Qwirkle is a tile based matching game somewhat like a combination of Scrabble and Set. It's a great game that also happens to have some fundamental flaws with respect to accessibility. I (20/20 vision) needed to redo the room lighting to distinguish red and orange tiles, my girlfriend's grandmother needed to compare the blue and purple tiles as well, and a red-green colorblind friend just had to sit the whole game out. Clearly, a color-free graphic redesign would be universally appreciated.
Photo credit gamesworld.com.au
The original game uses 6 shapes and 6 colors. Creating a monochromatic redesign meant that these 2 pieces of information needed to be communicated some other way. 6 new outline shapes surround 6 symbols and, to make it fun and easily recognizable, pseudo-occultist symbology was used. The original shapes (with the exception of square and circle) have no universal names, which makes it harder for players to discuss them during play, while symbols like dagger, mushroom, and skull have obvious names.
To determine the 6 new outline shapes, paper tiles were printed and cut out and handed to prospective players to sort into piles. Here is an example of 8 prospective designs. It quickly became clear that while a 2, 3, or 4 pointed shape could be easily recognized as distinct, the 5, 6, and 7 pointed designs took much longer to sort despite the extra flourishes added to make them unique. Of these 8 shapes, 4 designs made it to the final with just minimal tweaks and a simple large circle and “none” were added to simplify the look further.
The final tiles were cut and etched on a laser cutter out of black acrylic. The depth of etch was chosen to produce a clear image as well as a distinct tactile experience for each tile. The tiles were scuffed to a matte slate-like finish using medium grit scouring pads.
The original Qwirkle also has tiles with a satisfying weight and thickness, but they are just too thin to balance on their edges without falling over repeatedly during play. I designed 4 laser cut tile racks that pack into a custom box along with the 108 tiles, scoring notebook, and pen.
A glow-in-the-dark version was made to further test playability in low to no light environments. After a few minutes under an UV lamp to charge, the runes will glow long enough to finish a full game or summon an elder god, whichever comes first.
The box was made from reclaimed cedar and up-cycled scrap plastic. The sliding lid is magnetically held in place for travel.