Game Challenge #10: Socially Conscious Game

For this challenge, we needed to incorporate some sort of commentary on society and put it into game play. In brainstorming for this challenge, I got to thinking about the media and all the pretty women plastered on billboards and influencing the public. I think I was watching Dr. Phil (haha) one day, and it discussed how girls are trying so hard to be “sexy” like the women on tv. But Dr. Phil (and a really awesome commercial made by Dove) proved that women don’t really look like that. (The commercial took an everyday American woman and transformed her into a super model, showing all the work that goes into making her look so, including the Photoshop touch-ups!)  This got me thinking on how people spend SO much money just to defy the natural aging process. There are SO many surgeries, products, and procedures available to women (and men) in order to make them fit with American society’s idea of “beauty.” And so, I felt I needed to make a game on this, since I feel so strongly towards it.

And here are the rules to “American Beauty” :

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Of all societies, America places significant emphasis on physical beauty. With the discovery of numerous plastic surgeries, cosmetic surgeries, and chemical products, there’s nothing a person can’t do to alter their physicality to look more “beautiful.” This vast pool of products and procedures is America’s very own “fountain of youth.” Every day, people tap into this fountain to deny the aging process—to “look your age” has become equivalent to a cardinal sin under the critical eye of American society.
Your goal is to be an “American Beauty,” aging in years but never in looks. Try your best to defy the natural aging process, remain youthful and beautiful, and avoid the ever-critical eye of society.

SET UP
At least two players must play, and the game allows for up to six players. Begin by placing your age stone (clear) and your beauty stone (red) on the black starting space on the “blue” side of the board. Players then roll a die to see which blue age space they begin on (16-21). If a player rolls a 1, he or she starts on 16; if a player rolls a 2, he or she starts on 17; and so on with 6 being 21. Place your age stone (clear) on the age space rolled. The player landing on the youngest age space begins, and turns continue in a clockwise direction. In case of a tie with ages, the players roll the die again; the player to roll a lower number then goes first.

GAME PLAY
For each turn, players roll a die. The number on the die corresponds to one of the following actions:

1 – pick up and play an Age card
2 – move your beauty stone forward one space
3 – choose an action! (1, 2, 4, 5, or 6)
4 – move your age stone forward one space
5 – play one of your Beauty cards
6 – move your beauty stone back one space

If a player picks up an Age card, he or she must follow the directions on the card. If an Age card has a purple dot in the corner, it means the player receives a Beauty card. Beauty cards are kept in the player’s hand, while all Age cards are returned to the bottom of the deck once played.

POPULARITY POINTS and WINNING THE GAME
After a round is completed and all players have rolled the die, players collect their Popularity points. (Please keep track of popularity points on a separate sheet of paper). In order to calculate your popularity points, do the following:

Popularity Points = Current Age as Indicated by Age Stone Space x the Number of Your Colored Area as Indicated by your Beauty Stone Space

So, for example, if a player’s age stone is on 54, but their beauty stone is on 25 and within the green area, they would calculate their Popularity Points as follows:

54 (age stone) x 1 (beauty stone) = 54 Popularity Points

Players solve this equation after the end of each round (when all players have rolled), and accumulate points as they go. When all players reach the ending black space on the “red” side of the board with their age stone, they have finished their part in the game, but the game is not over until all players reach the end. At the end of the game, the players who accumulated the least amount of Popularity Points is the one who was able to look the youngest despite their age; therefore, the players with the least amount of points wins the game and conforms to American society’s idea of beauty!

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So these rules SERIOUSLY changed during game play, especially the die number results. Players seemed to have fun, and discussed the social aspect a bit and gave their own input on the idea of “beauty,” but I feel players also got a little…I wanna say, bored. And I blame this mostly on the math aspect. Perhaps cutting out the math entirely will help make the game flow a little better, and players don’t have to strain their brains with such high numbers (they DID get pretty high, in the five-digit range for some, I think). There also was some confusion on the starting space, and whether you needed to return to it if you had to go back a certain number of spaces. I may just cut out the starting space entirely…

Overall, the biggest issue was getting a balance between moving the stones, and gaining cards/die rolls that allowed players to move back with their age stone. I’ll be revising this system the most, I believe…

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