Tabletop Game Accessibility Meeple Centred Design

This foundational resource on the topic of tabletop game accessibility provides actionable guidelines on how to make games accessible for people with disabilities. This book contextualises this practical guidance within a philosophical framework of how the relatively abled can ethically address accessibility issues within game design.

This book helps readers to build understanding and empathy across the various categories of accessibility. Chapters on each category introduce ?the science?, outline the game mechanics and games that show exemplar problems, relate these to the real-world situations that every player may encounter, and then discuss how to create maximally accessible games with reference to the accessibility guidelines and specific games that show ?best-in-class? examples of solutions.

This book will be of great interest to all professional tabletop and board game designers as well as digital game designers and designers of other physical products.

1. Introduction

2. Colour Blindness

3. Visual Accessibility

4. Cognitive Accessibility

5. Physical Accessibility

6. Emotional Accessibility

7. Socioeconomic Accessibility

8. Communicative Accessibility

9. Applying the Tabletop Accessibility Guidelines

10. Conclusion

Dr Michael James Heron is docent in games at the School of Computer Science and Engineering in Gothenburg, Sweden, and program administrator for the Game Design and Technology program. He is the author of the blog Meeples Like Us, the largest and best systematic analysis of board game accessibility currently available: https://www.meeplelikeus.co.uk/