WWW: The Impossible Search
World Wide Web: The Impossible Search is a new and simple board game that lets players experience the struggles of researching on the internet!
I reimagined and represented the internet as a simple, yet cruel, board game. The game can be played with at least 2 players. The board says 2–4, but more game pieces can easily be added! The rules of the game are pretty simple:
- Everyone starts at “Start” in the left corner of the board.
- A single die is rolled each turn. The number you roll on your first turn (as well as any other time you are at “Start”) determines whether or not you advance upward or to the right. If an even number was rolled, then the player moves upward. If an odd number was rolled, then the player moves to the right.
- When you roll the die, advance the number of spaces it reads and follow the directions on the space you land on. If the space reads, “Go back 1 space,” then the player moves back one space but does not follow the directions on the new space. The players should move in the direction of the arrows on the game board unless they are moving backward by instruction from the spaces.
- When players reach the “Rabbit Hole,” the rules are similar for the “Start” space. If an even number was rolled, then the player advances upward. If an odd number was rolled, then the player goes right, and down into the “Rabbit Hole.” The same rules apply for the actions on spaces. If the space read “Go up 2 spaces,” then the player can move upward instead of going down the “Rabbit Hole.” When moving backward in the “Rabbit Hole,” the player must stay in the ring of spaces that make up the hole.
- Players move around the board until a player reaches the “ANSWER” space in the right corner, becoming the winner of the game.
A simplified version of the rules is included on the game board, and reads:
How to Play: (2–4 players)
1. All players begin at start and move up or right depending on their die roll.
2. Follow instructions on only the first space you land on.
3. Play until a player reaches the answer.
The game has a pretty short playtime of between 5–15 minutes, depending on how often you land on spaces that send you back to start or straight to the end.
When I was first brainstorming on what to do for this project, I was thinking about making a maze. You would start with the question and try to get to the answer. In the dead ends, there would be different struggles that people face when surfing the web. I evolved this idea and turned it into a board game.
The board was constructed using part of a cardboard box (for the base of the board and the game pieces), various types of paper (just cardstock and construction paper), ruler, scissors, Elmer’s glue, and some hope that it turns out well.
This project took longer than I originally thought it would take. I spent about 7 hours cutting out the pieces for the game, writing each space, and putting everything together with glue. While I was working, I was thinking about how much faster it could have been if I just printed out the spaces and various shapes and pictures rather than doing it all by hand. I persisted though and never used any digital tools (except for when I was looking up how to draw the different icons that are on the game pieces, but I still never printed anything, so that doesn’t count).
I based this game on what I use the internet for most of the time: searching for answers. I often have a lot of roadblocks, especially if I really need to figure something out. The spaces in this game are some difficulties I face when surfing the web, as well as some other fun ones.
I mentioned earlier that this game is simple, yet cruel. Why would I describe the game this way? Because it’s true. There is a total of 24 spaces on the board. Three of the spaces are “Start,” “Rabbit Hole,” and “Answer.” That leaves us with 21 spaces to put actions on. The positive and negative spaces are split almost evenly, right? Nope. There are twice as many negative/harmful spaces than there are positive/beneficial spaces. There are fourteen bad spaces and only seven good ones, now how about that? But wait… there’s more!
So, do you remember the rule for the “Start” space? You can only go up if you roll an even number, and you can only go right if you roll an odd number. So get this… there are two spaces that send you directly to the end, along with two spaces that send you back to the beginning. The two spaces that send you directly to the end are not very each to reach, however. They are purposely located on places on the board that are nearly impossible to reach. The first space that sends you directly to the end would be the space you could land on if you rolled a one, but it’s on the path you can only take if you roll an even number. The second space is in the same kind of location, but on the other path. It’s on the second space away from “Start,” but you’ll never land on it because you would need an odd number to go in that direction.
The game pieces are made from the same cardboard box that the board was made from. There were originally four pieces, however, I made two more because they were so fun to make. The game pieces consist of an arrow cursor, pointing cursor, thumbs-up, shopping cart, video icon, and an @ symbol. In order to make these pieces, I drew them on cardboard and cut them out. In order to make the pieces stand, I cut slits in both the middle of the piece and another small rectangle piece of cardboard. I then aligned the pieces up perpendicularly, and then the pieces stood up!
So far, I have played this game a couple of times with my brothers and we have really enjoyed it. This project was really fun to make, and I can’t wait to see how everyone else reimagined the internet! Hope you enjoyed this reading!
