Pawsome Paths
A Collaborative Tactile Experience for Young Players
Overview
Pawsome Paths is a collaborative board game aimed to teach children a refined sense of empathy towards guide dogs and their visually impaired owners. The approach is a tactile board game that utilizes strategy, teamwork, and trivia to reinforce fun facts about guide dog training and behaviors. This interactive experience can paint a new perspective on how guide dogs see the world and why it is important to avoid creating distractions for a working guide dog. The encouragement from children in the community today to coexist with guide dogs could mean a reduced return rate of guide dogs in the future due to mistakes and distractions while on the job.
Features
Each of the cards in Pawsome Paths features large and bold text in size 36 with corresponding braille. Illustrations were printed on Swell Touch Paper, which has been chemically treated to puff up in reaction to black ink once exposed to heat. The final result is an inclusive way to experience illustrations and iconography as users navigate the Pawsome Paths Mall.
Each shop in the Pawsome Paths Mall is linked to a trivia question to teach fun facts while testing the player’s reasoning ability. Using a tab system, the Trivia book can be navigated through the tactile tabs which appear on each card in the top right corner. Using the “Twin Vision” format, the trivia book contains a side-by-side braille and standard text to create an equitable playing experience.
Each game piece representing player one, player two, and the enemy were designed and 3D printed to be easily distinguishable through feel. With the distinctive rounded outlines and facial features for each object, players can be trained to identify each piece before picking up the game piece.