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Developing science tabletop games: 'Catan' and global warming

Illingworth, Samuel; Wake, Paul

Authors

Paul Wake



Abstract

‘Catan’® (1995) is a multiplayer tabletop game with global sales of over 20 million copies. Presented here is an exploration of the steps that were taken in the development of the ‘Catan: Global Warming’ expansion, from prototype to final design. During the playtesting of the game the feedback that we received from a variety of playtesters indicated that the game mechanics (rather than any accompanying story) were an effective and elegant way of developing dialogue around a specific topic, in this instance global warming. We conclude that in order to develop such a game, consideration must be given to: the accessibility of the game, the game literacy of the proposed players, the playtesting of the game mechanics, the peer review of the scientific content, and the extent to which the metagame (i.e. those discussions that take place around and away from the game) is enabled.

Citation

Illingworth, S., & Wake, P. (2019). Developing science tabletop games: 'Catan' and global warming. Journal of Science Communication, 18(4), https://doi.org/10.22323/2.18040204

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 4, 2019
Online Publication Date Jul 22, 2019
Publication Date 2019
Deposit Date Feb 12, 2021
Publicly Available Date Feb 12, 2021
Journal JCOM: Journal of Science Communication
Electronic ISSN 1824-2049
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 18
Issue 4
DOI https://doi.org/10.22323/2.18040204
Keywords Environmental communication, Public engagement with science and technology, Science and technology art and literature
Public URL http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2736927

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