First of all, I just want to say this is actually a really good idea for your project. The blind community already has plenty of devices and tools for navigating the world and doing every day tasks. A boardgame is something just for fun, and like games for sighted people, there is always room for more fun. I think your project idea is great specifically because there is not necessarily a need for a new game, but I believe they are definitely would be demand for a new board game. It would especially be nice to see a new board game that did not require sight, or did not at least heavily rely on visual elements. I think a key aspect of your board game design should be connecting blind players with sighted players. Make it fun for both sided and blind players, and make it intriguing and accessible to everyone. This way you are helping out blind people by offering a means to connect to their family members who may be cited, and your audience is not limited to a specific population. We get a lot of these type of posts in this sub Reddit, but this is the first one that I’ve seen that I actually Think is neat and a good idea. Kudos!

If you need more information about the types of board games that we play and how we play them check out my podcast at https://sightless.fun

Well, I'm blind and I play boardgames all the time - multiple nights a week - and have a couple hundred games in my collection.

In the current state of the hobby, I think how into the hobby someone is will depend on how much functional vision they have and how willing their game group is to accommodate them when they can't see something. There are accessible games out there for people who are totally blind, but many of them are simpler games, so I don't think many blind people are going to get super deep into the hobby without some remaining vision and a supportive group (I'm lucky enough to have both).

So yes, more accessible games is always better!

That said - I also dabble in boardgame design - it's a ton of work and I'd wonder about having the time, given the scope of a school project, to design something with the strategic/tactical depth to really make it more involved than what's accessible and out there already. But, thereto, it doesn't necessarily have to be a heavier game, so long as it's different and fun.

So if that's what you want to do, go for it! Something light will probably be more doable, adapting an existing game could be an interesting project, too.

An alternate suggestion: Just a thought, but I also play a lot of tabletop RPGs. They're pretty easy and accessible to get into because you can usually learn your character's main abilities pretty quickly and the majority of the game is storytelling. But sometimes it's nice to do grid-based miniature combat! What if you had something like a raised grid and tiles with raised textures/patterns (and pictures for the sighted folks) to represent characters, monsters, terrain, etc. all designed in such a way that things aren't going to slide around easily. Then people could feel the grid and get a sense of what's going on.

This approach could work for a boardgame, or a miniatures war game, as well (I'd love to be able to play Battletech this way).

Yes! I miss playing games. Most are very hard with impaired vision.

I am visually impaired, not fully blind, but cannot see well. I love board games and so does my (also visually impaired) SO. I would absolutely love a large print board that we could use, or an online board game type thing would be cool too. These things may already exist, but if they do, I'm uninformed on the topic.

yes