Video for Creativity Games - Rules for Abe & Einstein

My recent post on games based on creativity exercises has been popular, so I made a short video explaining the game system in general.  As an example, I also explained how to play my creativity game, Abe & Einstein, in more detail.  It is definitely one of the most fun games a group can play with nothing more than some paper and pencils.

I used this definition of creativity in the video and I think the game models that perfectly:
Creativity - Coming up with new ideas that have value*




I neglected to mention in the video that the game can be modified to fit content areas easily.  For example, in a literature class the teacher could create half of the names for each group drawing from stories the students read in class.

*In the future I will probably include the expression of the ideas in the definition of creativity.

Creativity Exercises - Some creative games for the classroom

“Creativity is just connecting things.”  -Steve Jobs

We need to teach creativity in school and this is primarily a post about a creative exercise that can do just that.

(Update:  I posted my presentation about creativity, the exercises and how these games fit into it here.  This post goes into a lot more detail on the options for the games, but be sure to check out that newer post to see how I present it in class.)

Since most people who come here will be interested in the games and exercises I’ll start with them.  At the end I will include some thoughts about about the origin of the creativity game system that it's all based on for those interested in the design process.

First, here's a video that sums up the system and uses rules of one particular game as an example:


In all of these game activities below, some random words are selected and from them the players must come up with creative responses based on those words.  In terms of Steve Jobs’ quote, they will practice creativity by making connections between seemingly unrelated things.  For example, in the game Why Did the Chicken...?, two random nouns are used make a riddle and the players must write funny answers to the riddle.  In the haiku games, random nouns must be used in haikus.

If you are playing the game with a group of friends, one player will judge each round and pick a couple winning submissions.  In the classroom games below, the class can vote using a classroom response system like the ActivExpressions.

Traditional Games

Only one of these games is a product you would have to purchase.  The others can be played with just a pencil and some paper.  For use in class, students could play in groups of four to six.

• Why Did the Chicken...? - This is the boxed version of the game system where players make creative, funny answers to riddles.  I wrote more about the game and have a short video here.
• The Haiku Game - I made this game using letter cards for an old game that is no longer available.  You could play it with Scrabble tiles or any game that has letter cards.
• Cartoon Chicken - This is by far my favorite of the creativity games.  Players make captions for two randomly paired drawings.
• The Chicken Game System - This is Kory Heath’s page for the generic system.  It is a great read for any serious game designer.  From here you can learn to make a playable version of any of the creativity games mentioned here.
• Abe & Einstein - This game doesn’t exist in any published form as of yet, but you can play if you’ve read the rules to the game system above.  For this game, the prompts are two random famous people or characters.  Players write what the two people would say if they just met.  It’s hilarious.
• Get Paul That Promotion - This is my twisted anti-creativity game based on the system.  It is available for free at the link.  You can read about how it was invented with the help of my students here.

Playing in the Classroom

It seems many people are referring to these classroom games as "class presentation games".  If that's what you are looking for, I have several.

I used to make flipcharts that use Promethean software and I'll list those below, but more recently I started these more generic versions as webpages.  All of these games are based on this general system that uses random prompts, creative submissions and a selection of the winner.

• The Classroom Creativity Game - Combines several versions of the creativity system into one webpage.
• Coming Soon - The Creativity Game of Great Movie Trailers - Students compete to come up with the best ideas for a movie.  This can be used to teach the elements of a great story.

And these are the original versions that were designed for ActivInspire and ActivExpressions, but you can adapt them to be used with any computer/projector setup and any classroom response system (including a show of hands).

Note:  Most of my games were taken down from Promethean Planet.  The links below are currently not active.  You can still find Split Decision.  See my Games page for more information.

• The Haiku Game - Students compete to write haikus based on generic nouns.
• The Mythology Haiku Game - The same game, but with words related to Greek myths.
• The Halloween Haiku Game - And the game with words related to Halloween.
• Split Decision - This game is a little different than the others, but players are encouraged to write creative responses based on a randomly chosen topic.  The goal is to present tough decisions to the class.

Of course any of the traditional games mentioned above could be adapted to classroom play.  You can play with a few contestants, like the classroom flipcharts above, or you could have all students write responses.  Determining a winning submission could be handled with a vote or a single judge as appropriate for your class.

The birth of the creativity game system...

I wrote a few weeks back about my friend Kory Heath and how we met up at Protospiel.  That was in 2003 when my passion for game design was probably at its highest point ever.  I was in love with games and in the pursuit of something new in the hobby.  Protospiel was an annual convention, but it was also a growing group of creative friends.  I remember hanging out that summer with Kory, James Droscha, Stephen Glenn and others.  We talked at a deep level about games and and fun in general for hours on end.  I left with my brain buzzing with ideas.

