Redesigning Culturally-Relevant Tabletop Games

In this project, we are considering the cultural-historical significance of tabletop games. According to Crist et al. (2016), tabletop games were:

(1) historically used as “social lubricants” across cultures (e.g., for newlyweds to get to know each other on their first night and for traders to develop amity); and

(2) adopted into varying societies by being decorated and reimagined (i.e., redesigned) appropriately to their cultures.

The tabletop game redesign activities will involve the families in carefully choosing a game that matters to their family members and considering their interests and could enrich the strengths of linguistic and cultural diversity.

Crist, W., de Voogt, A., & Dunn-Vaturi, A. E. (2016). Facilitating interaction: Board games as social lubricants in the ancient near east. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 35(2), 179–196.

Team Members

Beaumie Kim, Principal Investigator (Professor)

Jerremie Clyde, Co-PI (Game Studies Associate Librarian)

Reyhaneh Bastani, Researcher (Postdoctoral Fellow)

Justin Acton, Researcher (Preservice Teacher)

Rebecca Stockton, Researcher (Graduate Student)