For most of us, holidays involve food, fun, friends, and family. Turkey and dressing with all the fixings, catching up on old times with loved ones we haven't seen in a while, and sitting around a warm fire while the snow falls outside are all part of the excitement that surrounds the holiday season. For many, playing games as a group helps to foster that feeling of togetherness that we all try to capture during this "most wonderful time of the year!" Though for people who are blind being truly able to participate in the game play experience can be a bit of a challenge. Sighted people are willing to help as much as they can, by reading game cards, reading the numbers on the dice the player who is blind has just rolled, and the like, but this presents some real challenges. How do other game players give the blind player the information they require without spoiling game play for everyone else? What about the extra time it takes to read that information out loud? Save for a few well-worn classics such as Monopoly and Scrabble, most board games have, up to now, been mostly inaccessible to the blind.
64 Oz. Games: A Dream Is Born
Richard Gibbs is an avid board game player and collector. When he isn't working as a special education teacher with visually impaired students, he is most likely gaming. Back when he and his wife Emily, also a teacher, were working at the Louisiana Center for the Blind, they became increasingly aware of the lack of board games that were accessible to blind players. They contacted companies who were producing games for blind individuals, and asked if they would consider making more board games accessible. They were told that those companies didn't do custom game designs. When they approached mainstream board game companies, it became apparent that they didn't wish to get into the business of making games accessible to the blind.
The Gibbs' decided that if existing companies wouldn't make board games accessible for blind people, then they would start their own company and do it themselves!
Along with being game enthusiasts, the Gibbs' are also fans of the HBO series Game of Thrones. In Game of Thrones, each house has a symbol or name associated with it. While spending time with friends who were also Game of Thrones fans, the Gibbs' began musing about what the name of their home would be. Noting that Richard was a Diet Coke lover, one of the friends suggested that the name of the Gibbs home should be Big Gulp. Out of that light-hearted banter, the name 64 Oz. Games was born, and that's what the Gibbs decided to name their new company.
The Gibbs' needed funding for their new venture, so they launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money. Their goal was to raise $7,000. They ended up raising over $20,000. Some of the biggest contributors to the Kickstarter project were board game developers themselves. Even though they weren't willing to get into the business of designing games for the blind, they were excited about what the Gibbs' were doing and wanted to contribute. By the end of 2014, Richard and Emily Gibbs were in business, and 64 Oz. Games was a reality.
Some Assembly Required
Every board game is different, and Richard Gibbs has to figure out the best way to approach each game in order to make it accessible to the blind. Gibbs has designed what he calls an accessibility kit for each game. He uses a 3D printer to place braille on dice, adhesive braille labels to be placed on game cards, and sleeves for each card if the blind player does not wish to place the braille label directly on the card itself.
The cost of each accessibility kit is generally no more than the price of the game itself. The gamer first purchases the game and then purchases the accessibility kit for that game from 64 Oz. Games. After receiving the accessibility kit in the mail, gamers who are blind will need to seek sighted assistance to apply the braille labels to each game card. In some cases, QR codes are also used to provide additional information to the gamer that cannot be included in braille. Anyone with a smartphone, a pair of earbuds, and a QR reader app can access this additional information during game play. 64 Oz. Games will assemble accessibility kits for an additional fee, but their website states that it will probably be more economical for purchasers if they have the kits assembled themselves. The company is also looking at the possibility of selling games along with accessibility kits in the future.
It is important when purchasing a game to obtain the latest version. If someone has an older version of, say, Apples to Apples lying around and decides to purchase an accessibility kit from 64 Oz. Games, the game and the kit might not match up properly. For maximum compatibility, the newest version available for each game is recommended. Gibbs works hard to keep up with any version changes for the games offered by the company.
64 Oz. Games Promotes Braille Literacy
Richard and Emily Gibbs are both educators who work with visually impaired children, so it is no surprise that they would find a way to use the tools they have developed with 64 Oz. Games to help children learn braille. Each summer, they work with the National Federation of the Blind's BELL (Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning) program. Texas, where they currently reside, is one of the states that offers this two-week program for children ages 4 through 12 who are not currently receiving enough braille instruction. The Gibbs' have devised fun strategies for children to examine larger-than-normal braille cells, and arrange them into words.
Parents of special needs children who have difficulty understanding braille when touching normal-sized cells have also contacted 64 Oz. Games. It seems that where there is a need, the Gibbs are not afraid to work hard to find a solution.
Community Reaction to 64 Oz. Games
Ironically, Richard and Emily Gibbs have been interviewed by more mainstream board game podcasters since the launch of 64 Oz. Games than by podcasters and bloggers in the blind community. The Gibbs' believe one possible reason for this is that blind people are simply not aware of the numerous board games on the market today. 64 Oz. Games has released over 50 accessibility kits to date for games ranging from Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity to a German game called Bohnanza, where the players grow beans and sell them for gold.
Richard Gibbs, the designer of the accessibility kits sold by 64 Oz. Games, is more than happy to take suggestions from the community for new games to add to the catalog, but there is no way he can possibly build kits for every game in existence. 64 Oz. Games is a labor of love, and requires evenings and weekends apart from his full-time job.
Although Emily is a strong partner in 64 Oz. Games, her passion is not gaming, but rather reading. Check out her blog here.
Conclusion
As you prepare to spend time with those you care about this holiday season, why not visit 64 Oz. Games and purchase some accessibility kits for games that you and yours can play together. The Gibbs' say that once people purchase a product from their site, those people are generally repeat customers. It is evident that Richard and Emily Gibbs have a lot of energy and enthusiasm for what they do, and they have only just gotten started making accessibility kits for games that the blind and sighted can play together. Let's give them our support, shall we?
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