9.15 - beamer but not really at all

The game “Beamer” is a new technological game, being developed and designed by Doug Yurchey. It was designed with little to no contact and safety in mind, utilizing high-tech shields and lasers that we will hopefully have in the future to pull this off. The premise of the game is a race to the finish while others are trying to stop you from getting there. It utilizes a circular game field, that looks similar to a target, and 2 teams.

In our adaptation of the game, we made the circular field a circular game board, but we incorporated a grid to ensure an accurate unit of measurement (see images). We also added some more beef to the game rules and objectives. In Tuesday’s class, before we decided to focus on Beamer, our group was having some difficulties in wrapping our heads around how to turn a physical sport into a board game. Dr. S helped us by directing our thinking to the potential psychology of each motion in the game. For a game like Beamer, which is essentially tag, the rounds are really one swift movement rather than a play and pause. So instead, we broke down the individual movements by utilizing the grid and a die. By doing so, we introduced more strategy and also just something for the other players to pay attention to so they can still be active participants in the game even though it is not their turn. As Bennett Foddy expresses at 8:25, sports are made to be performed. When there is an audience, the outcome of the sport/game matters a whole lot more, especially to those playing. Therefore, when you are playing a game and is not your turn, you double as an audience member.

Lastly, around 20 minutes into the video Foddy mentions integrity. Because our game is still being prototyped, there is currently no way that we record the score, status, or outcome. However, Beamer’s original designer intended for the game to be played in leagues, and the principle of integrity is paramount in sports and games, so we will ensure that there is a representation of that in our game next week. YouTube. (2018). Making it Matter: Lessons from Real Sports. YouTube. Retrieved from