Board Game Research Articles

Towards a Reconciliation Between Simulational, Ludic, and Historiographical Practices in Research

Background Simulations, ludic or otherwise, have so far struggled to gain a foothold in mainstream historiography. Some authors suggest there may be fundamental incompatibilities between history and the language of simulations and scholarly games. Others believe that designing, employing, and validating historical simulations may be simply too costly and/or labor-intensive to justify their widespread adoption. Intervention This paper intends to identify points of friction between historiography and simulation-based research and suggest practical solutions to these issues. Methods My discussion is based on the description and analysis of a case study, the ThomondSim/ The Triumphs of Turlough research project. The initiative consisted of the development and application of an agent-based computational model (ABM) and a scholarly board game to investigate the possible associations between economic, environmental, and military hazards in 13th and 14th centuries Ireland. Results and Discussion Ensuring the simulations matched historical evidence to a standard deemed acceptable by the historiographical community limited their phase space, compromising their capacity to explore emergent phenomena. The intricacy of the underlying conceptual model suited the ABM better than the board game, which struggled to reconcile complexity with good game design practices. The board game, however, proved to be an effective validating tool for the ABM. Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research The project espoused an overt simulation- and game-centric approach, paying little attention to unguided play. Recent literature suggests that fostering, rather than hindering, playful exploration could address some of the pitfalls identified by this project. Conclusion Play could be a means of reconciliation between simulational, ludic, and historiographical practices. However, to ensure that projects adhere to epistemic standards, it is recommended that a methodology is developed to integrate it into research in ways that can be tested and evaluated.

Runtime Analysis of Competitive Co-evolutionary Algorithms for Maximin Optimisation of a Bilinear Function

Co-evolutionary algorithms have a wide range of applications, such as in hardware design, evolution of strategies for board games, and patching software bugs. However, these algorithms are poorly understood and applications are often limited by pathological behaviour, such as loss of gradient, relative over-generalisation, and mediocre objective stasis. It is an open challenge to develop a theory that can predict when co-evolutionary algorithms find solutions efficiently and reliable. This paper provides a first step in developing runtime analysis for population-based competitive co-evolutionary algorithms. We provide a mathematical framework for describing and reasoning about the performance of co-evolutionary processes. To illustrate the framework, we introduce a population-based co-evolutionary algorithm called PDCoEA, and prove that it obtains a solution to a bilinear maximin optimisation problem in expected polynomial time. Finally, we describe settings where PDCoEA needs exponential time with overwhelmingly high probability to obtain a solution.

DEVELOPMENT OF BOARD GAME MEDIA “GALAKSI BIMASAKTI PROJECT” TO IMPROVE LEARNING OUTCOMES

This study aimed to determine the effect of developing the media board game "Galaksi Bimasakti Project," which is the development of the Snakes and Ladders game. The Galaksi Bimasakti Project has a colorful space design that makes it attractive to students. This game is equipped with pawns, dice, and 3 types of cards: question cards, answer confirmation cards, and punishment cards. The novelty of the Snakes and Ladders concept game is that question cards and answer confirmations have the same number, making it easier for students to find out whether the answers put forward by other players are right or wrong. Other participants will listen and remember the appropriate answers, besides that the attractive design and additional points make students more interested in answering correctly and contributing to their group. In this game the teacher is only a supervisor of the course of the game, in other words the teacher is only a facilitator. The game is carried out by peer tutors in groups so that in preparation for the game. The method used in data analysis is descriptive quantitative using a group design pretest-post-test. The results showed that there was an increase in the class average at the pretest and post-test. Obtained statistical test results of 0.000 stated that there was an influence of the media on learning outcomes after the implementation of the Galaksi Bimasaktit board game.

Effective methods of using board games in teaching English

As we all know, one of the main goals of language teaching is to equip our students with the ability to communicate in the target language. Games are fun activities that promote interaction, thinking, learning, and problem solving strategies. Often, games have an aspect that permits the players to produce information in a short time period. Some games require the players to engage in a physical activity and/or complete a mental challenge.

