Ahoy!

Discover the islands of the world and create your own!

The game offers two modes of play: a fun pirate game and an architectural research tool. While both modes are not mechanically distinct, they encourage slightly different modes of thinking that challenge players to carefully consider the relationships of pieces to one another.

The pieces we call hotspots or “islands” anchor players to the game environment in much the same way hotspot spaces do to architecture. They are open mediums of social interaction, somehow a blank canvas to which people give a unique identity. In the beginning these are planned, but inevitably human beings create their own, which is why “islands” can be placed after the start of a game.  The remaining pieces encourage specific connection relationships unique to their own identities.

We designed the game board as an integrated system. It not only facilitates game play but also storage of the research tool with a magnetized lid that also provides the game instructions. Smooth, rounded edges on all pieces of the game and board also add to a pleasant product experience.

Overall, the game encourages experimentation with a diverse collection of relationships, and it lends itself well to further research into master plan arrangements for an open source learning lab university. We look forward to the architectural design opportunities it will reveal and help us to better understand.

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