“A Day in Singapore” Board Game
Game Design
I designed this board game, titled “A Day in Singapore”, for my Game Design class in college. The game was designed as a way to introduce Singapore culture to the majority of people that are unfamiliar with it. Through this game, players explore Singapore by moving across the board, which is a map of Singapore, and reading cards that describe locations, food, shopping, and attractions. The premise of the game is that the player visiting Singapore as a tourist and they only have one day. Through playing this game, the players develop an understanding of Singapore geography and where you should go to find specific things in Singapore.
Problem Statement
How might we help a traveler new to Singapore become familiar with Singapore’s geography and culture?
Solution Statement
An immersive board game that takes the player though a scavenger hunt across a map of Singapore to find specific foods to eat, things to buy, and attractions to see.
Design Process
Inspiration
Game Structure
Game Board and Cards
Game Mechanics
Playtesting
Inspiration
Growing up, I would go to Singapore every summer to visit family, as Singapore is where my mom grew up. Whenever I would tell my friends about the things I ate, none of them would have any idea what I was talking about. When I would wear clothes that I bought from Singapore boutiques, people would ask where it’s from because they’ve never seen anything like it. This inspired me to design a game that teaches people about Singapore and its culture in a fun and immersive way.
Game Structure
The first design challenge that I came across was figuring out how much challenge and strategy to incorporate. I wanted to make sure that there wasn’t so much cognitive load that the players would forget or ignore a lot of the information about Singapore that I want them to learn. However, if I don’t include any strategic elements, players will get bored.
After some deliberating, I decided to make the game like
a scavenger hunt, where they have to look for specific places on the map that match the cards that they draw at the beginning of the game. I also decided to show on the map which locations correspond to which type of card so that players can strategize about which locations are most likely to match the cards that they have.
I decided to allow that players to move on any path regardless of if it’s a walking, taxi, or MRT route in order to give the player more choice, giving them more space to strategize.
Game Board and Cards
Example Food Card
Example Shopping Card
Example Landmark Card
The images on the cards Serve as a way for players to learn about Singapore, as it helps the player visualize being in Singapore and immerse themselves in the game. The descriptions both help to describe the food/landmark/item, as well as make the player feel like they are experiencing it.
Game Mechanics
At the beginning of the game, players draw a card from each of the decks: Food, Shopping, and Landmarks. These become the places that the players are trying to find. The player moves by rolling a dice. The player can choose to take any path even though there are walking, Taxi, and MRT paths marked in different colors. The paths are very accurate to true Singapore transportation maps, and the locations are also very accurate on the map. When they finish moving, they find the card matching that location and flip it over to see if it matches the card that they drew at the beginning of the game.
I wanted the game to make the player feel as though they are frantically looking for the places that they are trying to go to, but are lost and confused on how to get there, much like how it is visiting a foreign country on a very fast time constraint. However, while searching for these places, they inherently learn about other things in Singapore as they wander around. I often stumble across a lot of interesting things while on my way somewhere when visiting a foreign country, and I feel like these happy accidents are a big part of the fun of traveling and experiencing new places. I wanted this feeling to be explored in “A Day in Singapore”.