These Heroes Are Making Board Games Accessible To Blind Players

JonB

Don't Take Crap from Life
Sep 16, 2012
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These Heroes Are Making Board Games Accessible To Blind Players



A husband and wife team are going to make a big list of popular games accessible to the blind.

Board Games have long been a hobby that excluded blind players by their very nature - but that isn't something that had to be so. Enter Emily and Richard Gibbs, also known as 64oz Games [http://www.64ouncegames.com/blog/]. They've teamed up with various game publishers to produce transparent sleeves with printed braille for many popular card games. That simple twist makes a whole category of games accessible to large swathes of blind players. They've teamed up with a large variety of famous publishers to support their games, and examples include favorites like Love Letter. It also looks like they're working on a version of fantastically popular game for horrible people Cards Against Humanity.

Alongside their primary efforts, the Gibbs are starting up some games that don't require sight to flourish, like a tactile microgame that will be funded through their Kickstarter - called Yoink!, which from the available rules preview seems like a speedy, fun party game. They'll also be producing a documentary called In Touch With The Game about the process of making games blind accessible.

Their game accessibility kits will be print on demand, allowing a larger variety of games to be accessible at any given time. The initial games are fascinating, covering both casual and niche hobby titles. The games on their initial list, for example, include Love Letter, The Resistance, Coloretto, Uno, Guillotine, San Juan, Race for the Galaxy, Bohnanza, and Dominion.

For more information, check out their currently running Kickstarter. [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/64ouncegames/board-games-now-blind-accessible] It ends on April 24th.

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Bazaalmon

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Apr 19, 2009
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That's a really cool idea. It's amazing that nobody has done this before; It's such a simple solution. I hope they get funded so more people can experience the incredibly hilarious awfulness that is Cards Against Humanity!
 

martyrdrebel27

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Feb 16, 2009
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you still need a not-blind friend to make sure the correct sleeves are on the right cards, if i'm correctly understanding how all this works. and how would the not blind people know what the card sleeve is saying to make sure it's correct? holy crap, this could be a fun sorta meta-game in itself, the seeing friend finds a card, the blind friend finds a sleeve, they tell each other what the other can't know, and make matches accordingly.

it isn't fair, they get better hearing and smell and free dogs. board games are the one thing i could tell my blind friends i'm pointing at that i still have that they don't, and now they have that too. first they came for the dogs, and i did not speak up because i had a dog. then they came for the canes, and i did not speak up because i didn't need a cane. then they came for the board games, and there was no one left to speak for me.
 

Two-A

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Aug 1, 2012
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martyrdrebel27 said:
you still need a not-blind friend to make sure the correct sleeves are on the right cards, if i'm correctly understanding how all this works. and how would the not blind people know what the card sleeve is saying to make sure it's correct? holy crap, this could be a fun sorta meta-game in itself, the seeing friend finds a card, the blind friend finds a sleeve, they tell each other what the other can't know, and make matches accordingly.

it isn't fair, they get better hearing and smell and free dogs. board games are the one thing i could tell my blind friends i'm pointing at that i still have that they don't, and now they have that too. first they came for the dogs, and i did not speak up because i had a dog. then they came for the canes, and i did not speak up because i didn't need a cane. then they came for the board games, and there was no one left to speak for me.
On the other hand, the Cards Against Humanity sleeves open up a lot of pranking potential.

OT: That's really cool. I wish I had some dollars to give. :(