Designing Games with Grandparents and Grandchildren

One of my favorite days of the year is when my employer, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, hosts their annual Grandparents University event. During the two-day session, grandparents and their grandchildren stay at our campus, take a variety of fun mini-courses, and engage in a variety of community activities.

I have the honor of teaching a course on board and card game design, and it is absolutely incredible to see what kiddos and their grandparents make year in and year out. In just a half day, we had kiddos ages 8, 9, and 10 making incredible, ready-to-play games with each other!

We always begin by playing Gamestormers to both generate narrative ideas and teach some game mechanic ideas. After a few rounds, the grandkids have a variety of stories from fantasy, sci fi, and the high seas to use for their new game ideas. Next, we look at existing games and discuss how we can tweak their game mechanics to create entirely new experiences that fit the kids’ themes.

One attendee created Ocean-Tac-Toe, a variation of of the classic game, where players moved their pieces based on a dice roll to determine where they could place their octopus or sea turtle. I loved the aesthetic and the strategic tweak they made to design their game!

Another attendee tweaked Chess (appropriately renamed Chess Plus!) by making the board a square path that changed the movement decisions. In addition, they added event cards that could trigger effects such as a dragon attack or even the “Super Pawn” who could take out the nearest enemy piece.

Disney would be glad to know one of our attendees created a princesses versus villains game called First to Five. In this tic-tac-toe style game, players draw cards in order to place their pieces and complete a row. The deck has lots of fun surprises, such as a Skip card, a “Move a Piece” card, and more!

Every year I am floored by the creativity and thought the grandparents and grandchildren put into their creations. Games truly are for anyone and everyone, and they bring us together to both design and play!