Category: Games

CIRCUIT, CHAMBER, LOTUS, MYSTIQUE, “Shuh-shu-cum: Modifying Settlers of Catan” – by Beth Fox, Lisbeth Haigh-Turner, Kelsie McNeil; Navjot Jassar

This board game centres around the supernatural being Shu Shu Cum (Open Mouth) which is connected to Octopus Point by the Sansum Narrows, for Cowichan Tribes. The game repurposes the mass produced Catan board game and adjusts it with new texts and symbols overlayed on the Catan texts. I also includes a new figurine of the monster itself.

This game was made for Rebecca Johnson’s Business Associations course.

Rebecca Johnson on the project:

“This is such an interesting project.  I liked the way you treated it as a palimpsest, where the traces of the old game remain visible behind/underneath.  Such a nice way of keeping the new game in conversation with the old one, rather than just inventing anew. So many of the changes were thought provoking (both to reflect Coast Salish land/territory, and the story; and to shift gender).   Making space of the agency of the resources is quite brilliant.   Both fun AND serious at the same time, adding on the ability of the resource to either give or keep itself, as well as to require its sharing with others.   This must have been so interesting to play through.  And, quite a bit of work to do the modifications on the cards.

The four reflections pieces were also a pleasure to read.  Each of the reflections brought something to the project (including reflections on the business of developing the direction, and playing).”

 

Photos by Max Gross

People, Planet, Profit – by Unknown

Unknown created this game – People, Planet, Profit – for Rebecca Johnson. The purpose of the game reads:

“This board game is an attempt to bring concepts of the Community Economy, as discussed in J.K. Gibson-Graham’s book, Taking Back the Economy, into a more tangible place of exploration. The goal is that the board game can be a tool of reframing a way to unlearn much of what we have been taught about the . . . economy and imagine a new way of living, working and supporting one another in our communities.”

Money Game – by Unknown

Unknown created this game for Rebecca Johnson’s Business Associations course. Players earn points in different categories including “Money,” “Buy-In,” “Momentum,” and “Well-Being.” Players start at a level 8 for buy-in, $5 for money, and 5 for well-being. Players get character cards, including Warren Buffet,  which have different advantages and disadvantages, including having an Extra Action/Turn, Losing $3, and gaining one buy-in point. Another character is the Koch Brothers, who gain an extra action/turn, lose momentum, but gain buy-in. Different action cards include “Privatize Hospitals” which means you gain $1 per turn in assets but lose wellbeing. Another action card includes Forming a Credit Union, which gains well being but loses $5. Other cards include the “Military Industrial Complex” which requires the “Defence Contracting” card and will allow you to gain $7.

Gay Adoption Game – by Zachary Lee

“This was a game handed in for family law, for 40% of the mark. The question the students were asked to respond to was “How does law regulate your understanding of the family?” with the option given to answer the question in whatever format was best.  This student wanted to write about obstacles that exist to gay men adopting in Canada notwithstanding that there are no formal barriers, in law, to same-sex partners, or single gay folk adopting. So he created that game that demonstrates that even though law is inclusive, there remain many barriers.  

So you play the game and the goal is for you and your partner to get to the end where you adopt a baby. But you have to cross identity barriers and financial barriers and other kinds of barriers to get there.  When you play the game you feel it in your body. You understand obstacles by playing the game that you would not understand in the same sense by just reading about them. It is fun to engage with the game but you never lose sight of the fact that this is a real struggle; the project makes the argument that homophobia exists in many of our practices around how we create families in Canada, even with the shifts in Family Law.

It was a stunning project and often when I  am encouraging students to think about doing projects, I bring out this game for them to play to give them a sense of what some possibilities might be for them. It is one of the best ways that an essay question has ever been answered in Family Law.”

Gillian Calder