Game on! Students play, create board games in Trine class

While many professors would frown on students playing games during class, it was encouraged in one Trine University course this past spring.

The Art and Science of Board Game was the university’s first Honors Humanities Seminar, taught by Joanna Claudy, assistant professor in the Department of Humanities and Communication.

Students in the class studied modern board games and then were tasked with developing a game of their own.

Claudy, who has a background in honors coursework, said she came up with the idea for the course after attending the Gen Con board gaming convention in Indianapolis and looking at her personal board game collection.

“I thought, what if we analyze games instead of books?” she recalled.

The game’s afoot

The class had two sections and enrolled 40 students, 29 of whom were part of the Honors Program.

Students said they were drawn to the class by the opportunity to study a humanities topic that didn’t involve a lot of reading and writing.

“If there was ever a way I could enjoy an English class, it would be through board games,” said Drew Merritt, an actuarial science and mathematics major from Ashley, Indiana.

For the first four weeks, students played modern and strategic board games like Catan, Isle of Cats and Distilled. While playing the games, students analyzed elements such as theme, mechanics, strategy and components.

“The most interesting part was being able to play a variety of different board games and observe their mechanics, artwork and narrative,” said Merritt. “It was amazing to see just how different one game felt compared to another.”

“I liked how we got to test out many different types of board games in the beginning of the semester, and then we could use some of the mechanics from those games as inspiration to create our own board game,” said Allison Denzin, a biomedical engineering major from Neenah, Wisconsin.

The class heard from guest speaker John Levy, a history teacher from West Lafayette Junior/Senior High School who also works with various game companies.

Top of their game

Students were divided into groups to create their own original board games. They developed rough prototypes and tested their games, leading up to a final showcase on April 22 of all 10 created.

Attendees were invited to try the games and vote on awards.

Degree of Difficulty, created by Denzin, Keith Knafel, an actuarial science major from Albion, Indiana, Morgan Betterly, an actuarial science major from Huntington, Indiana, and Cole Frappier, an electrical engineering major from Fort Wayne, Indiana, was picked as the best overall game in the 11 a.m. class. 

In Degree of Difficulty, gamers play through eight semesters as a Trine student, balancing stress as they navigate their way through college classes and experiences.

“One of the main mechanics we incorporated into our game was card drafting, which came from Morgan and Keith's experience playing Isle of Cats earlier in the semester,” said Denzin.

“I think that our game turned out better than any of the group members originally pictured,” she said. “We ended up adding more mechanics to the game after rounds of play testing to make it more interactive and less repetitive for players. With the combination of the strategic conversations, adaptive mindset of the group and Keith's artistic talent, we were able to make a functional game that also looked great.”

Udder Chaos, a game about fulfilling milk orders with cows players buy, won best overall game in the 12:30 p.m. class.

The game was designed by Merritt, Isabella Heisler, an English major from Angola, Indiana, Matthew Schaefer, a mechanical engineering major from Lakeville, Indiana, and Sean Smith, an accounting major from Pleasant Lake, Indiana.

“I was stressed at first because I didn't know how we were going to create the components, make up rules that are easy to follow and establish balance within the game,” Merritt commented. “When the project was completed, all that stress turned into excitement and relief because our game turned out to be one of the best with amazing components, unique mechanics and proper balance. Although our game is not perfect, it felt great knowing that we created a brand-new board game from scratch in less than eight weeks.” 

Claudy said students enjoyed the class overall.

“They learned about compromise, prototyping, writing instructions, delegating tasks and building off others’ work,” she said.