Over the course of those few days Kory and I discovered we had both created games where  the winner of a contest was chosen by a judge rather than some objective rules.  In other words, instead of quantifying everything and determining a winner by points, a player would just pick the winner or a winning entry that he or she liked best.  But having a judge pick a winner was not the focus of the game.  Instead it was the creativity of the players and the “problem” posed to them that they were trying to solve.  In my game the players were writing funny things about each other and in Kory’s they were trying to come up with analogies.

In the weeks after Protospiel, Kory and I continued discussing these ideas and some like them.  We realized (he first, actually) that we really had a generic system for creativity games.  I loved playing those games because I enjoyed the process of making fun responses.  Kory was impressed with the power of how two random items could generate so many creative ideas.

As Steve Jobs stated, creativity comes from making connections.  When playing these games, some people feel they are not creative enough to come up with a response.  It really is an exercise, though, because with repeated practice (and once they realize failure isn’t so bad) they usually improve.  This observation speaks volumes for what the classroom experience should look like.  I hope these games provide teachers with exercises that encourage students to think creatively.  We need more students who are confident in their ability to create and who find enjoyment in the process.

With our respective groups Kory and I worked on many ideas in this system.  He lived on the East Coast and tested his games with established game designers.  I tested mine with students in the high school game club.  There, we had a ton of fun, but his group was better at the work side of things.  They developed a polished system and had a better focus on quality results.

Some examples of my games are the haiku game and the wacky, almost anti-creativity game, called Get Paul That Promotion.  My students and I had a blast exploring this creative model of play.

Kory’s group eventually created a published version called Why Did the Chicken...?.  Playing off that title, they developed what they called Chicken Games and Kory formalized some of the rules at this site.  The most notable feature that emerged from their play is that players can write as many submissions as they want in two minutes.  It was a great insight that contributes immensely to the excitement and creativity of the game.

This game system is amazingly entertaining and to this day I think it would be my preferred game if I had to choose only one for life.  Quite possibly the best thing about it is that it can be played with nothing more than some pencils and paper.

How to Make Games - Part 2

In this part of the presentation I focus on some vital tips that I learned about the playtest process.  This is certainly the most important and possibly the most enjoyable part of making a game.  I playtested most of my best games with students over the years and the fun of those sessions and the lasting friendships that developed outweigh any success I have achieved as a game designer.  That might be the best lesson to share with students if you are creating games for or with your classes.

After years of working with some talented and successful game designers, I have pulled out just a few practical bits of advice that can be very insightful for testing any game.



I love the Educreations app, which was used to record this presentation.  However, I have found it's not ideal when I like 85% of what I said, then I mess up or can't remember a detail!  Consequently, here are some clarifications:

Blind playtesting - I made it sound like the playtesters at this stage have to find the game components!  I was picturing them finding them in the box like one would after purchasing a game, but it could be misleading.  Basically, this is your late stage testing and you want to provide the testers with a close copy of what they will have if they purchased a published version of your game.

That golden question about what keeps players playing comes from work I did with Kes Sampanthar when we edited the Protospiel playtest sheet.  I am in his debt for that insight.

And it slipped my mind at the moment, but it was an interview with Andrew Parks where I pulled out the idea of changing just one thing at a time in later stages of playtesting.  Take that for what it's worth.  I usually can't so limit myself!

And to elaborate on Protospiel:
The Protospiel website is here.  Check out that site, but also do some searches for it to see how the group has grown and how many published games have been created by attendees over the years.  The original idea came from Stephen Glenn and his friend Dominic Crapuchettes organized the first gathering.  It would be a shame to talk about Protospiel without giving them credit for their early efforts.

The old Protospiel site has some useful resources that didn't get moved over to the new one yet.  You might want to browse those here as well.

And last of all, I have to point out that playtesting at school has one important drawback.  Almost any game seems more fun to students when they are at school!  This is especially true if you try a game during class.  I usually did playtesting at lunch or after school, but even then games seem more fun than the usual business of that environment.  Keep that in mind when you think about dropping several thousand dollars on publishing your creation.  Games need to attract attention when in the vast array of competing products, not just when compared to your lecture on supply and demand.

More on that in the third part, if I get to it.

How to Make Games - Part 1

Here's my first attempt at a presentation about making games.  I talk very generally about how I get ideas and how I begin to develop them.  If there is interest in this, I will follow it up with information on playtesting and publishing the games.



This post also serves as an example of the Educreations app for the iPad.  I love the app, but it can be frustrating when you want to start over on the recording.  I am happy to find out that I can embed the lesson here.  Originally I thought they were only accessible by users registered with your school on the Educreations site.

Great Advice for the Creative Life

I have been reading Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon.  It's filled with some great advice for students growing up in today's information saturated society.

