Games
Back in the good old days, when most of us had better sight, we all liked
playing games (whether it was a board game, game of cards, playing
games on a computer or on a games console). Back then, just as in
most of today's market, most things were very visual.
As our eyesight drops, the most common problem that we all
encounter, is that the games (in some way or form) have to be
adapted for us to be able to continue to play them. Our love for
playing these games could diminish, unless we can find an accessible alternative,
because this could count us out from a lot of things (eg. being
able to see the squares on the board, or being able to read
certain items). We can get people to read things out to us, or we can purchase adapted
games. A lot of these adapted games (eg. large print playing cards, tactile Tic Tac Toe or other brailled games) can be
purchased through your local Blind
Foundation or other
sources. You can also purchase games second hand and adapt them
yourself!
To make a software game
accessible, it may need to be able to talk to a screen reader (for blind
players). A magnification programme may be used to enlarge what is
on the screen in front of us. Magnification
(for visually impaired players) however can have its drawbacks as
well. One being, that you may not be able to see the whole screen,
unless it is reduced. Some games may need more modification than
others.
Now, as a lot of games are going on-line, people can play against
each other (or groups) from all around the world. Unless these
games are made accessible to adaptive technologies (eg. a screen
reader), we will not be able to play them. Hence, this page is for
those type of games which are accessible
to us, whether they be on-line, downloadable, or tactile. If you
aware of any decent on-line or downloadable games that are
accessible to the visually impaired and / or blind, please let me
know.
Accessible on-line games
http://accessiblewebgames.com/
http://ffproject.com/
http://allinplay.com/home_.html
Self voicing games
http://www.kitchensinc.net/
Sound
based games
http://audiogames.net/listgames.php
http://www.vipgameszone.com/
http://www.audiblegames.com/
Top
25 websites for blind gamers
http://www.7128.com/top25/topsitesblind.html
Accessible downloadable games
http://www.omninet.net.au/~irhumph/crosswords.htm
http://www.omninet.net.au/~irhumph/blindgamers.htm#SUDOKUSAPI
Accessible computer games for
sale
http://www.azabat.co.uk/games.html
Adapting
games
Most people who used to like playing board
games, once they start losing their sight, tend to give up playing
those board games. They can be bought already adapted from various
organisations locally (such as your local Blind Foundation under
the games section) - or abroad from others such as the Braille
Book Store. Some games that can be bought locally (from places
such as retail stores, garage sales, op shops and so on), can be
adapted as well. If purchasing games second hand, get somebody to
check that they are complete. Hopefully, some of the games listed
below, may give you some ideas on what can be done to adapt games
so that you can go back to playing your old favourites. Remember
if you are playing against a blind or vision impaired person that
you may also need to let them know when you have finished your
move. It is most likely that they will hear you move on the board,
but may also want to check to see where you've moved to.
Noughts
and crosses (also known as tic tac toe) mini travel
version
To make a mini travel version, you will need a
piece of wood 4.5cm square (that is 4.5cm wide and 4.5cm high) by
approximately 1cm thick. You will also need a piece of dowel cut
into 10 even lengths to be used as game pieces. This will need to
be about 6mm thick. You will also need a drill and drill pieces as
well as a pencil. Pencil a three by three grid on the top side of
the wood (that is three evenly spaced across the top, three evenly
spaced across the middle and three evenly spaced down the bottom.
(Imagine the numbers 1 to 9 on a tactile phone with 5 being the
centre number). You will need to locate the centre of each
of these nine squares, and drill a 6mm hole in each (allowing for
even spacing across the board). Drill just deep enough so that
your game pieces will sit in evenly and at the same depth so that
all pieces sit at the same height across the board. For this size
board you could make a 2cm to 2.5cm high playing piece. Some shops
sell dowel already pre cut and it is simply a matter of placing
the pieces into the board. The ones I have found are around 3cm
tall per piece. Alternatively you could cut your pieces evenly
from a length of 6mm dowel. The next step is to identify the 5
pieces a side by marking them uniquely. To do this you could leave
one set of 5 flat, and angle the other 5. You may also choose to
use bling for one set and leave the other set blank. However you
choose to mark your pieces ensure that they are easily
identifiable.
