The residents at the ALF where my Mother resides loves to play hangman/Wheel of Fortune. Right now, the activities director uses a dry erase board and marker, but it's difficult for the people in the back to see the printing, and people with visual impairment really can't see it. Has anyone come across--or developed--this type of game with bold or large print? If not, do you have any ideas how the game might be made more visible for the residents?
This will date me, but do you remember the old fashioned felt boards? I wonder if something like that could be made with blanks that could be adjusted and then "block style" letters? Woudl that work? Any better ideas out there?
Why?
Because way back when the Commodore 64 was at the height of its popularity (12+ millions sold) I thought I would design the first Wheel of Fortune game for computers. I submitted it to Merv Griffin Enterprises and the eagerly awaited response was that IF they decided to enter this area, it would be with MAJOR FIRMS. So basically, "Cease and Desist, Dumbo". Well, major disappointment, but it inspired me to realize that WOF is essentially just a slightly jazzed up game of Hangman, and who is to say that they truly have the best possible design?
Well, it took about 5 or 6 years to produce "Hangman's Hazard", which is vastly superior, and - according to a Canadian reviewer - "The one that tops all the others!" Unfortunately, by dragging out the development so long with my fanatically perfectionist standards, by the time I was ready to release the game, the C64 computer was dead, dead, DEAD.
So I only sold a very small number of copies. But I did get a review in "Run" magazine in their penultimate issue with a grade of "B-". Not the greatest grade, but the guy obviously never tried playing it in a group and in fact, that Canadian reviewer wrote me personally to discuss what a jerk the "Run" reviewer was. Regardless of that, a "B-" grade when competing against the "major firms" like Broderbund, Electronic Arts, etc was nothing to complain about.
Besides, all of my customers - people who actually played the game - loved it. I received an unsolicited letter from a teacher in San Jose who stated that his class divides into 2 groups to play, and "They never get tired of it". He wanted to know if my "company" had any other fun educational games besides "HH". As if, since producing that game took everything I had.
Anyway, one of the 4 major bullets on the back of my packaging states, "Oversize graphics allow across-the-room play". I would bet that if you could see every computer game in existence in - brace yourself - 1990 or so, "HH" was the absolute best for living room play. That's because I stressed every possible neuron to find a way to optimize each visual element in terms of being "viewable from a distance". Worked beautifully, and as example, during the development period I would test it in the corner of a bar in a hotel where I worked, and I'll never forget how this guy sitting at the bar shouted out "The Sheriff of Nottingham!" from 20 feet away.
Bottom line to all this is that "Hangman's Hazard" was a colossal flop financially, but clearly a success artistically. It really is the best hangman-based game on the planet. But because I did not have the skills to convert it to run on an Apple or PC platform, it simply withered away into obscurity. However, I did see an eBay sale a few years back where the seller described it as one of his all-time favorites. AND, it is listed on a website that features "Games that never were". (sob)
Finally, my 18 years of taking care of my grandmother ended late last November, and I am now in a position to rebound in many ways, including maybe using a "Resurrect Spell" on my ill-fated baby. The idea of using my talents and creativity to bring some fun to the visually, cognitively, and reaction-time impaired elderly has great appeal to me. Especially since all of the conceptual elements already exist. I would love to work with some test groups and fine-tune a special PC-based elderly edition.
But it would take a few months to pull off.
but why don't they just have more and smaller groups?