Learning by Dying

I'd been participating in an online forum, called "Pathways to Gaming," sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation. We were talking about the kind of learning that takes place when kids play online, and attempting to identify some of the "triggers" that bring them into gaming.

The dialogue reminded me of an article I wrote more than a decade ago - Learning by Dying. Which, in turn, inspired this Funcast.

To listen, click here.



from Bernie DeKoven's FunLog

Play: The Movement of Love

If you happen to be in Woodacre, CA, this coming December (the 2nd, actually), you might consider attending this seminar - so you can meet, among others, Gwen Gordon, author of a quite profound and lightening article: Play: The Movement of Love. Here's a taste:

If we forget to play, we lose our love for life, and loving life is what will save our world, not fearing destruction. We’re desperate to be invited into our joy, into our energy source, the belly laugh, the burst of giggles, wild abundance, bright color and zest for life of play. The laughing Buddha is fat to show that even the most massive bulk can lift off the ground–with a big enough laugh. Laughter is the sound of play and a doorway into play. Right now, wherever you are, put this article down and laugh. Not because there’s anything funny going on, but because you’re free to laugh. It may seem awkward at first, but stretch into it. Get off your spot. You will discover that you can find ecstasy just by moving toward it. Play is the movement of love, and love is what moves the Universe. Never underestimate, especially during a time of crisis, the power of play to move the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that ever did.

Thanks to the amazing Bryan Alexander for the find.


originally appeared in Bernie DeKoven's FunLog

Why Play, Toys, and Games are Important

I have been fortunate to know Dr. Toy for maybe a couple of decades already, during which I've come to appreciate her more and more for her valiant and often heroic efforts towards creating a childhood that is a little more fun for many, many more children; in a world of adults who can barely remember what fun is for.

Her recently published article, "Why Play, Toys, and Games are Important," is one more example of her wisdom, expertise, passion and valiant defense of play. That she quotes me extensively in this article is yet further evidence of the aforementioned.

Here's a taste of what she has to say: "There are three 'Cs' I refer to when thinking about how the child's social development is nurtured by games and by thinking outside the limits to the learning process and traditional settings. When thinking about the value of games in the school or in libraries consider these values:

1. Communication — Communication involves others and leads to sharing, discussions, negotiation, and compromise.
2. Challenge — Challenges of game play give the child the opportunity to master new skills, solve problems, pursue goals, and enhance self-confidence.
3. Creativity — Creativity helps children imagine and wonder about ideas and stimulates self-expression."

A counting game gets more fun

Zeus on the Loose is quite solidly based on everything that makes the kids' card game 99 fun to play. And, quite like the Major FUN-awarded game Straw, it makes a good game, better.

Zeus on the Loose adds new cards, with new powers, a lot more interaction, and a Zeus statue.

Let me summarize the root game, as it were, according to Pagat, who classifies 99 as an "adding game": "These are...games, in which the values of the cards are added together as they played in a single pile, the object being to avoid taking the total above the target score (98, 99, 100 respecively)."

So, you see, if your card has the power of, for example, reversing the digits (one of my favorites), you can make the card total, which is currently at, for example, 93, become 39, don't you see. So, if justification for fun is what you seek, fact is the kids'll be playing with numbers, combinations of numbers in combinations of addition and subtraction operations.

Interesting. Fun, even. But it's the "lot more interaction" that earned Zeus on the Loose it's Major FUN for Kids award. It would have to be. Because the added functionality and the significantly silly images of male and female Greek gods, and even the cool little Zeus statue cannot be compared in fun value to the Stealing Zeus rules.

You see, to win, you must be the Holder of the Zeus. To be the Holder of the Zeus, you must steal it from a player who is currently Zeus-Holder. O, you steal quite openly, there is no deception involved. Merely the experience of complete, if temporary, vindication. And then it gets stolen from you. And you can't win without it. And then you do a "Same Number Sneak" (see the rules), and steal it back. And, well, it's like a whole nother game, as it were. Like 99, sure. And Straw. But a whole new level of fun.

Flip-Tac-Toe

Flip-Tac-Toe is a 3-in-a-row game on a 4x4 board for 2-4 players. And that's not all. It's a Tic-Tac-Toe game that breaks almost every convention of Tic-Tac-Toe, and yet, when all is said and done, is still definitely Tic-Tac-Toe.

You get 12 big bright foam chips apiece. You put one of your pieces anywhere on the board. Or you move a piece anywhere on the board. Yes, that's right, I said move "a" piece, as in any piece, as in one of yours or one of anyone else's. Anywhere. Even on top of another piece (unless there are already 4 pieces on it). And if there are stacks of pieces, you can also turn a stack over, on your turn, so to speak.

A stacking strategy, they explain, is to try to get your color on top and on bottom of a stack, like a sandwich - so that it always stays the same color even when flipped. Very interesting. And very different when you play with 3 or 4 people, stack-sandwich-making-strategy-wise.

Easy to learn, because it's tic-tac-toe. Takes a while to master, because it's so much more.

Strategic Sudoku

Sudoku Challenge is prolific game designer Reiner Knizia's answer to the widely distributed (and I mean widely), and often excessively-challenging Sudoku puzzle. And it turns out to be a surprisingly fun answer, even for people who don't know or especially like Sudoku.

After the board (a traditional 9x9 Sudoku matrix) is seeded (in something similar to the traditional Sudoku manner), players take turns drawing and placing number tiles on the Sudoku grid. Following the Sudoku puzzle rule, you can't put a tile in the same row or column or region (traditional Sudoku matrices are divided, tic-tac-toe-like, into 9 regions) where the same tile has already been played.

Your score (and hence the challenge) is determined by how many tiles are in the same row, column and region. As you can so clearly imagine, the potential to score higher on each turn, or to run out of legal moves, increases as the available spaces become fewer and fewer.

We found the game less demanding, and more fun than a Sudoku puzzle. Maybe because it's a lot easier to play with movable tiles than with pen or pencil. Maybe because it's more fun to play together than alone.

Speaking of together, if you have school age kids, turn the board over. It's Zoodoku, a children's version of the game using a set of animal tiles. More visually demanding, but a smaller matrix, with fewer intersections, and gentler rules.

Zig Zag

Zig Zag is a strategy game for two players, though we played it with two teams. The goal of the game is to be the first to line up 4 pegs in a row. The pegs, however, can only be moved along certain "tracks." Tracks that each player has laid down, one turn at a time, patiently, o so patiently.

And that's exactly what they were, our kids' games tasting group, playing Zig Zag: patient. Thoughtful. Focused. And often taken completely by surprise.

Zig Zag is a well-made and well-conceived strategy game that can be played in as little as 5 minutes or as much as a half hour. The sturdy plastic bridge pieces - a longer one to reach diagonally adjacent holes, and a shorter one for the orthagonally similarly adjacent and also holes - fit smoothly into slots alongside each raised peg hole. Storage trays help keep the pieces sorted.

Any invitation for people to think together, kids, adults, is something you almost can't afford to turn down. Especially if it's fun. And challenging. And just complex enough to take people by surprise. And short enough so no one takes it seriously, this winning or losing thing, so everyone can focus, instead, on the fascination, the delight of the game.