Fix Something You Hate

A Design Exercise

Often, when we want to be creative, we emulate what we love.

However, I think it is also useful to fix something you absolutely hate.

I hate the board game Chutes and Ladders. Last week I decided to try and turn it into something I would enjoy.

Just in case you are unfamiliar with the game, I’ll give you a short description.

In Chutes and Ladders, the goal of the game is to reach the top of the game board. Each player takes turns rolling a dice and then moving their character by that many spaces. Some spaces have ladders and some spaces have chutes. If you land on a ladder, you may move your character to the space at the top of the ladder (closer to the finish). If you land on a chute, you must move your character to the space at the bottom of the chute (farther from the finish).

What I hate about Chutes and Ladders:

1. There are no choices (you roll a dice and then you move)

2. Rolling a 1 usually feels bad

3. No way to mitigate risk (if you land on a chute you have to live with it)

Here are the changes I made in an attempted to solve these problems.

First, I made character cards with powers (you choose your character at the start of the game).

Each character card has a power associated with certain dice rolls. Here is an example of a character power:

• If you roll a 1 or a 2 on your turn you may choose to double it

These powers are always optional. This helps solve problem #1.

Next, I added action cards. These cards were drawn from a deck. You can only have 3 of them in your hand at once. You can choose to play them at any time during your turn. Here are a couple examples of action cards:

• Move 5 spaces

• Roll the dice again

This change helped with problems #1 and #3.

Lastly, each time a player rolled a 1, they would get to draw a card from the action card deck. This solved problem number #2.

When I play-tested the new rules with my daughters, they were always very excited to roll a 1 and draw an action card.

I had a lot of fun with this design exercise. I challenge you to try it yourself. I’m certain it will help you hone your design skills.

Thanks for reading,
Ben

If you enjoyed this post, consider sharing it with a friend:

If you’re new, consider subscribing for more gamedev thoughts and tips: