Games (Tabletop or Otherwise) for the Vision-Impaired

Vixx

My 17 year-old cousin was declared legally blind 3 months ago. From what he told me when I visited him last week, he says he can't read anymore and his vision is really just lights and shadows at the moment. He is and was an avid reader and gamer, and part of this adjustment has been coming to terms with the fact that there isn't much he can play games anymore. More than that, his younger brother and sister both also love playing games (the former computer games, the latter cards/board games), but now that he can't see, he is inadvertently left out.

Since seeing him I've been trying to think of games he can play with his siblings or friends that would have limited impact on the playability of the game by the others. Thus far, DnD comes to mind because much of the game can be visualised via prompts by the GM, provided the GM has the patience and skill to provide the descriptions in the detail required. Combat would also be relatively okay as the board can be described to him and players can help him figure out where he is. Dice rolls can also be done by him with special dice, such as braille or larger dice with better embossing. I've talked to him about this one and he seems keen (probably because it's an RPG and he used to play heaps of those on the PC), so I'm going a trial run with him when I see him again in December this year (he lives in Singapore) and see how we go. But then we'd have the problem of finding an experienced GM and willing players, and I'm not sure how popular this is in Singapore.

Another idea I've come up with is Hive - the tiles are embossed so he can touch as needed, the board is relatively small so he can touch it to see where things are, and you could use little fuzzy stickers on the surface of the tiles to help him tell the difference between white or black. This is all contingent on his patience and willingness to play, of course.

A third idea is that he uses a screen-reader (i.e., a program that reads the words off a screen to him) and he also has excellent muscle memory and can touch-type. So maybe a MUD or other text-based game could be fun, but most of them are largely solo-play afaik.

Outside these ideas and possibly something like chess (which his siblings and friends won't play because it's boring, apparently), are there any other games of any kind out there that people have played that may suit the vision-impaired? Both solo and for a group? Or any way he can access, say, a DnD group online that's vision-impaired friendly?

Thanks guys.

DarkPrimus

I know there is a "large print" version of Scrabble where the board and all the tiles are much larger. I'll have to look at some other board games but I know of that one off the top of my head because I'm a big Scrabble nerd.

Creagan

I used to know some guys who could play chess verbally with each other. (Queen to A5 and whatnot.) There are also some computer games that are entirely text based. (You wake up in your bedroom, what do you do?)

Sorry, I wish I could be more helpful.

Atheraal

might be more toy than game, but you could make a textured rubik's cube for him

Inquisitor

Pen and Paper games with less of a focus on grid based combat would be a great choice. For example when I play Call of Cthulhu we print out a little map of a house, but that is just for easy reference for the players. Everything else is in the imaginations of everyone involved. The DM or another player could do the dice rolling or just read the results of the dice for him.

Here are some lists people compiled on Board Game Geek for games for blind and or visually impaired people, maybe they can give you some ideas:

http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/158411/games-for-sighted-people-to-play-with-blind-people

http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/41927/games-for-the-blind

http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/9538/games-for-the-visually-impaired

http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/1860/games-for-the-blind-or-non-sighted-need-suggestion

Creagan

Battle ship! My mom's version from the 60's had a ridged grid with raised numbers and letters, the ships were solid pieces of plastic, and you could probably modify the pegs so the red ones feel different from the white ones with some sandpaper or something. (Like make the red ones pointy.) I don't know if they still make the game like that, but it might be worth a shot.

UncleChet

If your cousin enjoys rpgs, I recommend d20pro software. Using a voip software such as Skype, the dm and other players can translate visual cues to non visual. You can play remotely via Internet and it supports 3 game systems built in. Story based games may be the way to go. The software will do dice role as well as a count for positioning.

Tofystedeth

Inquisitor wrote: »

Pen and Paper games with less of a focus on grid based combat would be a great choice. For example when I play Call of Cthulhu we print out a little map of a house, but that is just for easy reference for the players. Everything else is in the imaginations of everyone involved. The DM or another player could do the dice rolling or just read the results of the dice for him.

Mage would be pretty great for this. Combat is not very dependant on position, more imagination. But you need a really good StoryTeller to run the game.

bsjezz

muds are actually a good idea. when i used to be into it... back in the day... i remember quite a few high-level users who were blind and used screen readers. they're actually very social, and though i have no idea what the quality of the games or the communities are these days it's a great escape and provides a lot of the elements of progress and skill that any fully-visual game would.

i can only vouch for discworld; it still seems to be active and it was a hell of a beautifully realized world. it's worth a look.

Vixx

you guys are all awesome, thank you so much for those suggestions! I'll be informing him ASAP to try some of these out

surfpossum

A game that could work with a bit of modification would be The Resistance. You'd need cards that have a tactile element so you can tell what card you have and what vote you're casting, but the rest of the game is just discussion. I don't know if the later editions or Avalon could be modified, but the base game definitely seems workable.

Also, this seems like a slightly different genre, but perhaps rhythm games might also work? Something like Rock Band or DDR where there are a few distinct areas that light up and can be timed by sound.

DarkPrimus

Avalon's more complex roles have some powers to them that might not be readable by someone with poor eyesight, but the basic game, whether you're good (blue) or evil (red) and which card is pass/fail, etc. should be easily interpretable as they're very distinct from each other.

JaysonFour

If someone's willing to read him the text and act like a psuedo-GM, I'd take him over to Project Aon and run him through the Lone Wolf books. Those things are pretty much single-player D&D adventures, and there's what, 27 of them plus the four Grey Star books up there right now? Not to mention they're good in a long or short session- all you have to do is keep a note as to where you left off and what your stats were, and you can play a few books or a few pages at a time.

Add plenty of detail if you can, because visualization is going to be key, especially in his case. But if he's never played, he'll be in for a treat.

Niceguy Myeye

Cash and Guns:

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/19237/cash-n-guns

You have foam guns and 8 cards that denote if the chamber of your gun is loaded. He doesn't need to actually read the cards provided he doesn't cheat and keeps track of which ones he's used already.

Someone puts a pot of money on the table and says how much is there.

You pick the card to choose if your gun is loaded or not and at the count of 3 everyone points a gun at someone.

Then, players choose if they're in or if they're out without knowing if anyone's chamber is loaded other than their own.

Once everyone decides who's in or out, people reveal what cards they played for their chamber being loaded or not and anyone left at the table who hasn't been shot splits the pot.

Whoever has the most money after 8 turns wins.

I'm also thinking about games that have a lot of auction mechanics where everything is public knowledge like Ra http://boardgamegeek.com/image/97551/ra

see317

Maybe Quarto?
It plays similar to Tic tac toe, only instead of getting a line of three X's or O's, you need a line (or square group in some versions) of 4 pieces that share a property between them.
The game has 16 pieces, each with 4 properties, Tall/Short, Round/Square, Hollow/Solid, Light/Dark. Game play has you pick a piece for the other player to place on the board to attempt to get a line.
If he has the ability to distinguish the light/dark pieces, the other properties are tactile enough that vision isn't required. If he doesn't, then maybe run some sandpaper over the light pieces to give them a different texture.

azith28

I just read a recent news article that might interest him. I'd go looking for the video but im at work, and cant access such wonders. It was a totally blind man who was the best card shark you ever saw. he could one-handed shuffle cards, identify and pick cards from a deck based on the feel and thickness of the card. I think it was posted to a gawker site if it helps.

dogwoodfire

Hello, I know this is a pretty old thread, but just wanted to weigh in with some advice/help/whatnot.

I recently started volunteering with a group of Visually Impaired (VI) gamers who specialize in tabletop gaming. I know that they do some pen and paper games (Call of Cthulhu, etc) but I usually just help out with the more traditional dice-and-card games.

So, which games do they play? Well, in short, all of them. Most games need a little bit of adaptation, but in general you can play pretty much any game. Most of the time you would just get another player to help out by reading cards, giving an idea of where everything is on the board, and reading dice rolls. For turn based games (Last Night on Earth, Manhattan Project, etc), you would tell the VI gamer where they are, what pieces, weapons, action cards, and what's available on the board, and this can be done just on their turn, as long as all other players call out exactly what they're doing as the game goes along.

For more intensive games, or ones that use primarily cards, it's a good idea to have someone who's there just to help out the VI player/players. For Dominion, etc, you would tell the player what they had in their hand, what was available on the table, etc. and what everyone else is up to.

It takes work to make sure all VI gamers are able to participate, but whether it's just through small adaptations of the rules (secret ballots are public, intentions are made out loud), or by having someone there as a helper, there's no end to what your cousin can play.

A good idea might be to ask at your local gaming shop, or if there's any communal places where people play games, and ask if there's any groups with existing VI gamers who can show your cousin the ropes.

Please let me know if you want any more advice for specific games, or if anyone has any questions!

Vixx

Hey that's a really super helpful top! Thank you! I will go to a couple of our local gaming shop and have a chat. The problem is he lives in Singapore and I'm not sure what the tabletop culture is like there

Cheers matey!