Q1)
Game : Chopsticks
Actions:
– Rearrange fingers while persevering finger count.
– Tap one of the other player’s hand with one of your hands.
Goals:
– Get both of the other player’s hands to be “out.”
Rules:
– Two players compete, taking turns. One action can be taken per turn.
– Start with two hands with one one finger raised.
– If a hand has five fingers raised, it is “out.”
– When player A taps player B’s hand, player B’s hand must raise the # of fingers that are raised on player A’s hand.
– An “out” hand cannot be tapped.
– A player can redistribute the # of fingers raised on their turn, and can bring back and “out” hand that way.
– A player looses when both their hands are “out.”
Objects:
– Hands and fingers.
Playspace:
– Two players face each other within tapping distance.
Players:
– Anybody with typical hands, usually children.
Q2)
If the actions of ping pong were applied to DDR, you may end up with an arcade rhythm game in which the player scores by hitting a volley of balls with a paddle. Or, if you take ping pong and transplant the playspace of DDR (a pad of step-able plates and a screen), you may get a foot-controlled Wii Sports ping-pong. In the first case, the fun in the game still comes from rhythm, and sensation. In the second, the rules of ping pong remain the same, but are translated into a digital space, causing the player to map actions of a virtual ping pong player to their own steps. In this new game, sensation, and challenge, and competition remain the aesthetics of the game.
Q3)
A moment in tic tac toe, and possible actions for one player:
Q4)
Real time game: Arm wrestling.
– The game has not started.
– The game has started and the two players each try to make the back of other’s hand touch the table. – – One player successfully forces the other player’s hand to touch the table. They win.
Turn based game: tic tac toe.
Analysis:
In an arm wrestling match, the space of possibility is fairly limited. There is only one action the player can (legally) take in the game, which is pushing the other player’s hand. There are essentially two states, one where the competition is ongoing and one where one player has won. In tic tac toe, logging all the game states reveals some of its basic rules: for example, the turn-based nature of the game can be inferred by the alternating additions of X’s and O’s, and only one mark can be placed in a cell. No marks can be removed, and all marks accumulate. The space of possibility entails all combinations of X’s and O’x inside 9 grid cells that emerge from valid turn based action, before a winning condition is met. In this log we can also see the possibility of a draw, where neither player meets the winning conditions.
