Light or Dark 桌游 by Lan Zhou and Xinlu Yang

Light or Dark 桌游 by Lan Zhou and Xinlu Yang is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award 铜奖 in 玩具、游戏与业余爱好产品设计 Competition Category.

铜玩具· 2023

Light or Dark 桌游

by Lan Zhou and Xinlu Yang

A' Design Award 铜奖 Winner in 玩具 Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #150191

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Light or Dark 桌游

Light or Dark 是一款以世界能源危机为背景的双人儿童桌游，包含卡牌，骰子，沙漏，棋盘等相关配件。玩家需要在有限的时间和能源下完成抑制污染扩散和建设新能源站的任务。目的是让孩子们在合作和解决问题中培养时间观念、专注力和综合策略，在具有挑战性和趣味性的游戏中体验到危机感、紧迫感、使命感和胜利感。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 铜奖

Light or Dark 桌游是 A' Design Award 铜奖得主，这是授予以创造力、独创性和敏锐见长的杰出设计的极具声望的认可。铜奖得主是技艺娴熟、创意惊人的作品，印证了其设计师丰富的经验、想象力与机智。预计Light or Dark 桌游将成为一件备受推崇、令人钦佩且被珍爱的物品，兼具显著的专业性与创新性。这件赢得 A' Design Award 铜奖的设计融入艺术、科学、设计和技术领域的最佳实践，并因注重细节而出类拔萃。Light or Dark 桌游出色地满足需求，触动渴望，迷住情感，并吸引好奇心。

Behind the Design

Press Kit

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

Unique Properties: A two-player board game based on the background of the world's energy crisis, guides children to complete tasks in a cooperative way under a variety of constraints through various element settings. During the game, children need to look at the overall situation and plan rationally when facing and solving a series of problems. This tests and develops the child's sense of time, concentration and comprehensive strategy.
Dimensions & Packaging: 330 mm (w) x 235 mm (d) x 53 mm (h)
Tags: children's board game, educational design, strategy, consideration of reality
Production Technology: The base block of the game board is made of colored beech, and the rest of the components are mainly ABS or PMMA.
Design Challenge: We spend most of our time developing the rules of the game, thinking about how to project the serious and complex energy crisis issues into a children's board game, so that children can experience a sense of crisis, a sense of urgency, a sense of mission and a sense of victory, making the game educational, challenging and fun.
Research: After the preliminary formation of the rules of the game, children over the age of 7 were invited to conduct a playtest. Light or Dark get their feedback on the game design itself and their rich emotional feedback. Some of them won the game by thinking calmly and adjusting their strategies in the face of the tense situation, while others failed in panic. But this also made them realize the necessity of environmental protection, which made the winning and losing of the game equally meaningful.
Inspiration: The problem of energy shortage and environmental pollution has a long history. In 2022, due to the combined effects of multiple factors, the global energy supply and demand was seriously out of balance. While looking for and developing more sustainable alternative energy sources, the concepts of energy saving, emission reduction and sustainable living should also be instilled in everyone's daily life.
Project Duration: The project started in December 2022 in Milan and finished in February 2023 in Milan.
Operation Flow: After randomly drawing a map card and completing the assembly, place the hourglass to start the game. Players need to use limited raw energy to plant trees, withstand storms, control the spread of pollution and complete the task of building new energy stations to win the game. Every time the hourglass lights up, it warns of the spread of pollution, and when the energy stations light up, it means the generation of new energy. Players can get random raw energy supplies by rolling dice, and can also share new energy generated by new energy stations with partner.
Team Members: Designer: Lan Zhou
Designer: Xinlu Yang
Image Credits: Lan Zhou & Xinlu Yang, Light or Dark, 2023