In partnership with Goya design we contributed to a creative design jam to work through the benefits of ‘hack’ processes in generating innovative ideas. We are re-imaging iconic tabletop games like Jenga, Monopoly and many more, to see how we may make them more inclusive, accessible and enjoyable for everyone. We are interested in games at a way to include diverse people in research. We developed some ‘thinking hat’ cards to interrupt and encourage different ways of thinking when designing, and playing games.
Our exploration of inclusive games was sparked by purpleSTARS research at St Fagans with Innovate Trust. The project assistants Steedley and Aaron from Welsh disability group Innovate Trust were real fans of playing Dungeons and Dragons. We incorporated role play quests into our sensory engagement with the Life is Gallery at St Fagans. Since then we discussed role play quest games as part of our research process and our idea for inclusive participation in the museum. Games use rules, storytelling, chance and strategy, so we can all play together.
purpleSTARS discussed the realisation that for us games could be a great inclusive research method. We connected the role play quest with our Sensory Expedition to discover which historical characters or objects in a museum collection would be chosen to be explored through the sense of smell, touch, sound and vision. The sensory treasures of each character in the game is presented in a sensory belt. Each pocket on the belt contains a sensory item connected to the historical character/object.
Once the sensory knowledge has been experienced by the players of Operation Dragon, they come back to to the games table and start to play the role play quest. They can let their imagination fly, create stories for their character or be directed as to their characters Actions and Powers directed by the Games Master. The image below shows Steedley Innovate Trust research assistant who was our brilliant Games Master.
At the Museum of Wales in the Life is Gallery at St Fagan’s the aim was for five characters to save the spirit of Wales represented by a red dragon that had been tied up by a white dragon.
The video below shows the result of how we took the idea of Dungeons and Dragons and transformed it into Operation Dragon.
