In part 1, I gave some context for accessibility issues in games and described common vision problems along with some solutions. In this concluding article, I’ll talk about dexterity, cognition and problems relating to inclusivity.
As I said last time, accessibility is something that should concern all of us: even if we’re at our physical and mental peak, we’re only a matter of years or an accident away from needing assistance in at least some aspect of our lives. I do think that the major issues affecting the enjoyment of board games are vision related, but hand tremor and similar dexterity impairments come a close second.
Dexterity
Some games, such as Operation, are never going to be options for people with some form of tremor or motor control issue. However, as in dealing with vision difficulties, aspects of other games can be tweaked to make them more accessible.
It’s very common for games these days to use tiny (7mm or so) cubes to count resources—these can be problematic for someone with limited motor control. The ‘obvious’ solution is bigger cubes, but that’s not practical in many cases—e.g., the space on the playmat in which to place the cubes has its own size limit.
On that note, flat playmats are a cause of problems. I don’t think I’ve finished a game of Terraforming Mars without someone jogging their mat, then having to remember which cubes were in which sections, let alone what the production levels were. As with custom tokens, third parties will sell you dual-layered boards, though the Terraforming Mars ones have been out of stock at Zatu for as long as I’ve been aware of them! Incidentally, it’s nice that Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition includes dual-layer board by default—would the game’s retail price have been significantly lower if FryxGames had chosen single-layer board instead?
Besides dual-layer boards, it’s possible to buy or make transparent overlays to place on top of playmats, but I was extremely disappointed with those included in Azul: Crystal Mosaic—far too flimsy and not deep enough to help much. The laser-cut patterns at https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/161427/azul-acrylic-overlays-laser-cutting-plan look much better, if only I had access to a laser-cutter!
Having said that, you can also find overlays, large-sized game components and similar aids on sites like Etsy or eBay, but be prepared for high prices. There’s always DIY as an option: basically, scan the playmat (or draw/trace an approximation), zoom in a little if a
larger board would be helpful, then print it out on card and glue something ridgelike on to form little guard rails—craft matchsticks or bell wire, for example. I’d show you a picture of one I made earlier, as they say on the TV programme, except my DIY skills are too embarrassingly woeful.
If manipulating small resource cubes remains a problem, counting devices exist which could be used instead, whether that’s a physical clicker or an app on a phone. I’ll also mention the many, many dice rolling/random number apps that remove the need for dealing with physical dice. These apps could perhaps be a bit small on a phone screen, but should work well on a tablet.
Going a little further, you can sometimes find game-specific apps, like the Terraforming Mars Calculator illustrated above, which looks after the production phase as well as acting as a resource counter, to give but one example.
Besides tokens, cards can be tricky for some people to pick up from the table—someone pointed me to an interesting device which might help with that, though it looks like you’d need a fair amount of strength to use it. Neoprene mats can provide extra friction, making it a little easier to pick up a card; it’s a pity they’re rather expensive. A card rack can help (even something as simple as a folded piece of cardboard), as can resting the cards on a ruler or similar, so that they’re not lying totally flat on the table.
Of course, as with reading text across a game table, someone else can move the tokens around or assist with picking up cards—apart from solo play, we’re never board gaming alone.
Other Inclusivity Problems
Vision and dexterity are the most significant areas where board gaming suffers accessibility problems, but hearing difficulties can be an issue with social or party games. Sometimes this can be offset if the game relies on gesture more than chatter.
Cognitive limitations can also affect people’s enjoyment of games. Regular game or turn structure and player guide cards can help. Some games are just plain ‘hard,’ which is fine, but—as with small concessions to improve readability—for others, simplifying the language used in rule books and cards can make them more accessible. Long games, e.g., campaign or ‘legacy’ style games, can be a trial for some folk (I used to enjoy a seven-hour game session a good few years ago; not so sure I’d want to sit down for that much time these days—too many other things I ought to be doing, for a start). Again, this not an argument for making all games shorter or simpler, merely pointing out that different games suit different people.
Cooperative games can also address many of these issues (and sight or dexterity problems too), in that everyone’s working together, with the exchange of information being encouraged rather than hiding information as with competitive games.
Moving away from disabilities, there are other aspects of accessibility/inclusivity which board gaming ought to pay some attention to—here are just a few:
· Representation and diversity—humans are typically not very important in most of the games I play, but for those where there are significant individuals, it’d be nice if those reflected the mix of people on the planet. (I can’t recall a board game which features a character in a wheelchair…) Oddly, a few people get irrationally upset at moves in the right direction: Talisman got a facelift and reissue recently, and there was a ridiculous backlash against a character changing gender from the prior versions—come on, really?
· Price and exclusivity—games are expensive, especially those shiny new ones on Kickstarter or Gamefound. I’m not really sure what can be done about this—developers have to make a profit, and fans really do like some of those deluxe playing pieces. (And let’s not mention ill-considered tariffs messing with prices.) Game cafés and libraries do help a little, but they’re not very common, at least not anywhere near me. One other aspect of exclusivity is where games appear in one country but aren’t available in others (or in one language but not another).
· Numbers of players—ideally, games would match the size of your game group, but that’s pretty arbitrary. It’s nice that more games are giving two-player modes additional thought (though I’m not generally a fan of the specific ‘duel’ versions or popular games; I’d rather play the ‘real’ game in most cases), and decent solo modes are great for when you need a quick (or not so quick) fix and no one else is around.
Finally, producing a great game is by no means an easy task, and accessibility is just one more thing to add to the gazillion tasks a designer already has to juggle. There are always compromises, particularly with regard to costs. Fortunately, some designers are giving accessibility serious consideration, and third parties are providing support for other games.
While researching these articles, I came across Meeple Like Us; they seem to have stopped posting new material, but this site looks like a useful resource for checking how accessible a lot of older games are, as well as offering guidance to designers interested in making their games more accessible. One of their contributors, Michael Heron, gave an excellent talk a few years ago: ‘The Inaccessibility of Fun—Inclusivity in Games’ if you’d like to find out more.
I hope these articles have highlighted the accessibility and inclusivity issues important in board gaming, as well as showing that not every problem is unsolvable. Sometimes designers get it right, and sometimes a little bit of ingenuity helps; but we can’t ‘fix’ everything—nor can we in every case, lest we ruin the appeal of games for other people.
About the Author:
When not playing boardgames or blogging about them, L.N. Hunter keeps himself occupied writing fiction: a comic fantasy novel, The Feather and the Lamp, sits alongside close to 100 short stories in various magazines and anthologies, and on websites and podcasts (see https://linktr.ee/L.N.Hunter for a full list). L.N. occasionally masquerades as a software developer or can be found unwinding in a disorganised home in Carlisle, UK, along with two cats and a soulmate.
