So, after much consultation and deliberation with my guinea pigs (friends), I’ve come across something resembling a game! With the tentative title of Coronades, the game has been a pretty laborious but equally fun process. I’ll get into detailing the main rules and objectives of the game once I’ve fully ironed out the kinks but this blog is instead devoted to exploring the social utility of the game I’ve been working on.
The most obvious theme that comes to mind is my decision to use a standard 52 deck of cards for the game. I’ve touched upon this in earlier posts however I’ll reiterate my thoughts on the chosen method of play. Most people are pretty familiar with a standard deck from a fairly young age. Starting out with games like Snap and Go Fish, we slowly understand the aesthetics and purpose of the numerical value of the cards. From there we begin to learn more difficult games with different mechanics, even those like Solitaire which can be played individually.
This is the basis for creating a game using a standard deck. The universal quality of it really breaks down the barrier of having to find the necessary custom deck for playing the game. It also has the added benefit of being more familiar to people young and old. In reference to the more royal theme of the game, I think this is also somewhat timely with the popularity of programs such as Game of Thrones. Considering the main objective of the game is to war against other kingdoms in order to be the sole victor, it has a similar kind of edge while adding a degree of interactivity.
Of course there is the obvious benefit that a tabletop game gets the players away from the screen for an extended amount of time, something we can all benefit from. In this article by Chris Bailey[1], the average amount of time spent in front of a screen exceeds six hours a day. He details that this has a huge strain on both the eyes and the attention span, both things we should avoid more readily. Not only combating this, card games are far more social as opposed to group activities such as video games or watching movies.
This article by Chad Knick details the benefits of playing tabletop games as opposed to those listed before. Listing increased social skills, communication, and problem solving skills, playing cards has the added benefit of increasing your own skills whilst masquerading as fun. These are the major societal reasons I chose to progress with my game as a standard deck, the understated improvements that you just don’t really find in other casual social situations.
Game Cultures 