A new game is being created!

I’m working with another primary school. This time it’s Year 6, which is the last year before moving on to secondary school, and contains children who turn 11 over the school year. And in this primary school there are two Year 6 classes, which means 60 pupils.

Last month I met them in groups of 15. We played some games together over the course of two afternoons, and I asked them what they liked and what they didn’t like. They thought about what sort of actions they’d like to be included in a game about biscuits. They also thought about the name — what should the game be called?

I took their suggestions. Mainly they wanted a quick game, with an element of push your luck. They wanted to feel suspense. (They’d been very keen on Flip 7.) They preferred the idea of eating the biscuits to making the biscuits or simply collecting the biscuits. I played around with their ideas, talked to a few other game designers, and came up with a main prototype and two variants.

Last week I went back to the school. I was there for two days this time, and had a classroom all to myself. The children arrived in groups of 7 or 8, and they played the prototype and gave me feedback. I’m now fairly certain which variants to include!

They also started drawing some pictures of biscuits for the game. I’m very excited about this, as these are the illustrations I’ll use. I have some excellent pictures already!

The next step is for me to produce the cards. It should be coming out in the spring. Watch this space!