Human–Wild Boar Coexistence: A Role-Playing Game for Collective Learning and Conflict Mitigation

Wild boars have become a common yet controversial species in France, where the main response to the species’ development and the problems it may cause is an increased hunting effort. However, wild boars are an extremely adaptive species, and their response to human activities (including hunting) is not fully understood. Moreover, hunting may be a source of conflict with other stakeholders and a topic for public debate, which questions its sustainability. To discuss wild boar behaviour, as well as (other) means to coexist with these animals, we developed a role-playing board game framed around wild boars and hunting. In this paper, we outline the design of the WILD BOAR(D) GAME and reflect on the first three game sessions, which we conducted in our research areas (Gorges du Gardon and Camargue Biosphere Reserves, France). We show that a continuous back and forth between the game and reality allows the participants to elicit their knowledge as well as learn from the other participants, which contributes to filling in the knowledge gaps identified previously in the game design as well as mitigating conflicts regarding wild boars. Finally, we discuss the interest of including wild boars as a role in itself to reflect on their agency.

Development of Board Game Media on Air Theme for Children Aged 5-6 Years

Board games are educational tools consisting of a board with boxes drawn on it. In this game, there are several rules that must be followed, which involve social interaction between children during playtime. This study aims to develop a board game on the theme of air to support children’s growth and development as well as enhance their knowledge related to the topic. Moreover, this R&D study employed 4D development with data analysis techniques for validation, practicality, and effectiveness. The data were collected through interviews and expert validation of the product. Moreover, this study has reached the fourth stage, which is dissemination. The population of this study consisted of 65 children aged 5–6 years at Aisyiyah Sicincin Kindergarten, Padang Pariaman Regency. Based on the results, it was found that board game media are effective in promoting children’s growth and development in terms of cognitive, linguistic, and motor skills.

Using augmented reality games to support sustainable development goal learning among young students: a true-experimental study

PurposeWe applied a true-experimental randomized control posttest design to collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to compare the effects of the AR and traditional board games on students’ SDG learning achievements.Design/methodology/approachWe applied a true-experimental randomized control posttest design to collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to compare the effects of AR and traditional board games on students' SDG learning achievements.FindingsOur analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data revealed that the effects of AR and traditional board games on the students' cognitive outcomes differed significantly, indicating the importance of providing a situated learning environment in SDG education. Moreover, the students perceived that the incorporation of the AR game into SDG learning improved their learning effectiveness – including both cognitive and affective dimensions – thus confirming its educational value and potential in SDG learning.Originality/valueTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the effectiveness of different learning tools (AR and traditional board games) and to evaluate the importance of providing a situated learning environment through a true-experimental randomized control posttest design.

Variation in cognitive investment: making time fly… or drag!

Social media is increasingly prevalent in the daily lives of young people as a source of entertainment and social interaction. However, the time spent on such stimuli reduces availability for other activities that used to be more prevalent, such as reading, development of motor skills, and face-to-face social interaction. Little is known about the effects of this habit changes on the cognitive development of young individuals. One possible way to assess cognitive investment in a particular task is through the perception of time passage. In the present study, we investigated the cognitive investment in different activities and its relationship with the perception of time passage in young individuals aged 14 to 15 years old. Four groups of volunteers were formed. Each group performed a different activity for 23 minutes. Group 1 spent the 23 minutes browsing a social network (TikTok); Group 2 read classics of Brazilian literature; Group 3 played the board game “Pictionary”; and Group 4 was instructed to practice a complex pen spinning around the fingers. The duration of the activity was not disclosed, and at the end of the 23 minutes, volunteers were individually asked how much time they thought had passed during the activity. The group that engaged in TikTok had an average perception of 20 minutes, a value almost identical to the pen spinning, which was 19 minutes, with no statistically significant difference between them (p > 0.05). On the other hand, activities requiring greater cognitive effort and social interaction, such as reading and the board game, had average time perceptions of 25 and 28 minutes, respectively. The latter two even reached time perception values of 40 and 44 minutes, which were the highest in the entire experiment. According to analysis of variance, groups with the lowest mean time perception (TikTok and pen spinning) were significantly different from the board game group (p < 0.05). Based on our results, we can conclude that the nature of the activity undertaken affects time perception on the brain. This may be related to the amount of new information presented and absorbed during novelty and learning activities. Engaging in new and cognitive demanding experiences give the impression that time lasted longer. Conversely, repetitive activities without new stimuli give the sensation that the same time interval seems shorter. Further studies investigating the consequences of overexposure to repetitive and unstimulating activities are necessary to understand their potential effects on the brain development of adolescents.

