Know Your Home is a board game for primary students aged 10-12. The board game covers New Zealand history and culture, focusing primarily on my hometown, Lake Taupō. Know Your Home is a trivial board game with added power cards. Students can travel around the lakefront when they answer questions correctly. The game is designed to be played with either 3+ players or in teams to suit a classroom format. The prototype was made mostly by hand, which took several hours to assemble. This involved painting, drawing, laser cutting, printing and a lot of research to ensure everything was factually correct.

Game instructions

Object

To move around Lake Taupo’s waterfront by correctly answering the questions. The first player or team to make it around the lake wins the game and collects the golden tiki. Players/teams master a category by correctly answering five questions within one of the three categories around the lake (coloured sections along the lakefront). 

Set up

All players/teams must start with one of each lifeline (players only have one for the whole game).

Players/teams decide who goes first.

All players/teams begin at the town centre starting point and move clockwise towards the finish.

Game Play

Start at the town centre on your first turn and move clockwise around the path.

Whichever colour you land on, another player/team will ask you a question in that category. Get the question right, and you get to move forward. Your turn ends when you get an answer wrong.

The player/team to make it around the lake first wins the golden tiki.

Lifelines

50%

• Can only be played on multi-choice questions. Eliminates two incorrect answers (readers pick).

Skip

• Don’t like a question? You can skip a question and answer the next.

Get out of jail

• Don't want to take your turn? You can skip your turn.

Primary research

I undertook primary research with my classmates to gather information about what is taught in primary school about New Zealand's history. My survey had a sample size of 11. While analysing data, I saw that it was surprising when asked if they were taught much about New Zealand culture/history. 63.6% claimed they learned a lot. Leaving 36.4% claiming they didn't, with 18.2% of that group stating they wish they had learned more. I predicted some results, such as the treaty of Waitangi being common knowledge (100% of students mentioned it). With an unexpected result where students stated their family was not fully educated on New Zealand history/culture.

From there I went on to research Lake Taupō Nui a Tia.

Process

I divided my research of Taupō Nui a Tia into three categories: general knowledge, nature, and legends. I also incorporated images to remind the kids of some landmarks — for example, the rock carvings. I also added QR codes to help make the game more educational. As shown below, there is a link to a video on the eruption that created lake Taupō.

Making the board

Below is the first concept of the moving spots on the board. The idea is there, but the spots could be placed more deliberately at key locations around the lake.

Making the tikis

After researching some of the main art attractions in the town, I chose to incorporate tikis into the game to represent the three tikis (red, yellow and blue) located by the lakefront. The tikis mean different parts of Taupō.

Blue — the Lake, Taupō Nui a Tai

Red — the earth around the lake

Yellow — the warmth

I wanted to incorporate wood into my board game to add different textures and make it more eye-catching. I decided to laser cut the player pieces into tikis to show Lake Taupō's history and culture through the game pieces.

Paint

Shades of green represent the trees surrounding the lake, with brown showing the dirt and adding variety to the trees. The yellow represents the kōwhai trees. Black helps keep parts of the painting darker where there is lots of yellow. I added all the colours for my final board by dipping a sponge into the paint and dapping it onto the board. This process made the finishing look slightly textured and blended the colours very well.

Making the lake

I drew the shape of the lake and painted it. The lake seemed a bit plain, so I added the mythical creature, the Taniwha, and the rarest trout of the two breeds, the rainbow trout. The lake was painted by hand.

Final board game