a
reason why a certain photo answers a certain question.
Some images were not picked at all. ​ We noticed that landscapes were not very
popular due to being more generic. However object and human oriented cards were,
since they were easier to relate and emote with. In the future we would like to playtest
amongst different age groups to see if the popular cards would change.
Some questions were too personal. ​We revised our questions in order to make them
all interesting, vague, and important enough to generate discussion amongst our
participants.
We would probably like to playtest again in order to test the length of the game (which
we are not clear about). Furthermore we still think that not all the photographies are
perfect for the game. Something we thought was interesting is that we chose
compelling photographs prior to thinking of the questions we would ask. This was
beneficial because we had not come up with predetermined or stereotypical
photographs to represent a specific idea. Nevertheless, consequently some of the
images were not ever chosed.
Possible Iterations
The points system where players get to win another person’s card seemed to be less of
an incentive to keep going, but rather it was interesting to get to hear more
perspectives during the game process. We could possibly build on the various answers
and bring them together - how can we tap on the answers and build on something that
gives a bigger incentive?
Play testing at The Point. Based on the mix of demographics amongst the players, there
were very diverse perspectives on the game.
List of questions on the cards:
What does marriage mean to you?
What does love mean to you?
How would you define democracy?
What is equality?
What is freedom?
How do you change someone’s perspective?
What is to be fair?
What is privilege?
What is justice?
What is dignity?
What is the meaning of life?
What is success?
What image represents dead and why?
What is dead?
What is art?
What is beauty?
What is cordiality?
What is faith?
What is empathy?
What is family?
What is happiness?
What is wealth?
What is passion?
What is to have choices?
What are boundaries?
What is solitude?
What is eternity?
What is to be human?
What is regret?
What is forgiveness?
What is creativity?
What is authority?
What is charity?
What is religion?
What is peer pressure?
What is education?
What is inequality?
What is aggression?