Demand response for residential building heating: Effective Monte Carlo Tree Search control based on physics-informed neural networks

To reduce global carbon emissions and limit climate change, controlling energy consumption in buildings is an important piece of the puzzle. Here, we specifically focus on using a demand response (DR) algorithm to limit the energy consumption of a residential building's heating system while respecting user's thermal comfort. In that domain, Reinforcement learning (RL) methods have been shown to be quite effective. One such RL method is Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS), which has achieved impressive success in playing board games (go, chess). A particular advantage of MCTS is that its decision tree structure naturally allows to integrate exogenous constraints (e.g., by trimming branches that violate them), while conventional RL solutions need more elaborate techniques (e.g., indirectly by adding penalties in the cost/reward function, or through a backup controller that corrects constraint-violating actions). The main aim of this paper is to study the adoption of MCTS for building control, since this (to the best of our knowledge) has remained largely unexplored. A specific property of MCTS is that it needs a simulator component that can predict subsequent system states, based on actions taken. A straightforward data-driven solution is to use black-box neural networks (NNs). We will however extend a Physics-informed Neural Network (PiNN) model to deliver multi-timestep predictions, and show the benefit it offers in terms of lower prediction errors (−32% MAE) as well as better MCTS performance (−4% energy cost, +7% thermal comfort) compared to a black-box NN. A second contribution will be to extend a vanilla MCTS version to adopt the ideas applied in AlphaZero (i.e., using learned prior and value functions and an action selection heuristic) to obtain lower computational costs while maintaining control performance.

Playing the self-adventure board game to increase adolescents' self-esteem

Competition in the field of education to become excellent, accredited, and favored has an impact on students. Indirectly, to maintain their ranking status, schools generally design various dense academic and non-academic programs, requiring students to give special attention and energy. On the other hand, parents nowadays also tend to have a competitive spirit burdened on their children. One age group particularly susceptible to this situation is teenagers. Exposure to pressure inversely proportional to students' abilities will result in them experiencing low self-esteem (LSE), which if left unaddressed, can lead to depressive and even suicidal conditions. To address LSE, a therapy called "self-adventure" board game therapy is established. This community service activity aims to improve the self-esteem of students at Satya Wacana Christian High School in Salatiga. Therapy is conducted on 57 students who are indicated to have LSE through scoring on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) questionnaire. Therapy is conducted in four sessions with a group system. At the end of the sessions, all participants entered the category of high self-esteem scores. This means that playing the self-adventure game is an effective medium for resolving LSE issues.

Space Race Game: A Web-Based Board Game for Aiding Students in Reviewing Thermochemistry, Chemical Equilibrium, and Chemical Kinetics

Space Race Game: A Web-Based Board Game for Aiding Students in Reviewing Thermochemistry, Chemical Equilibrium, and Chemical Kinetics

Unleashing the potential: illuminating pedagogical strategies employed by early childhood educators in stem education for cultivating algorithmic thinking skills in young learners

ABSTRACT In the digital age, it's crucial to equip children with twenty-first-century skills, including programming and other competencies such as creativity, analytical thinking, and collaboration. This study introduces an integrated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) curriculum focused on computer science for educators. It explores the pedagogical strategies employed by early childhood teachers to enhance children’s algorithmic thinking skills. Descriptive analysis of videos depicting coding instruction in three cases revealed that teachers used question & answer and unplugged strategies to support algorithmic thinking. However, these practices primarily targeted lower-order thinking skills. Teachers employed algorithm design, reading and tracing code as programming-specific approaches. Additionally, worksheets with puzzles/grids and grid board games were commonly used as scaffolding materials in coding activities.

