Seven Learning Games Win 2020 Tabletop Game Competition Awards

ORLANDO — June 21, 2022 — — Seven tabletop games have won awards in the International Serious Play Conference’s 2022 award competition. Winning games include:

• Gold Medal: Blacks & Whites: 50th Anniversary Edition. In the early 1970s, Prof. Robert Sommer and Judy Tart of the University of California at Davis created a socially-conscious version of Monopoly called “Blacks & Whites.” It was developed for educational use and later distributed by Psychology Today magazine, highlighting racial inequity in real estate and American society. But racism didn’t end in the 1970s. So with the permission of the original creators, the developers reconceived and revived an expanded version of the game for its 50th anniversary, updating the game’s content, artwork, and gameplay for the 21st century. Overall, the purpose of “Blacks & Whites: 50th Anniversary Edition” is to illustrate racial inequity and white privilege through role-playing and institutionalized unfairness, with players selecting a racial identity at the start and encountering unequal access to opportunities based on their selected role. While the original “Blacks & Whites” was developed in a university setting, this version is both educational and purposeful for players of all ages, including high schoolers.
• Silver Medal: Zombie Life Insurance, a 2-5 player insurance education game taking place during a Zombie virus pandemic. An insurance company is offering a zombification insurance, with coverage for medical fees and different stages of zombification. Players win by accumulating the most money through choosing activities that avoid the virus. Players can win a survivor bonus and accumulate investment returns or by buying the right type of insurance, earning payouts.

• Gold Medal: PlusOut!! is a brain-training strategy numbers game designed to boost math skills through play! Built for up to 4 Players along grades 2 to 4. Players battle for 200 Points by snagging cards, spying hands and swapping moves as they subtract, add, multiply and divide points across the game. Players improve their math skills through a social, shared self-motivating competitive experience they can return to without a teacher. Game mechanics are all aligned to Common Core Standards, leading to practice and improvement of skills but also confidence of numeracy and a reduction in fear of math. No player must be “good at math” to win or play—-they simply can use tactics to reach 200 points whether relying on their subtraction skills or addition or tactical multiplication moves. Game includes: 54-Card, Physical Deck, 4 Rulesheets, 4 Scoresheets for saving Points, 1 Teacher Common Core / Eureka Math Guide, 1 Game Storage Boxs
• Silver Medal: “Triangle Puzzle” provides K-12 students and beyond with a physical tool to help them develop geometry-related and art-related concepts, skills and principles. Using the 14 triangles (small or large right, obtuse and acute by angle, or scalene, equilateral and isosceles by sides), users solve mathematical puzzles of different difficulty levels and/or create artistic designs. The game also provides a learning environment to discover, explore and scaffold learning activities for different ages (6 years and older). It may also be used by adults as it supports brain activity and creativity. Participants may create their own designs or reproduce a jigsaw-type puzzle. The set has 84 pieces.

• Silver Medal: “Cloudburst,” a game that introduces the topic of stormwater runoff pollution. Players tangibly see how stormwater runoff spreads pollution, how that affects the community and its rivers and how preventing runoff pollution works a lot better than cleaning up after it. The Cloudburst board represents a generic community filled with homes, farms, industries and construction sites, several rivers and, unfortunately, two polluted areas. When rain falls on the community, the pollution spreads. Working together as a cooperative team, players try to limit the spread of stormwater pollution, protect the community’s rivers and prevent community areas from becoming blighted. Target audience for the game is the general public, ages 12 and up. The game can be played solo or in a cooperative group of 2 to 4 players. It can be used with youth in schools, at home with a family, as an engagement tool during public education and outreach events, and in business and government as part of a formal stormwater education program.

• Bronze Medal: Strategic Play: 3D Diagnostic Cards, based on LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Methods. This game helps players understand team members, clients and their community. It supports trainers and educators with activities and workshops and teaches them to use storytelling with highly visual tools. The pocket-sized learning game can be used to inspire creative thinking, problem-solving, decision-making and collaboration and drive innovation. This playful game is for trainers and educators who want to add a new training tool to their kit 6. The game was developed for training corporate teams and can be adapted to use with corporate clients and community members to gain deeper understandings of how people think, feel and process information.

• • Bronze Medal: Birds of a Feather lets players explore different habitats to find and spot birds. Each round, everyone playS one card to the center that determines which habitat they plan to visit that turn. These played cards are also what determines which birds are seen in the habitat – the more people that visit the same habitat, the more birds players will see. Over the course of the game, players keep track of the birds they chose using the Birds of a Feather Scoring App or on their score sheets. With over 30 beautifully illustrated birds native to Western North America, Birds of a Feather is an easy-to-learn card game for 1-7 players, ages 8+, that plays in 20 minutes. The game is designed to inspire people of all ages to appreciate the joys of bird watching and exploring nature and works for intergenerational play as an introductory activity to exploring parks and observing wildlife, and for citizen science activities.

Serious Play Conference awards honor outstanding commercial and student titles used for education or training. Entry categories include: Corporate/Vocational; Healthcare/Medical; Local and State Government/Military; PreK Education; K-12 Education; Higher Education; Museum/Visitor Centers; Other.

For more information on Serious Play Conference, go to:
https://www.seriousplayconf.com/about/

Media Contact:
Sue Bohle
sue@seriousplayconf.com
310 721 9083