Alternatively, you can scale up the size of your board, making
your pieces larger and in the shapes of 5 noughts and 5 crosses or
whatever you choose each side to be (for example squares and
triangles and so on). If you are using the traditional flat board,
you can also frame in the 9 squares so that they are tactile.
Other people have even used unique creatures for each side
depending on the size of your board and the pieces you choose to
use.
Finally, for the travel version, you can store it in a small box
or dilly bag so that the pieces do not get lost.
Accessible
6 sided cube (a Rubik's-like cube that has been adapted)
You will need a 6 sided game cube with 9 squares
a side (that is 3 squares across by 3 squares down on each of the
6 sides). The larger cubes (available from most variety shops) are
easier to use. These are not very expensive. These cubes usually
have 6 different colours on them (one on each side for example 9
yellow squares on one side and 9 blue squares on another etcetera.
You will need something unique and identical to identify each of
the 6 sides. One idea is to use braille labels. You could use a
hand brailler and say for example call the blue side BE, the
yellow side YW, and the red side RD (that is to use the first and
last letter of the colour to identify it). These labels will need
to be stuck in the middle of each square on their respective side,
and all facing the same way. Replicate this for the other 5 sides
accordingly. You will need to decide how you will identify it. You
may choose to use a single letter or number (such as A=1, B =2,
C=3 and so on). Another idea is to use foam stickers cut to a
certain shape for all 9 squares on each side. For example, yellow
may have 9 open rectangles, blue may have 9 squares, red may have
9 triangles, green may have 9 doughnuts, white may have 9 dots and
orange may have 9 solid rectangles. Foam stickers can be purchased
from any shop selling craft items, and items such as hole punches
and scissors can assist in consistency when making the shapes.
Connect 4
There are a few variations of this game out
there. The game is usually 7 columns wide and 6 rows
high. The idea, is to put 4 of your discs in a row, (whether
they be up or down, left or right, or on a 45 degree angle). There
are usually 2 lots of colours, each has 21 discs. To adapt
this game for a visually impaired person, you could either drill a hole through one of
the colours, mark it with phone
bling, or mark it with sticky
velcro or raised paint.
This will need to be done on both sides, so all the person has to
do is run his or her fingers across the discs to determine which
discs are theirs. Make sure that where it has been marked, it can
be slid down easily into the game, so that it doesn't get caught
on anything while dropping down to make a row of 4 discs. To make
the game a little harder for a sighted person, you could get them
to shut their eyes so they have to rely on their sense of touch.
Dice
Dice can also be adapted. Nowadays, you can get
different sizes of dice, and in different colours. If the person
is totally blind, you could use
phone bling to mark from the number 1 to the number 6 on
the dice. Small phone bling could be stuck onto the top of
the dice and could give a tactile
marker for that person. (For example use 1 phone bling
for the number 1 and 6 phone blings for the number 6). Also,
using high colour contrast
dice, may work for some people. (For example, black dots on a
white background, white dots on a black background, or black dots
on a yellow background). Using bigger dice can also make a
difference if a person has some useful vision.
Sea Battle
Sea Battle is a classic battleship game.
It is a very tactile game. It consists of 11 colums and 9
rows. Each grid co-ordinate has a hole. These are for you to
place your ships into (for example, your ship might be across B1,
B2 and B3, or to mark where your bombs have missed. If you
would like to tell the difference between the red bombs (which are
a hit on a battle ship), and the white ones (which are a
miss), you could mark them with a little puff paint or whatever you
want to use for a marker. The person playing will still be
able to tell the difference between a hit and a miss on a battle
ship (even if not marked), as the hits will be physically higher
than the misses on the board. This game can be easily worked
out once the grid has been learned by using your fingers. For
example, the co-ordinate A 5 is marked by placing a marker where
column A and row 5 intercept. For a visually impaired
person, the bombs may be visually distinguishable. For a blind
player, the hits and misses can be worked out by the height of the
markers. If a section of the board has not been bombed yet, then
you will simply feel a blank hole.
