The main concept of my project is frenemy. I defined this concept as “a person whom you dislike, but benefits you”. I thought this symbolized cooperation because it showed that people were willing to put aside their mutual dislike for the greater good. So, I planned to design a board game that taught users the importance of cooperating as frenemies. I replicated the concept of frenemy through a competitive format where cooperation is necessary to win. Below are the rules.

 

Four players pick a shape to build. Every turn, they can stack up to 4 blocks and borrow up to 3 blocks from any player. Borrowed blocks are counted twice; once for the player borrowing, once for the player lending. After the shape is complete, the player with the most blocks wins. However, if the shape collapses before it’s finished, the game ends without a winner.

 

The game encourages cooperation in 3 ways. Firstly, the game involves stacking. The players build on top of each other, while taking part in completing a shape together. Secondly, the hexagon structures need to be balanced. This makes the players think about how their moves affect the overall balance. Thirdly, players can borrow blocks from each other. This encourages them to actively pursue ways to upbring one another.

 

An important task was to design a “loser friendly” game. I wanted to give the players who lost, a reward to incentivize cooperation. So, I researched game theory and combined two contrasting types - The players cooperate towards a goal but the winner is selected based on contribution. This is why I wanted the goal to be the reward. This way, even if a player lost, they would be rewarded. I strengthened this idea with size and lighting. Through Cas Holman, I learnt that there was correlation between size and accomplishment. So, I scaled the blocks large enough to stack as tall as the target user (13). For the lighting, I added LED inside the block. I also used translucent plastic to accompany the LED. I planned to make it light up when the goal was completed. This way, the experience would be more rewarding.

 

As for the other aspects of the design, I had to consider the linking and borrowing of blocks.I didn’t want the link to connect with unwanted blocks. So, I divided the block into 2 layers. This allowed the outer layer to intersect with a piece in between. With this system, the surface could be kept smooth, preventing unwanted connection. For the borrowing system, I designed a colored clip-on piece that attaches to the inner layer. I used 4 colors (red, green, blue and yellow) to represent each player. The clip-on piece is attached once for a normal block, twice for a borrowed block. I added an oval cutout to easily see the two players involved in a borrowed block.

 

On the surface, this game is simply about stacking blocks. But underneath, it’s about the healthy balance between competition and cooperation. I wanted the users to realize that attacking each other to leverage themselves wouldn’t lead them far. Instead, helping each other grow while competing would lead to better results. No matter who the winner is, I’m sure they’ll be surprised to see what cooperation is capable of.