When UX dad meets board games for kids

"Often, the absence of inclusive design itself is the most critical error. In the board game My First Journey: Discover China, the extensive use of green and red immediately struck me as a potential disaster for children with red-green color blindness. The core mechanic of the game relies on matching travel tickets to accessible routes based on color. This system would render paths indistinguishable as "a gray path" for colorblind players. This issue is not unique to board games; it reflects a broader oversight in many digital product designs, where accessibility is frequently neglected."

"To enhance gameplay engagement, some board games intentionally incorporate controllable mistakes into their design. These features act like built-in "airbags" - preserving space for adventure within an error-proof framework, allowing children to experience the thrill of risk-aware decision-making within safe boundaries. In Rouleboule L'escargot, players often inevitably bump into each other's counters, but this typically leads to shared laughter rather than post-mistake embarrassment. Similarly, in Tiny Acrobats, the collapse of poorly balanced blocks doesn't frustrate children - instead, it motivates them to try again eagerly."

"The intentionally non-reinforced structure transforms "the collapse " from a failure into a lesson in engineering thinking: through repeated collapses, children intuitively grasp principles like "triangles are the most stable shape " and "a wider base improves balance. ""

Extensive use of red and green in a children's board game can make core mechanics inaccessible to players with red-green color blindness, rendering color-based routes indistinguishable as "a gray path". Color-reliant mechanics that do not provide alternative cues exclude colorblind players and reflect a broader oversight in many digital and physical product designs where accessibility is neglected. Some board games improve engagement by intentionally incorporating controllable mistakes that act like built-in "airbags", creating safe opportunities for risk-aware decision-making and playful exploration. Examples include Rouleboule L'escargot and Tiny Acrobats, where collisions and collapses encourage laughter, repetition, and intuitive engineering lessons about stability.

Read at Medium