The latest bespoke card involves cogs!

Mindful Business Services, a family-run company which provides admin and bookkeeping to many Quaker Meetings and other small charities, needed a card for their ten year anniversary. They had some small plastic cogs which they wanted to use. My job was to find a way to incorporate these in a game or puzzle.

So, what could I do with the cogs? First I considered how they moved, and that the small plastic cogs would tessellate and therefore move each other. Then I considered what might be needed to be moved. An obvious answer was small balls, in a way similar to Crystal Maze challenges. That made me think of water running down pipes…and that led to the eventual idea.

The three plastic cogs sit on top of a network of printed cogs, some of which are linked and all of which are numbered. At the top are two taps, releasing droplets of water. At the bottom are five different plants. And on the back are some instructions!

The card is a puzzle. Well, four puzzles, actually. It asks players to tear off some little bits of the (blue) envelope and place them by the taps. These are drops of water, and they’re waiting to fall and be directed by the cogs into specific pots.

The idea is that players work out which cogs to turn to get the drops to go the way they want. Have a quick look at this video to see it in action.

If you’d like a game on a card, do get in touch. Perhaps it’s a thank you card to supporters, or a Christmas card? It could even be a wedding invitation.

Email dissentgames@gmail.com.