ARE YOU Do you dream of constructing Minecraft worlds or have nightmares about crashing Jenga towers Are you a fan of the Candy Crush game or did you play the board game Candyland when you were young Whether your favorite is charades dodge ball or chess you belong to a huge group of people who love games GAME MAKERS You can do more than just play games Anyone can become a game maker Nine year old Caine Monroy spent his summer vacation making games from cardboard He built an entire arcade in his father s auto parts store in Los Angeles Nirvan Mullick discovered Caine's Arcade when he came into the store one day Nirvan was Caine s first and most important paying customer Nirvan spread the word about Caine s Arcade and its resourceful inventor He organized a huge fash mob of new customers to surprise Caine Nirvan filmed it and produced a documentary The story of Caine's creativity and entrepreneurship traveled around the globe inspiring other young game makers This led to the creation of the Global Cardboard Challenge Through it more than 250 000 kids have made their own Cardboard games and other inventions Jenga inventor Leslie Scott grew up speaking Swahili in Tanzania The name Jenga comes from the Swahili word meaning
MAKER MOVEMENT Game making is part of the maker movement Makers work in many fields including animation fashion design and robotics They find inspiration in just about anything Makers take risks are resourceful and experiment hands on with creative materials Although their ideas Sometimes fop they can lead to greater inventions In the face of failure makers keep looking for innovative solutions Makerspaces provide places for people to team up and share their tools and knowledge Game makers often get help from other makers such as graphic designers Search for your local makerspace to get involved SKILLS NEEDED Game makers are as diverse as their creations but they each use many of the same skills Math skills such as problem solving reasoning and working with data are valuable for planning games Art and design skills are useful when creating game boards pieces and other graphic elements Makers often collaborate or work together on projects This way each person can share his or her specific skill or talent to contribute to the finished project The ability to work well in a team is very important in game making and other maker projects Communication skills are central to teamwork and presenting your work Developing these skills will help you win at making games WWLTURE Do you or any of your friends enjoy math or design and being part of a team If so game making is for you O
HISTORY Game makers build on a long history when they invent new games Details about the earliest games are mostly unknown However ancient gamers left some clues Archaeologists have discovered game pieces made from bones shells senet and sticks Historical art depicts a variety of games For example ancient Egyptian images show a pastime called senet It appears to be an early game of chance where players raced around a board GAME CHANGERS Most ancient games have transformed Over time Mancala is one of the world's oldest count and capture games It likely came from Africa and was spread by travelers to new places In each new location players changed the game s rules the materials and even its name Hundreds of versions of mancala exist today The length of the game board and the number of pits carved into the board is different depending on where the game was
MODERN GAMES The Industrial Revolution led to the MAYNOR APPINYass mechanization of game making and new game making technologies In the 1840s advances in color printing made publishing cards and board games more affordable Mansion of Happiness was one of the first popular board games in the United States It used a spinner to move players because dice were associated with illegal gambling at the time Electronic innovations led to an entirely new form of games in the following century In 1958 American scientist William Higinbotham invented the first computer game Hundreds of players lined up to play his game Tennis for Two Just over a decade later video games were available to play in video arcades and on home consoles Like other early American board games the purpose of Mansion of Happiness was to teach moral lessons Be a Maker Io Thanks to Spanish King Alfonso X we know the rules for some ancient games In the 1200s he had a book made called The Book of Games This book described the most popular games of the time such as backgammon chess and dice games What do you think might have happened if no one recorded the rules for games from the past Why is it important to write clear instructions when making