Care Bear pressomatic board
game - also known as Ludo
This is a game for 1 to 4 players. In each
corner, there are 4 holes (towards the outsides) where your pegs
are placed waiting to start the game. To play the game, you press
a dome in the centre of the board, and it will automatically flip
the dice for you. You need to get a 6 to move out onto your
START hole. Either a sighted person could tell you what you got,
or you could use brailled dice in its place. The circuit
your pegs travel around are raised peg holes going all the way
around the board. You travel in a clockwise direction. From
the outside of the board (where your HOME holes are), you will
have another row of holes (which are your circuit) and then going
inwards from there again (towards the centre), are 4 more holes
which are the FINISH holes. Your 4 HOME holes go from left to
right on the outside, and your 4 FINISH holes go from the middle
of your HOME holes towards the pressomatic dome in the centre and
are numbered from 1 to 4. There are 4 colours of pegs. These
can be brailled, either by their colour (for example Y for yellow
or R for red); or it would be just as easy to have one dot for the
first player's colour and 4 dots for the fourth players colour and
so on, on top of each peg. You can decide how you would like to
mark these. Once you have moved around the board (by throwing a 6
to start, avoided getting landed on and returned to your HOME
holes again, and successfully made it almost towards the FINISH
holes in the centre), you will need to throw smaller numbers to
safely move into the FINISH holes. The whole board is
tactile. When you move your pieces, you can feel the holes where
your pegs are meant to go. The player who has the most pegs in
their FINISH bay wins.
Draughts
- also known as Checkers
This is a good little game to play once adapted.
The board and pieces came from a second hand shop. To adapt this
game was quite easy. The board consists of 64 squares. Thirty two
of them were black and the other 32 were white. I used velcro with
the sticky back and the colour of the velcro was black to stick to
the thirty two black squares on the board going from left to
right. The rough part of the velcro was used for this. This at
least showed me where all of the black squares were on the board
as I navigated it with my pieces. Some people find they knock game
pieces away from their position so using the velcro on the bottom
of the pieces stops them from moving. The next step was to use
sticky velcro again, but this time with the smooth side. The
sticky part stuck to the game piece and was cut to size to make it
look tidy. Now we were up and running. So how could I tell the
difference between my pieces and the other persons? Simple, I
grabbed the sticky velcro again, and using the rough side
marked the top of the other persons pieces with a small strip of
velcro. This way you can easily tell the difference between your
pieces and theirs. On the side that has been marked (so that you
can tell the difference between yours and the other players
pieces) when you go to get your piece crowned, you may need to
turn your piece upside down for it to sit into the other piece
snugly. Doing this will mean that the smooth velcro is now facing
upwards. The only problem there is, is that your opponents pieces
will then be the same. The way around this, is to mark the side of
one set of counters with a bit of bling or velcro. Then, all you
have to do is run your finger around the side of the counter to
tell whose piece it is. (You usually wouldn't have too many pieces
left on the board by then anyhow)... There are many different ways
you can mark pieces and game boards. Choose the method that best
suits you. I have found sticky backed velcro and assorted sizes of
sticky backed bling (also known as phone bling) useful for marking
a variety of items around the home.
Chess
This is a good strategy game to play. It
consists of 16 pieces per side. The object of the game is to take
out your opponents pieces and capture your opponents king. The
same board was used to play chess. On the board (mentioned above)
where the velcro went from east to west on the black squares, this
time I used white velcro on the white squares but going in the
opposite direction (IE from north to south). This way I could tell
the difference between the white and black squares by just running
my fingers from left to right. If the velcro was higher and lower
than the velcro going from left to right, then these were the
white squares. The velcro that was cut for these squares was cut
to the size of the biggest piece that I play with on the board. Be
careful not to fill up the whole square, otherwise you will not be
able to tell the difference between the squares. The next step
after this was to use the smooth sticky backed velcro on the game
pieces, so they would stick to the rough velcro on the board. The
pieces were tidied up by cutting off any over hanging velcro. The
very last step was to mark all the coloured pieces of one colour
on one side. (For example mark all the black pieces like the
pawns, queen and so on so that when you feel the pieces, all black
ones have a bling or velcro marking, and all white ones have
nothing. This may be on the head of a piece or near the base, but
make sure that wherever you mark it, it is consistent for ease of
identification.