Eightfold
Games are powerful tools in the field of education, allowing for natural engagement, playfulness, and player autonomy. I have designed many games for change and games with purpose to help connect individuals with specific learning goals. Below is an example of such a game, an exploration of basic Buddhist beliefs through a simple and straightforward card game.
Purpose:
The purpose of this game is to familiarize the player with concepts within Buddhism, specifically the concepts of rebirth, Dukkha, the Middle Way, and the Noble Eightfold Path.
Concepts:
The Lives within the game serve as Human life. Each time you lose a Life, you have completed a cycle of rebirth. With each death comes a clearer sense of Wisdom. With each Life lost, you have hopefully grown a step closer to reaching the end of Dukkha and the beginning of Wisdom.
Dukkha is suffering. All life is suffering, as we are never fully satisfied with our current place in the world. The goal of Life is to end this suffering. This end is achievable through rebirth and the concept of the Middle Way.
The Middle Way is a balance in our life between materialism (relying on things outside your body, greed) and asceticism (self-harm through denial of all physical things, self-starvation). Combined with the Noble Eightfold Path, Middle Way is the path to Wisdom.
The Noble Eightfold Path is the method we must use in order to escape Dukkha and achieve Wisdom. It is made up of achieving the right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. In all eight of these factors, we must practice the Middle Way throughout our incarnations.
When the end to Dukkha is achieved, we stop being reborn. We are allowed an escape from our humanly suffering.
Goal:
Reach balance within the Noble Eightfold Path, using the Middle Way, before you have been reborn ten times.
Materials:
26 cards total. All 13 heart cards. All 13 diamond cards.
Set Up:
Shuffle the first eight (Ace-8) heart cards and place four face down in a column. Now place one of the remaining cards on top of each card face up and half obscuring it. Do the same for the first eight (A-8) diamond cards, placing the column to either side of the hearts column. Now place the rest of the cards (hearts and diamonds) in a pile to the side. The set up should look similar to the set up in the picture below.
Symbolism:
The rest of the cards (9-King of each suit) act as Life. There should be ten of them total, and the values of the cards themselves do not matter. They are simply counter tokens. The heart column represents asceticism in humans, as it is unhealthy to lead such a life. The diamond column represents materialism, as diamonds are seen as very valuable. There are eight of each suit in the columns, and this represents the Noble Eightfold Path. The cards themselves (A-8) represent each factor of the Path (i.e. Ace represents the right view, 2 represents the right intention…), and the aim is to balance materialism and asceticism within each factor.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is formed around balancing the cards, or moving the same card number (A, 2, 3…) of each suit into a similar space across from one another. When a heart and diamond card of the same number are in positions across from one another and in the same plane (top or bottom), they become balanced and are removed from the game. You can do this by using one turn (discarding or flipping a single Life card) to take an action. There are three actions you can take, and they are as follows:
1. Switch a card’s plane (take the card on top and place it below the other)
2. Swap cards in a column (cards have to be neighboring)
3. Reveal one face down card
1. Switch a card’s plane (take the card on top and place it below the other)
2. Swap cards in a column (cards have to be neighboring)
3. Reveal one face down card
Win Condition: All cards are balanced and removed.
Lose Condition: Run out of Lives (10 turns)
Lose Condition: Run out of Lives (10 turns)
