{"id":1176,"date":"2026-01-23T01:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T01:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mycours.es\/postgaming\/?page_id=1176"},"modified":"2026-04-17T14:11:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:11:58","slug":"assignment-update-the-classics","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mycours.es\/postgaming\/assignment-update-the-classics\/","title":{"rendered":"Assignment: Update the Classics"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/header>\n
\n

The teams are here<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Play the original game for a bit and analyze it together<\/strong>
\nWhat are its core mechanics?
\nWhat makes it distinctive?
\nWhat are its best and worst aspects?<\/p>\n

2. Shrink the game
\n<\/strong>Make it playable in about 15 minutes.
\nWhat\u2019s the minimum level of complexity you can have while still retaining its dynamics and identity?
\nYou can redesign the board and the component.<\/p>\n

3. Theme update<\/strong>
\nHow can you update the theme of the game to reflect contemporary sensibilities?
\nTry to not come up with a complete re-skin. Stay adjacent to real estate (Monopoly), life simulation (Game of Life), war (Risk). Candyland can be more open to thematic overhauls. Examples:<\/p>\n

Risk BUT for asymmetrical conflicts \/ information warfare \/ trade wars \/ diplomacy…<\/p>\n

Monopoly BUT for real estate speculation \/ gentrification \/ from the perspective of the renters \/ more realistic \/ digital platform landlord-ism…<\/p>\n

Game of Life BUT for the gen-Z era \/ in time of crisis \/ in time of AI \/ for college \/ for a 19th century woman \/ taking inequalities into account…<\/p>\n

Candyland BUT for an adult audience \/ to build literacy about modern board games \/ about contemporary nutrition ideas \/ about contemporary children fantasies<\/p>\n

What are some original mechanics that prevent such re-theming?
\nWhat are some more modern mechanics that would strengthen the re-theming?<\/p>\n

4. Add\/change a mechanic<\/strong>
\nEach team member comes up with a modification based on ONE or TWO building blocks taken from the excerpts of Building blocks of tabletop game design<\/a> below.<\/p>\n

You can assign a team member to one area or have all team members review all the building blocks.
\nActions<\/a>
\nUncertainty<\/a>
\nEconomics<\/a><\/p>\n

Meet at least once before next class with a fleshed out and possibly tested modification, play it and discuss it together. Bring a prototype of the modified game to class.
\n– Write down the rules clearly.
\n– Bring all the components you need to play
\n– Make it playable in 15 minutes or so (at least to get a sense of it).<\/p>\n

Playtest<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One team mate stays with their game and introduces it to the playtesters from the other team (they should play too).
\nPlay for about 15 minutes and discuss what worked and what didn’t. The designer should write down notes, and ask specific questions, they should not talk about the development project or “defend” the game.
\nThe playtesters move to the next game.<\/p>\n

Iteration
\n<\/strong>At this point you have 3 possible choices:<\/p>\n

– Your design is already working, the game is compelling and the dynamics are what you what you expect.
\nAssignment: polish, and develop theme and visuals, make it as complete as you can.<\/p>\n

– Your design is promising and almost working but is still missing something or requires some work.
\nAssignment: iterate each team member tries to add an element among the ones described here<\/a><\/p>\n

– Your design isn’t working, the game is broken or unfun \/ too complicated \/ the intended dynamics don’t emerge \/ you are not excited about the idea.
\nAssignment: no worries, start over from the initial classic game and\u00a0add an element among the ones described here<\/a> (while also shrinking it down to a 15 min game).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The teams are here 1. Play the original game for a bit and analyze it together What are its core mechanics? What makes it distinctive? What are its best and worst aspects? 2. Shrink the game Make it playable in about 15 minutes. What\u2019s the minimum level of complexity you can have while still retaining … Continue reading “Assignment: Update the Classics”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":9,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1176","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycours.es\/postgaming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycours.es\/postgaming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycours.es\/postgaming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycours.es\/postgaming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycours.es\/postgaming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1176"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/mycours.es\/postgaming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1200,"href":"https:\/\/mycours.es\/postgaming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1176\/revisions\/1200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycours.es\/postgaming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}