Time to buy a few more copies then?

Hi Keith! I teach a course using board games to teach psychological principles @ualberta.bsky.social

This is an important characteristic of science that we *replicate* the same findings over time and space.

References

Bar-Hillel, Peer & Acquisti (2014) psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-...
Forder & Dyson (2016) pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27658703/
Kubovy & Psotka (1976) psycnet.apa.org/record/1977-...

The third effect reported by YouGov was that when picking a number between 1 to 10, about 40% of folks pick 7. The popularity of 7 was also reported by Kubovy & Psotka back in 1976, perhaps because it is the ‘oddest’ digit….

Second, Rock was preferred 44% of the time. Selecting Rock over Paper or Scissors might also be explained by this ‘primary salience’. In 2016, Forder & Dyson also found people played Rock 35.2% (as opposed to 33.3%) of the time. @exeunt.press But this can’t explain the third finding…

First, Heads was picked over Tails 74% vs 26%. In predicting a first coin toss, Bar-Hillel, Peer & Acquisti in 2014 also report about 80% of folks picking Heads. This is explained in terms of a ‘reachability bias’- more likely to pick the first item in a list. @mease19.bsky.social

What can science tell us about games?

Combining experimental design with game design enables the empirical validation of choices made by commercial games. In Ghost Blitz, the frequency that players experience a task switching cost predicted the reduction in self-reported fun

(3/3) ⛔

What can games tell us about science?

This research shows how the constraint of task switching is hidden in the card game Ghost Blitz. Surface characteristics are important as the game is more fun and performance faster with the commercial stimuli compared to a ‘experiment-like’ format

(2/3) 👇

What can science tell us about games?

Combining experimental design with game design enables the empirical validation of choices made by commercial games. In Ghost Blitz, the frequency that players experience a task switching cost predicted the reduction in self-reported fun.

What can games tell us about science?

This research shows how the constraint of task switching is hidden in the card game Ghost Blitz. Surface characteristics are important as the game is more fun and performance faster with the commercial stimuli compared to a ‘experiment-like’ format

This is super exciting news @fallconyyc.bsky.social! I'm looking forward to playing all the 2025 CGDA Finalist games and meeting all the designers in Prototype Alley.

Time for a Takoyaki teaser?

Loved your puzzle box talk- some very clear examples of how to put a psychology surface on a puzzle structure. It also reminded me to reread the Escape Room review paper by @scottnicholson.bsky.social

scottnicholson.com/pubs/stateof...