Game Analysis of Financial Regulation in International Financial Crisis using Multi-view Graph Convolutional Network

The concept of "game analysis" generally refers to the study and assessment of video games, frequently from the viewpoints of player experience, story, mechanics, design, and other relevant variables. It can be used for a variety of games, such as sports, board, card, and video games. A sudden drop in the value of assets or financial institutions is referred to as a financial crisis. It frequently causes the regular operation of financial markets to be interrupted and may have negative impacts on the economy as a whole. In this manuscript, Game Analysis of Financial Regulation in International Financial Crisis using Multi-view Graph Convolutional Network (GA-FR-IFC-MGCN). The proposed method comprises of four phases: dataset, pre-processing, feature selection, classification. Initially, the data is taken from Analcat dataset. Then, Federated Neural Collaborative Filtering (FNCF) method is used to enhancing the networks data. For feature selection phase, the ideal features are chosen by Siberian Tiger Optimization (STO). After, the Multi-view graph convolutional network (MGCN) method is used to classifying international financial crisis as bankruptcy and Non-bankruptcy. In general, MGCN does not express some adaption of optimization strategies for determining optimal parameters to promise exact classification of International Financial Crisis. Therefore, Harbor Seal Whiskers Optimization Algorithm is proposed to enhance weight parameter of MGCN classifier, which precisely predicts the International Financial Crisis. The proposed technique is executed and efficiency of GA-FR-IFC-MGCN depend classification framework is assessed by support of numerous performances evaluating metrics likes accuracy, recall, precision, FI-score, specificity. Finally the performance of proposed GA-FR-IFC-MGCN methods provides 25.32%, 29.30% and 27.32% higher accuracy, 22.41%, 29.30% and 24.31% higher specificity and 25.71%, 27.12% and 25.31% higher precision though analyzed with existing method likes game analysis of financial supervision in international financial crisis(GA-FS-IFC), performance evaluation of clustering techniques for financial crisis prediction(PE-CT-FC) and modified grey wolf optimizer with sparse auto-encoder for financial crisis prediction in small marginal firms (MGWO-SA-FCP) respectively.

Vertex Spans of Multilayered Cycle and Path Graphs

In this paper, we observe a special class of graphs known as multilayered graphs and their subclasses, namely multilayered cycles and multilayered paths. These graphs model layouts of shopping malls, city street grids, and even resemble the topology of certain famous board games. We analyze the values of all vertex spans (strong, direct, and Cartesian span) for these subclasses of graphs. Surprisingly, our results for multilayered cycles reveal that, regardless of the chosen movement rules, the span values depend solely on the length of the individual cycles, rather than the number of layers. This finding carries significant implications for the application of graph spans in maintaining safety distances.

Informal adult learning and training sessions: playing modern board games in the digital age

ABSTRACT Board gaming is a popular activity, growing despite all the pressures of digitalization. People are gathering to play socially. Besides this ludic movement, modern board games can be used directly or adapted to achieve other goals beyond entertainment, approaching serious game methods as a modding exercise. This paper describes a process where a facilitator selected a sequence of modern board games (mostly party games) and played them with the employees of an enterprise (design and marketing) during an informal meeting. The games were played in a restaurant, in an environment, testing whether participants could recognize learning and training utility. The game facilitator observed the game dynamics and collected participants’ comments during gameplay and debriefing. Participants recognized the activity as a pleasant learning and training informal session. The author argues that these informal playable learning spaces can be beneficial for institutions that wish to foster them because participants would train, learn, and strengthen social bonds.

