BlindBox Træspil by Ufuk Bircan Özkan is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2014 A' Design Award i Jern in Legetøj, Spil og Hobbyprodukter Design Competition Category.

JernLegetøj· 2014

BlindBox Træspil

by Ufuk Bircan Özkan

Client: Ufuk Bircan Özkan

A' Design Award i Jern Winner in Legetøj Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #32310

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About BlindBox Træspil

BlindBox er et trespil, der kombinerer gåder med hukommelsespil og styrker følelserne som at høre og røre ved. Det er et turbaseret spil for to spillere. Den spiller, der samler sine egne kugler, før den anden spiller vinder. Horisontale skuffer flyttes af spillere for at justere hullerne i midten af dem for at skabe lodrette stier for klinkekugler til at falde ned. Spillet kræver strategiske tænkningsmuligheder for at blokere din modstander, en god hukommelse for rigtige bevægelser og stor opmærksomhed for at finde ud af hvor din klinkekugler flyttes til.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award i Jern

BlindBox Træspil er vinder af A' Design Award i Jern, en prestigefyldt anerkendelse, der tildeles gode designs, som opfylder de professionelle og industrielle krav, man forventer af veldesignede skabelser. Jernvinderne viser stor dygtighed, høj specialisering, ekspertforståelse og kreativ kapacitet hos deres skabere. BlindBox Træspil forventes at være en højt estimeret, beundret og kær skabelse, der er praktisk og innovativ. Dette design, der har vundet A' Design Award i Jern, integrerer branchens bedste praksis og har kompetente tekniske egenskaber knyttet til knowhow og talent. BlindBox Træspil respekteres for sin grundighed og er designet til at levere forbedringer af livskvaliteten, der er med til at gøre verden til et bedre sted.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: BlindBox is a wooden game which combines puzzles with memory games. Because of the natural materials used, it strengthens feelings like hearing and touching. Players change the 3D maze in each move during the game in order to gather their own marbles. Players need to consider the position of their opponent's marble too, when making moves. Because of the unique game scenario, players may score for their opponents by causing their opponent's marble fall down first. Causing a marble to fall out of the structure requires the marble to start from top layer.
Dimensions & Packaging: Proposed package dimensions are mm x mm x mm
Tags: wood, game, puzzle, maze, turn based, marbles, sound
Production Technology: BlindBox can be produced by conventional production techniques as it requires basic geometrical shapes to be formed in wood, glass and steel.
Design Challenge: The hardest part was checking the game against any bugs which will effect the gameplay. As far as I experienced, there are no bugs that allow cheating or stucking.
Research: User and market research es are done at the first stages of the esign studies. 3-dimensional gameplay, risk of scoring for your opponent and selection of the natural materials used in production are the results of these researches.
Inspiration: I wondered if I will be able to add a 3rd dimension to classic maze games. A static 3D maze would be boring as it would have just one solution; so I created one where users change the path in each turn. As it contains small parts, it is suitible for children aged over 6.
Project Duration: The design was an old student project of mine from 2006 in Ankara. I revised it in Bursa in February 2014 to make it a commercial product.
Operation Flow: Placing the drawers randomly to the storeys, and marbles diagonally to the holes on top are the preperation stages of the game. One player plays with glass marbles and the other player plays with steel ones. Players can choose any classic method to select who will start. The aim is to collect your marbles before your opponent does. What you can do is to slide the drawers in turns in order to align holes in the drawers with the ones in the storey below to make marbles fall down. Because you don't see where the marbles are in the construction; you need to remember or guess their places by the help of the sounds they create when hitting the wooden drawers. You can recognize your own marbles by the different sound they create than your opponent's because of their different materials.
During the gameflow, you may fall your own or your opponent's marbles outside the box which means they need to be placed in and start from the holes at the top. Similarly, you may accidentally gather your opponent's marble from bottom, which means an own-goal.
The next game set can start with the last winner's move after replacing the marbles.
Image Credits: Image #1: Industrial Designer Ufuk Bircan Özkan, BlindBox, 2014.
Image #2: Industrial Designer Ufuk Bircan Özkan, BlindBox, 2014.
Image #3: Industrial Designer Ufuk Bircan Özkan, BlindBox, 2014.
Image #4: Industrial Designer Ufuk Bircan Özkan, BlindBox, 2014.
Image #5: Industrial Designer Ufuk Bircan Özkan, BlindBox, 2014.