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When I first wrote this short post about Austin Kleon's book I had no idea how many people find my blog through it.

If you're not a teacher but you came across this blog, please consider passing the link along to someone you know in education.  Ideas can change the world and even the simplest ideas and acts can change a life.

See my pages about creativity games in the classroom or my vision for education.  If you know someone who might find them useful, please send them the links!  

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 This image has been all too true of my own work, except for that low point at the bottom.  For me it never seems like just a single point!

Game Publishing for the Classroom

Going with my previous post about traditional games in the classroom, here's a resource that I recommend to teachers. It is a print on demand service that specializes in board and card games. Students could use this to turn a class project into a nice edition. Copies could be ordered for family and friends. With just a little more work, they can be made available through the site to the world at large.

The Game Crafter offers options for different sized cards, game boards and several other tokens that work for most games. I have published two of my own projects with them and I'm very happy with the results. The game pictured here consists of three different decks of cards and the accessories shown. It cost me about $20 to order my own copy. It's a little more than what I'd pay for a mass produced game with the same components, but it sure beats having to pay for a minimum run of 1,000 copies. My family worked on the project together and they loved seeing it finally arrive in print. I plan to offer it for sale, but to make a profit I will have to raise that price of $20.

So this won't likely be a direct path to a lot of financial rewards, but the site does have a Hall of Fame. There, designers who have used The Game Crafter as a bridge from idea to a successful mass production tell their stories. Certainly this print on demand service can get a good game into the hands of people who can take it further.

I can't say I've used this in the classroom yet, but I suggest it to teachers and I'm looking forward to the first time we can try it. The service is quite easy to use. The only hard part will be working with the graphics and most of that has nothing to do with The Game Crafter. It will depend on polished the students want their cards and boards to look.

I had a little trouble getting everything sized correctly for their site and the interface was a little frustrating at first. Familiarity with a program like GIMP or Paint Shop Pro will do the job nicely.

Once it's all created according to their specs (templates are available on the site) it's just a matter of uploading. You can order your own copies right away, but there are some additional requirements to enter if you want to put it for sale at the site.

If done right, a successful game project like this could involve all of these learning experiences:

• Game design, with all of the problem solving, testing and creativity that comes with it
• Graphic design
• Setting a reasonable cost through choices in the game design itself, component creation and selection of existing components from the site
• Writing the rules and informational materials
• Promotion of the final product

If it sounds promising, interested students and teachers should start here.

Making a Game - How far will an idea go?

I will probably have a few posts in the next week or so that relate more to traditional games and game creation. With so much focus on computer games everywhere else, this may feel out of place. I still find a lot of value in traditional games in the classroom and students still love making traditional games. My career in education and experience with game design and publication have been inseparable. I always used games in the classroom and my students always helped with the vital process of playtesting.

This weekend I posted a video that highlights my experience with one game that has gone far. It traces its path from initial idea to a game that has been played around the world. I often use this story as a kick-off to my game design projects in the classroom.

To keep this brief I had to leave a lot out. Nothing is said about how I used the game in the classroom or how my interactive whiteboard activities continue to spread the idea. I trust this serves its purpose, though, as possible encourage for others who have an idea and want to watch it grow.

My Mantras

Here are some things I find myself repeating when I work with students in all grade levels. It's not always with these exact words, but these quotes are the foundation of my work in the schools.

• Anyone can play with technology, but successful people use it to create something valuable.
• Technology is a magnifier. It always allows the user to do more. What more has technology allowed you to do? What more would you like to do with it?
• Technology makes many things simpler, but the best jobs still go to the people who can do the difficult things.

Free Music and Audio Tools for the Classroom

I have played and written a lot of music in my life that would not have been possible without technology. I'm not a great musician, but technology can fill in the gaps and make a rewarding experience for me and others.

Here are a few free tools I've been using lately that could be used for fun classroom activities. For one, imagine students turning short poems into songs or raps and then using them as their favorite ringtones. They can also make for great background music in videos and podcasts.

Audacity - I'm sure almost everyone has heard of this free audio recording tool. It's not perfect, but excellent for almost all recording needs in the classroom.

Gsnap - This is my best find of the summer. It offers many of the benefits of the famous (and pricey) Auto-Tune pitch correction software, but Gsnap is free. I'm not a vocalist, but this helps me make sketches of my songs that I'm not embarrassed to play for the people who can perform them correctly. It works with Audacity 1.3, so you have to download that version if you want to use the two together. Supposedly you can get it to do the robotic voice effects popular in many songs, but so far I have only achieved a more natural correction, which is all I need anyway.

And this one is unfortunately dead now...
Roc - This is the music creation tool at Aviary. It can be used to easily make basic beats and loops. Check out all of Aviary's tools for great graphics tools too. I didn't have much luck with Myna, the audio recording tool.