On the topic of serious games and tabletop ones, I wanted to talk about Prime Climb and Quoridor and how they should become videogames! Focusing on their mechanics I think their educational value would expand in a digital environment.
The Prime Climb board’s color-coded prime factors are easy to understand, I remember playing the game in math class in fact. But, in a video game, they could become dynamic. A player could click a number and see animated factor breakdowns, or short explanations that shift the game to an interactive tool.
- Adaptive difficulty that introduces more complex operations over time- I played this game in 6th grade soo maybe this would expand it to accomodate older students.
- Single-player puzzle modes where players must reach numbers using limited moves would be cool too, like a take-home assignment
- Instant feedback and number checks for players still learning multiplication and factorization, since the original allows you to advance without checking.
- Online multiplayer would make the game more competitive and motivating!
Prime Climb is exploration of the number line, a videogame version could turn it into a more memorable one!!
Quoridor’s minimalism is really cool, although not educational, it taught me logic and strategy, like planning ahead and guessing my opponents moves, to this day its one of my favorite tabletop games. The game’s goal is simple: reach the opposite side of the board while placing walls to slow your opponent. Because the rules are so clean, a videogame version could be easy to make and add on to the tabletop rules
- Online competitive play makes Quoridor more appealing to a strategic audience, like chess.com
- Ranked and matchmaking would potentially make a whole new community of players
- Maybe some puzzle challenges where wall placements are already made, dropping you in the middle of a game could be cool to “practice” and develop more logical strat
- You could play against a robot..eek! AlphaQuoridor???
Quoridor is really elegant and it really succeeds as a tabletop, so it would have to really faithfully transfer onto a videogame format given its following, but i think it’d be cool. The computer can enforce rules automatically, and play against you, which is new. At the same time, stronger players would play against eachother across the world, online!
The Shared Reason: These Games Gain Depth, Accessibility, and Lifespan as Videogames
Mainly, I like that video games can introduce community to these games, and it’d be beneficial for their learning because of the competition.
