Kids: The Best Playtesters

Last week, I participated in Pixelles’ Paper Play event, where we had to create a paper game inspired by childhood classics like Coin-coin, tic-tac-toe, or Cadavre Exquis. I chose Coin-Coin and added a jumping mechanic, along with an emotion of happiness and a boating theme.

I crafted a Coin-coin with various colored sides, each representing a character. Players choose a random color, and each character has a specific number of jumps associated with it.

The game involves an ocean path, and players choose a character to jump forward based on their ability. They may encounter boating opportunities to move forward or waterfalls that set them back on the board.

Initially, my game had only four characters, and players had to choose a number for their Coin-coin part to be counted to get the character, which was not engaging. A child tried my game, got frustrated with the flawed design, and left after selecting a high number like 100 and making limited progress.

This feedback inspired me to make significant improvements. I added more boating opportunities, simplified gameplay by having players pick a color instead of a number, and introduced more characters with varying jump abilities to make the game more exciting.

Lesson learned: If you want to improve your game quickly, let a child play it — they’ll reveal its weaknesses. I was surprised by the impact of this experience and wanted to share it with you.