Main BLCS project image. The image shows a small square game board made of cardboard and paper, with colorful blocks and pawns placed on top of it. A hand in the background moves a blue pawn atop a blue block on the board, while another hand reaches from the right side of the image towards the center blocks.

B.L.C.S. (Blocks, Ladders, Canons, & Snakes)

Project Type:

Boardgame Prototype

Date:

2025

Assignment instructions: Using materials brought from home (or provided by the teacher), prototype a short and playable game based on the existing "Snakes and Ladders" classic.

The nature of this assignment was the biggest challenge facing my team: we had until the end of the class period (around 3 hours) to come up with and prototype an interesting experience inspired by a simple, chance-based game. To start, we let ourselves brainstorm aloud, bouncing ideas off each other and considering our available materials. Knowing time was of the essence, we quickly split into two teams to flesh out and test our main ideas. We spent the majority of our time trying out mechanics, figuring out what materials matched our needs, and testing our ideas amongst ourselves and fellow classmates. We ultimately settled on the simpler of our ideas, because we found that a clear and direct ruleset best fit the experience we intended for the project. And thus, BLCS was born.

B.E.C.S (translated BLCS in English because E = echelle = ladders)

OBJECTIVE: be the last surviving pirate of the ocean
The starting player is the person who can do the best snake imitation (turns then go clockwise).

CARDS: apart from the card they draw at the end of their turn, players can play as many cards as they wish during their time
B = Block cards; move any block to any space
E = Ladder cards; move your character to any space within a 3-block range
C = Canon cards; remove a block of your choice from the board
S = Snake cards; push a row or column 1 space into the ocean

COURSE OF A ROUND:
1 - the player moves on their isle (cannot move through another player)
2 - the player rearanges up to 3 blocks of their isle to an empty space bordering their isle
3 - player draws a card

DEATH: a player 'dies' when they are isolate, without any blocks to move onto
--> 'dead' players still have a turn where they can remove a block from the board to influence future rounds

BOARD LAYOUT:
[ ] blocks island = blocks connected to each other (excludes diagonals)
o players
/// ocean (empty)

On the right half of the image is the BLCS rule sheet, with two stacks of cards underneath. On the left half of the image is the game board with colorful blocks strewn about and three colorful pawns, as well as a blue pawn set under the board.

My role as a game designer on this project was varied for the short but intense stretch of this project. It consisted of lots of brainstorming with my team in the early stages, followed by more in depth discussions during testing and decision-making. I made quick game pieces out of available materials to playtest our ideas, got feedback from other teams to challenge said ideas and have the most efficient project possible. I ultimately wrote down the BLCS rules into a concise and comprehensive one-page format.