Boxford Resources System

The manufacture of board games has been part of human play since records began, one of the many enduring games is tic tac toe or noughts and crosses as we know it in the uk.

At keystage 3 I would have the students design a new game. It is surprisingly difficult to design a new board game that would compete with the old favourites. I would start the pupils off by getting them to research board games then perhaps play cluedo or a similar strategy game. Monopoly has a very long history and Waddingtons thought they had plumed it's depth to the full, falling sales and the perceived doom of the company made them sell the right to the game, it's new buyers realised that they could re-market the game by regionalizing it to the point that there are versions out for individual towns, as a marketing strategy it proved to be stunning.

At keystage 4 I would start them with an in depth analysis of three top selling board games then move on to an expanded brief to encompass the manufacture of the new game.

At both stages I would then invite other classes to find any loopholes of problems in the games. It would be the intention to create constructive criticism.

HorseShoe

Make Your Own Game

A relatively quick to machine Laser cutter project using PrePrinted Card then cut into squares and pieces made from Hegna cut wood or Laser Cut Acrylic.

This struck me as a perfect in the tin game that expands to a large finished map.

From Cristianno :-

I was first introduced to Carcassonne a few years back in our student flat. For a while we played it like crazy but at a certain moment the craze faded and I never got around to buying my own set. It’s the perfect game to introduce you to the so-called “Euro Games”. The Wikipedia article for Euro Games (also known as German-style board games) states:

The games emphasise strategy, downplay luck and conflict, lean towards economic rather than military themes, and usually keep all the players in the game until it ends. German-style games are sometimes contrasted with American-style games, which generally involve more luck, conflict, and drama.

So what’s Carcassonne?

The game is loosely based on the city of Carcassonne, which is famous for its fortified walls. The game starts off with one tile on the table after which each player in turn gets to pickup a random (faced down) tile and connect it up to the other tiles. In the mean while the user has a set of meeples (little wooden figures) that they can place on either cities, roads, cloisters, or fields. The larger the city, field, or road, the more points a user can gather.

Although the game partially relies on getting the right tiles at the right moments, the game most definitely has a large strategic element. It is to the user to at all times try to maintain as large a point potential and scoring as many points as possible, while also making sure to occasionally make situations harder for their opponents.

Some meeples in play

Expansions

The really cool part of Carcassonne is that basic game can be explained a few minutes (the base game comes with a small A5 sized booklet of 4 pages with full colour images), but for advanced players there are numerous expansions that add extra characters and tiles that add new dynamic and strategy to the game. Since we bought the base game we’ve already acquired 8 expansions but if you want to buy an expansion we’d recommend getting The River 2, Inns&Cathedrals, and Traders&Builders first.

Dragon on the River
The dragon from the Princess & The Dragon expansion

If you really want to go crazy though, you can get The Big Box 2 which combine the base game plus a few of the most important expansions together. Also have a look at MeeplePeople.com and BoardGameExtras.co.uk where you can get your own custom coloured meeples, meeple t-shirts, and much more.

Board Game Nights/Afternoons

Obviously it’s no fun playing any of these games on your own, so go ahead and follow our lead and organize your own board game afternoon or evening with friends. Again, the great thing of Carcassonne is that the rules can be explained in a few minutes, which makes it a perfect “gateway game”. Now before you know it you’ve got your entire circle of friends crazed about it and ordering their own meeples like mine did.