Designing and evaluating the tabletop game experience for senior citizens

  • Authors:

  • Abdullah Al Mahmud;Omar Mubin;Suleman Shahid;Jean-Bernard Martens

  • Affiliations:

  • Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands;Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands;University of Tilburg, Tilburg, The Netherlands;Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 5th Nordic conference on Human-computer interaction: building bridges
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

In this paper, we report on the design and evaluation of a tabletop game especially created for senior citizens. The game is intended to provide leisure and fun and is played with four players on an augmented tabletop. It evolved from existing games and rules that are popular and familiar amongst senior citizens. Several aspects that are part of the gaming experience, such as immersion, flow, affect and, challenge, were assessed experimentally. The gaming experience was measured relatively by subjectively comparing user reactions across two sessions, one using a conventional board game and another using a digital tabletop version of the same game. Our results indicate that senior citizens found the tabletop version of the game to be more immersive and absorbing. We also discuss some implications to tabletop game design that can be deduced from the qualitative feedback provided by our participants.