Breaking the Chains of Analysis Paralysis - The Black Box (Part 1 of 7)

This is the first article in a series of 7 that I will be putting up in the coming weeks about Analysis Paralysis. The purpose of these articles is to highlight primary causes of AP among people who play games, and discuss strategies that you can apply as a designer to reduce the potential for AP.

Each article in this series will go into depth on one potential cause of AP, examples of situations where it can be problematic, and present some solutions that can improve the situation.

Although these articles are specific to Boardgames, the concepts of Analysis Paralysis apply widely to everyday life. These specific examples can easily be translated to apply to systems in general, including business systems and enterprise reporting & dashboards.

1. The Black Box
2. The Paradox of Choice – Dec 13
3. The Prisoner’s Dilemma – Dec 20
4. The Maze to Victory – Dec 27
5. Relationship Status: It’s Complicated – Jan 3
6. Sophie’s Choice – Jan 10
7. Bigger vs Better – Jan 17

Additional articles will be released weekly, we hope you will read, share, and comment on them. Tell me what you think, and how you might apply some of these concepts and solutions to your business.

The first article discusses The Black Box, the problem of information obscurity. Read Analysis Paralysis - The Black Box

Go Fish Fitness - Getting Kids Moving

My wife and I are parents of 4 (ages 8, 5, 2, and 6 months) and she also runs a home daycare. On any given day we spend time with 10 different kids in our home (though not all at the same time!). We also live in Canada, in a city that has famously been compared unfavourably to the surface of Mars. As a result, we often deal with 10 different kids who have been cooped up inside for long stretches of time due to cold, snow, ice, wind, rain, and general all-around outdoor unpleasantness.

If you’ve been there, you probably know that a group of children stuck inside = energy. A lot of energy. Sometimes destructive energy. They get on each other’s nerves, they fight, they rampage, and they often find it difficult to concentrate. They need to get out and run around, but spending 5 minutes freezing their fingers and faces and they want to come right back in.

So we decided to try something. We started making games for the kids, using rules that they were familiar with as a base (Go Fish – for example) and added in an exercise component. We took a normal deck of playing cards and assigned short exercises to each number, and every time a match was made they had to do the associated exercise.
And then to appeal to their competitive spirit we modified the rules, so that when a match was made everyone ELSE had to do the exercise. Suddenly we had a group of laughing, playing, goofy, jumping around kids who were reveling in the game and making their friends and sibling do the work – and having just as much fun doing it when someone else made a match.

After 15 minutes of playing, the kids went from destructive to constructive. They still had plenty of energy – a short bout of concentrated effort certainly isn’t enough to tire them – but it was enough to take the edge off the irritable frustration that had set in by being stuck inside. They went from angry to happy to play, or craft, or sit and colour. And as a parent I can tell you that the only blessing greater than naptime, is a horde of children happily engaged in their own independent activity.

If you have kids, you can do this too very easily. It’s as simple as a spare deck of cards and a sharpie – write an exercise on each card (the same numbers have the same exercises) and play Go Fish. When a match is made, everyone else must do the exercise a number of times equal to the number on the card. (For example, 10 Jumping Jacks, or 4 Sit-ups).

In the interests of making this game accessible and more interesting for kids, we’ve been working with an artist (Fredrik Skarstedt) to create beautiful, colourful cards that we are currently trying to kickstart a print-run for. If this is something of interest to you, come check it out at (www.tricorngames.com/kickstarter) which ends April 6th, 2017.

Tricorn Games - Flipped Off!

I am excited to announce that I have embarked upon a new venture - Tricorn Games. Under this banner we will be developing and publishing tabletop and card games, with potential expansion into the realm of mobile and computer games.

Flipped Off!, our first product is currently in the final stages of development and playtesting. Flipped Off is a tactical card game where you play a plotting Mastermind aiming to defeat your rivals and seize control of the city for yourself. You must manage your Minions - the Pirates, Ninjas, and Robots that do your bidding, play actions that can improve your situation or wreak havoc with your enemies, and use your Minions to launch attacks and hope that your rivals can’t turn the cascade of results to their own advantage.

We are currently recruiting playtesters, if you would like an early look at this game and would like to help us refine it and have input into the final result - please sign up here and join us! Playtesters will receive a high-quality printable PDF of all the game components and instructions, access to the playtest forum, and active participants will receive public credit for their contributions when the final release has been completed.

In addition to Flipped Off!, we have several additional projects under development which will be announced when they are ready for release.

Remember - Play more games!

Gridiron Solitaire on Gamers with Jobs

I am posting a link to a podcast: Gamers With Jobs - Conference Call Episode 381 (released today). I received a couple of shout-outs on this episode from my friend Bill Harris who was on to talk about his just-released-on-steam game Gridiron Solitaire.

I've been helping Bill for the better part of 3 years, teaching him how to code from scratch, helping him with problems, and answering his questions - so getting to see him actually release his brainchild to the public is a very proud moment.

More information can be found at Bill and Eli Productions and on the Steam Gridiron Solitaire Product Page.