Modern board games and computational thinking: results of a systematic analysis process

ABSTRACT In recent years, modern board games (MBG) have attracted the attention of academics due to their innovative mechanics and mechanisms, which seem to facilitate the creation of spaces for the development of various aspects of computational thinking (CT). This article examines a number of MBG to identify those that contain CT-promoting mechanics. We focus on MBG whose mechanics can implicitly support the development of CT, considering these games as valuable pedagogical tools for use in the classroom. Specifically, they can be used by groups of students to introduce, discuss and practice CT concepts. The research identifies several games considered ideal for achieving the aims of the PhD study. This article essentially explores the mechanics of carefully selected MBG, reflecting on how they integrate, support or relate to the development of CT, and discusses their implementation in educational contexts. The results suggest a practical approach to the selection of CT-promoting MBG, offering valuable insight for teachers and education professionals interested in using board games in education. The results point to the potential of these games as effective resources for developing CT in primary school students, contributing to both academic research and practical applications in education.

Diversifying Quranic revision methods using gamification-based teaching material for tahfiz education

This study discusses the development procedure of the global tahfiz game (GTG) as a teaching aid for the Quranic revision subject for tahfiz students based on the gamification concept. Comprehensive design and development research (DDR) was used as the research method. The analysis includes conceptual and material development, expert evaluation, testing, and the final product. The development of concepts and materials used in this gamification was based on the theoretical framework of mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics (MDA), with the application of tahfiz education elements. To examine the ability of GTG prototype to tackle the users’ needs, we have conducted the usability analysis. The expert teacher's mean score for the trial run on this gamification was high at 4.85. The trial run score for student participants was also high (4.45). The result demonstrated that most of the constructs are perceived at a high level by respondents. Thus, this indicated the high usability of GTG to be used as a teaching aid for a Quranic revision subject. The gamification of Quranic tahfiz based on board games has been finalized through recommendations and improvements based on the evaluation. The study findings are expected to be useful for educational institutions or researchers in developing teaching materials using the MDA framework for gamification, particularly in the field of Islamic education.

No evidence that playing a linear number board game improves numerical skills beyond teaching as usual: A randomized controlled trial in 4- to 5-year-old primary school children.

No evidence that playing a linear number board game improves numerical skills beyond teaching as usual: A randomized controlled trial in 4- to 5-year-old primary school children.

Boosting Year 4 Science Education: A Dynamic Blend of Paper-Based and Computerized Board Games

This study examines using Paper-Based and Computerised Board Games with collaborative learning to enhance science learning involving 48 Year 4 participants from National-Type Chinese Primary Schools (24 Male and 24 Female). The study utilises a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative (pre-tests, post-tests, questionnaires) and qualitative (classroom observations, interviews) data to investigate the unique strengths of these pedagogical approaches. Paper-based Board Games with Collaborative Learning (CL) showed the most substantial impact on academic performance, motivation, and social interaction compared to Computerised Board Games with collaborative learning. The research suggests that paper-based board games might be a more effective tool for educators using CL to create engaging learning experiences in science for young students. Additionally, no significant difference between genders was observed in the learning scores. Further research with more extensive and diverse samples, longitudinal studies, and exploration in different contexts are recommended to broaden the understanding of these methods' effectiveness across various settings and learning goals.

Improving Low Mathematics Achievers’ Number Sense via Number Line Training with Board Games

This study investigated the effect of a number line training via lineer board games with specific contents, namely numerical and figural, on students’ number line estimation skills, arithmetic performance, and mathematics achievement. A total of 30 first graders (15 in experimental and 15 in control group) participated in the study. There were 2 speech and language disorder (SLD) students, one in each, in the control and experimental groups. Number line training with a board game, Sahibingo® was implemented in the experimental group, while a non-numerical board game, Animalbingo, was used in the control group. Training lasted for 30 minutes a day, one day a week, and 4 weeks (2 hours in total). Results indicated that students, including the SLD, in the experimental group improved their number line estimation skills in 0-10 and 0-20 number range, but not in the 0-100 range. Improvements did not reflect in arithmetic performance and mathematics achievement scores. Although there are some improvements in small range number line estimations possibly because of the familiarity there is no improvement in the larger range and in terms of mathematics achievement scores, possibly because of the shorter period of training. It can be concluded that low mathematics achievers’ number sense can be improved via lineer board games with numerical content. Future research may investigate the effect of longer periods and may include other students with special needs.