{"id":9946,"date":"2022-06-01T20:59:19","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T20:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2022\/06\/10\/mayx-snapshot-board-game-analysis\/"},"modified":"2022-09-07T15:48:36","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T19:48:36","slug":"mayx-snapshot-board-game-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/mayx-snapshot-board-game-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"MayX Snapshot: Students seek the next generation of board games"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, we\u2019re highlighting courses from May Experience<\/a><\/u> \u2013 a chance for students to explore topics beyond the typical academic year.<\/em><\/p>\n

COURSE:<\/strong> You Sank My Battleship! Board Game Analysis
\nINSTRUCTOR:<\/strong> Chris Alvin, associate professor of computer science<\/a>
\nOBJECTIVE: <\/strong>This course introduced students to topics in game theory, probability and algorithms that underlie many current board games. Students then used these tools to design their own game.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s fair to say that Chris Alvin has more than a few board games.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife and I went to Ikea. We bought a seven-foot cabinet, and I said, \u2018That\u2019s not going to be enough,\u2019\u201d he remembered.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Alvin and his wife, Lori Alvin, an associate professor of mathematics at Furman, wound up with four seven-foot-tall cabinets, three of which are now crammed full with the couples\u2019 board game collection.<\/p>\n

Alvin, who\u2019s been a board-game enthusiast for decades, has been excited to observe a resurgence in board game popularity over the past 10 years.<\/p>\n

\"A

A 20-sided die was one mechanism of movement studied during a MayX course on board games.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThese are not your typical canonical board games from the last 30 to 50 years,\u201d he said. \u201cYes, there\u2019s going to be Scrabble. Yes, there\u2019s going to be Yahtzee.\u201d But now, more complex games, such as Settlers of Catan, are joining the classics on the shelves at Target, Alvin noted.<\/p>\n

This renewed interest in board games sparked the idea to develop a MayX class. Alvin knew that playing board games, like Quixx, MicroMacro: Crime City and Guillotine, can teach you a lot about life. So students in Alvin\u2019s MayX class played for hours, picking apart every aspect of design, mechanics and underlying game theory. Along the way, they probed topics like probability, design, scalability and clarity of rules. Finally, the students were challenged to take what they learned and create their own entirely original board game.<\/p>\n

Alvin encouraged the students to explore cooperative gaming \u2013 \u201cNot everything has to be competitive, right?\u201d he said \u2013 and he was rigorous about having his them test and optimize each aspect of play.<\/p>\n

\u201cCreating is so much fun, but testing and refining can take a lot out of you,\u201d said Katie Abbott \u201925.<\/p>\n

Students also examined game movement. \u201cThere were situations where it wasn’t always clear what order a set of actions should occur in, and we talked in length about it,\u201d said Abbott. \u201cFor all intents and purposes, we learned to meta-game and have fun doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When his students suggested using a standard six-sided die to advance players around the board, Alvin encouraged them to use their imagination, explore all their options and tap into all the resources available to them, including a 3D printer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018[a six-sided die] doesn\u2019t excite me.\u2019 But if they use a 20-sided die or 10-sided die, the sky\u2019s the limit,\u201d Alvin said. \u201cIf they want to dream it, I want to see if we can actually make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The students quickly learned that there was one game they should avoid mentioning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know I have disdain for Monopoly, because it\u2019s not a game that people typically finish. It takes too long, and the rules have deviated from the original concept,\u201d Alvin said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to hear about it. It\u2019s not a game that exists in my world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support the May Experience at Furman with a donation now.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n