Board games are an integral part of the South Asian culture, spanning across centuries. Of recent, with advent of new globally recognized games, most of these ancient games are being forgotten which led to the rise of new ventures making an effort to bring the games back. This project takes a step further in building these games for the visually impaired. A game called 'Adu Huli' has been recreated and prototyped, specifically for blind children.
Design methods:
Secondary Research, Qualitative Interviews, POEMS, Rapid Prototyping
Games were an integral part of South Asian culture, spanning across centuries. They not only offer recreation, mental and physical fitness but also a bridge for human connection. This aspect paved way for building the game specifically for blind children to weaken the stigma built in the society and make it more inclusive while bringing more awareness towards the games resulting in revival efforts.
Research Question
Play stimulates and develops imagination and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. The simplicity of play in each game makes it easily adaptable for learning, even for a differently abled person.
What can be done to reduce stigma in the Indian society by using the element of play in ancient South Asian games contributing to their revival in the process?
Design Methods
POEMS methodology and Interviews were conducted with both abled and differently abled children to understand if there are any differences on how they interact with the idea of play.
Interviews - Some of the abled children were already aware of the traditional games. They were taught to them by their parents. The knowledge of these games were passed on across family and friends. Schools encourage sports and board games that are globally recognized but being from a lower economic setting, they do not have the resources to buy them but instead rely on these simple games that uses make-shift items as game pieces.
In contrast, the blind children had a different aspect to play. It was mostly a game played one-on-one so they prefer to indulge in activities that involved bigger groups like reading or activities that make use of other senses apart from sight. Mingling socially with friends who can see is a challenge since their perception differs.
Abled children playing Adu Huli with peers
Blind children playing chess through the sense of touch
POEMS - An abbreviation for People, Observation, Environment, Messages and Services, this methodology was useful to understand how play is elemental to both case studies - abled children and differently abled kids. Stark differences were observed. It was inferred that abled and differently abled children have different ways of learning and communication while playing the game. Support from peers is easier for abled children with vision while differently abled children have a one-on-one interaction with minimal verbal communication.
Other game concepts developed
There were many ancient games that have been recognized over time as slowly fading out of knowledge. Some of these games have been illustrated as concepts to be of suitable use for the blind. Of the many, Adu Huli has been chosen for basic prototyping owing to the simple strategy and minimal game elements to interact with.
Prototype
Grooves are traced to perceive lines through touch
Drilled holes at line intersections to insert game pieces
Game pawns are cut and drilled with holes to create peg fragments that can be inserted into the board
User Testing
After the prototype was ready, it was tested with the same group of visually impaired children. Though there were touch differences in the pawns, they were minimal, causing considerable confusion in differentiating the pawns. A piece of foam was attached on top of tiger pawns to facilitate differentiation through material touch. The board was also painted in colours so that the game can be played by both abled and visually impaired children, bridging stigma towards the differently abled.
Final Product
