Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Seeking Info on how blind people take in a scene (self.Blind)
submitted by neroute2
I'm trying to adapt strategy board games so I can continue to play them with my girlfriend, who has recently gone blind. One of the stumbling blocks I'm finding is that sighted people are able to look at the board as a whole and then focus on each individual portion that they care about. But everything seems more linear for a blind person, whether feeling tactile pieces one at a time or using a screen reader to listen to a website.
One example is a game named Azul. I will concentrate on the center of the play area, which consists of a number of cardboard discs arranged in a circle. Each disc has several colored square plastic tiles on top (which I would make distinguishable by touch), and there are usually some tiles on the table in the middle, surrounded by the discs.
Picture for those who can see it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Azul_tiles.jpg
As a sighted player, I can look at the entire setup and quickly see that one of the discs contains three red tiles (taking these tiles is usually a good move). But a blind player would need to touch each disc, if not each tile, one-by-one to determine this important fact.
Can anyone offer input on how I could modify the layout to make it faster for a blind person to determine the state of the board? One possibility I can think of would be to lay the tiles out in rows on a board with recessed spots, so they are always in the same place. (Each row would represent one disc or the center.) Do y'all think this might help? Can you offer suggestions on what tactile patterns to use for ease of distinction?
One example is a game named Azul. I will concentrate on the center of the play area, which consists of a number of cardboard discs arranged in a circle. Each disc has several colored square plastic tiles on top (which I would make distinguishable by touch), and there are usually some tiles on the table in the middle, surrounded by the discs.
Picture for those who can see it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Azul_tiles.jpg
As a sighted player, I can look at the entire setup and quickly see that one of the discs contains three red tiles (taking these tiles is usually a good move). But a blind player would need to touch each disc, if not each tile, one-by-one to determine this important fact.
Can anyone offer input on how I could modify the layout to make it faster for a blind person to determine the state of the board? One possibility I can think of would be to lay the tiles out in rows on a board with recessed spots, so they are always in the same place. (Each row would represent one disc or the center.) Do y'all think this might help? Can you offer suggestions on what tactile patterns to use for ease of distinction?
goldenhawkw 3 points 4y ago
I’m actually working on a similar project with my blind friend right now. At present he plays a lot of our games with a sighted helper either another player or non-player to help with hand management and piece description and strategy. We’re actually speak it with the game designers and the RNIB (based in the UK) who are working with us to make games more accessible. The basic principle is to keep it simple.
Try different solutions until something works. For card games with lots of text, we’re looking at embossing a Braille code that can be read and then giving the option to look up the code on a word document or in paper form.
For very visual games you can emboss a pattern on sticky plastic and put that on the game board allowing the player to feel the map and piece locations.
Dice seem to be our biggest hurdle since the games we play rarely use traditional d6s. But we’re working on that and will likely come up with some sort of 3D printed solution. For now - it just means that the blind player has to rely on others to tell them the result of the dice roll.
Try different solutions until something works. For card games with lots of text, we’re looking at embossing a Braille code that can be read and then giving the option to look up the code on a word document or in paper form.
For very visual games you can emboss a pattern on sticky plastic and put that on the game board allowing the player to feel the map and piece locations.
Dice seem to be our biggest hurdle since the games we play rarely use traditional d6s. But we’re working on that and will likely come up with some sort of 3D printed solution. For now - it just means that the blind player has to rely on others to tell them the result of the dice roll.
modulus 2 points 4y ago
> Dice seem to be our biggest hurdle since the games we play rarely use traditional d6s.
If you don't mind electronic solutions there are accessible applications that emulate dice throws with arbitrary numbers of sides. Can be used on phone or computer.
If you don't mind electronic solutions there are accessible applications that emulate dice throws with arbitrary numbers of sides. Can be used on phone or computer.
goldenhawkw 1 points 4y ago
Excellent, thanks! Can you recommend any in particular?
modulus 2 points 4y ago
Haven't tried it myself as I don't have whom to play those types of games, but try https://itunes.apple.com/my/app/ready-to-roll-rpg-dice/id1445804669?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D8
goldenhawkw 1 points 4y ago
Will do, thanks!
phistomefel_smeik 1 points 4y ago
I recently bought 3D printed braille dice for DnD. There are many offers for braille dice in the web, and anything from d4-d20 should be covered. What special die are you looking for?
goldenhawkw 1 points 4y ago
A set of DnD dice is a good start. We’ve also got quite a few dice that have symbols rather than numbers - hit, miss, shield, hit and shield, etc. We were thinking of just assigning numbers to each symbol but weren’t sure what to do when 2 or more symbols appear on the same side. There are quite a few of these but they have different combinations of symbols on the faces.
As a quick solution I wonder how well embossed tape would work attached to the dice?
As a quick solution I wonder how well embossed tape would work attached to the dice?
phistomefel_smeik 2 points 4y ago
I've done that for years, until I actually bought a hit-zone and a yes-no-but die. So I think substituting with numbers works great. As for 2 or more on the same, you could maybe print a braille 'legend' on paper? 1 means X Y and/or Z etc.
I've never tried that. I guess the dice need to habe a pretty large surface for this to work, also it probably depends on the quality of the glue and tape. But you can surely try it out!
I've never tried that. I guess the dice need to habe a pretty large surface for this to work, also it probably depends on the quality of the glue and tape. But you can surely try it out!
somnium36 3 points 4y ago
Not a direct answer to your question, but you should check out 64 oz Games, they make Accessibility kits for a lot of games. For instance, we put a big sticker tactile grid on our pandemic board, and then they give you Braille labels for the cards (if she uses Braille at least!) and some of them use QR codes
BlindWarriorGurl 3 points 4y ago
It sounds like you have a bunch of good ideas already. I don’t really have any suggestions on improvements for layout, but I would recommend you put Velcro on the tiles and disks. A common problem with me and playing games like this is that when I’m touching things, I’ll accidentally move the cards or game pieces or whatever out of position. Then, when I try to put them back, I just end up moving even more of them out of position. So yeah, having someway to hold them in place while they’re being touched is a good idea.
VSSK 2 points 4y ago
Not directly related to your questions, but are you familiar with this blog that has accessibility reviews of board games? It may be a good resource for exploring other games to play.
https://meeplelikeus.co.uk/board-game-reviews/
https://meeplelikeus.co.uk/board-game-reviews/
JackEsq 1 points 4y ago
Check out $1 a site and podcast about board game accessibility for the blind. The creator is a redditor, perhaps reach out to him for ideas.
Lynecia 1 points 4y ago
I'm not too experienced with this as I only have low vision, but I think using a grid, though not perfect, would at least be faster.
So you'd have rows for each disk and columns for each colour. I'm not sure how the game works, but then you could more efficiently figure out what tiles were on each disk or which discs have the specific coloured tiles you're looking for.
I'm not too sure about the tactile variation but I'm sure you could Google it and purchase materials that you could stick on to the tiles.
So you'd have rows for each disk and columns for each colour. I'm not sure how the game works, but then you could more efficiently figure out what tiles were on each disk or which discs have the specific coloured tiles you're looking for.
I'm not too sure about the tactile variation but I'm sure you could Google it and purchase materials that you could stick on to the tiles.
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