A GAME MOVED BY HOPE.
HOPEFULLY
This project has a small particularity: it was done in a one-week workshop. The main topic was “Play as Creative Research Methodology”, starting only from the meaning of the word “Hope” and nothing else. The workshop’s goal was to teach how to create a partially functional prototype in a very small amount of time but with a deep and powerful meaning.
The starting point was to brainstorm and ideate around the meaning of the word “hope” for us and for the society around us. It all started with a fast but deep research on the topic and from here everything started to bloom until the creation of a whole new game in which people should think about the importance of hope in their own lives and communities. Here, Hopefully was born.
BUT WHAT IS HOPE FOR US?
We understood hope as something that comes from some kind of lack of agency or something to delegate control. It can also be known as having some kind of belief in someone or something that is unquestionably bigger than us as human being. Hope is an investment in which the more you invest, the more you can lose. However, it is also something that makes you move on, grow and make unbelievable things. In this line of thinking, we decided to create a board game for people between the ages of 22 and 30 that would make them speculate about the capitalization of hope and its capacity to survive in the modern world.
When a symbol of hope is drawn, the player can decide whether to invest his hope coins on the card or discard it. Each card has its own particular investment cost in terms of hope, so the player will have to think hard or follow his instincts. If the player manages to hold on, for 4 turns, to a card he has invested in, his investment will pay off, generating new hope (coins). On reaching 25 hope coins the player has enough hope and wins the game.
Some categories have their own special characteristics regarding the way the investments are paid back. “Life choice”, for examples, you can decide to invest as much as you want, from 1 coin up to 5. If the card ends up making a profit after 4 turns, you will receive double your investment. However, if the card is discarded due to an event, the player has to pay an additional half of the initial investment.
Rules of the Game
#1
- If the player has investments, he/she advances them by one turn, getting closer to the payback zone;
#2
- If an investment has reached the payback zone, meaning it has continued to win for 4 turns, the player earns hope coins, as much as indicated on the card itself;
#3
- The player draws a card from the symbol deck: if he/she invests on the card, he/she must give the back the coins described on it and take the card. Otherwise, the player should put the card in the discard pile;
#4
- The player draws a card from the event pile and follows the instructions that are written on it;
#5
- Finally, the player passes the turn to the next player. And so on.
Wanna learn how to play?
I know this game may seem a bit confusing at first, but I promise you it’s fun :) In case you’re interested in know more (perhaps having the printable version of it, who knows…) feel free to contact me!
Group Project @Politecnico di Milano
Inês Rana Telo, Eleonora Nava, Luca Meneguzzo, Chiara Cerretti, Giulia Gobetti