ABSTRACT

How to create a game about architecture that challenges, teaches, and is fun to play for a broad international audience? This was our mission when we redeveloped ‘The Modern Architecture Game’ in 2011. This is a Trivial Pursuit-like game centered on architectural history. ‘The Modern Architecture Game’ is the revised version of the game that was developed in 1999 under the name ‘Het Architectuurspel van de 20e Eeuw (The Architecture Game of the 20th Century)’. The original game was conceived as part of our studies at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at the Delft University of Technology. Three main shortcomings in the original 1999 version of the game prompted us to revisit it. First, the game was only in Dutch; second, it was mainly focused on Dutch architecture; and third, players experienced the game as too difficult. After a careful analysis of the original game with a research team with members from the Delft University of Technology, the Faculty of Architecture; the VU University, Faculty of Arts, and NEXT architects’ design team, we took the challenge to rework and improve the original game. The current chapter exposes the process of reworking ‘The Modern Architecture Game’. It proved to be an educational experience not only for the players of the game but also for us. For the future of the game, we propose to continue the balancing act between general and local/specific knowledge through the possibility of adding expansion sets that focus on a particular aspect or geography of architectural history.