The summer break for kids has come to an end. We started the new academic year under very different circumstances. There were no new bags or lunch bags put out.  There weren’t new clothes or shoes laid out. There was no excitement of meeting old friends or making new. It felt like a rain dampened camping experience or a snow spoilt campfire. 

In spite of canceled travel plans, not meeting up with cousins, grandparents, old friends and relatives, I would say, we all pulled ourselves through it. All of that was replaced by some lazy summer days at home, TV shows, video calls, hikes on trails in and around, baking, and some family activities. 

We are all left with memories of a different kind of a summer aren’t we! In our case, we are also left with a Board Game we made at home. This summer, we decided to design a board game. We were tired of playing with the same set of board games and we did not want to keep ordering newer ones from Amazon. 

The entire process of planning and execution was fun. Deciding the concept, the flow of events, the hurdles, and finally the process of winning. After a lot of deliberations, we decided to keep the theme very current and appropriate to the situation we are in. 

We called our board game – ESCAPE. The aim of every player here is to escape the pandemic. How appropriate, isn’t it! 

Now, how do you escape it? We came up with three different ways to escape:

1. Covid vaccine is discovered and you get a covid shot. – Hope we are getting closer to it with each passing day. 
2. The pandemic vanishes – The ideal situation.
3. You collect 4 immunity cards – Not the ideal situation, but better than being there and living in fear. 

Every board game has a board with the start and the end tiles. 

Players start by rolling their dice and moving on the board, one tile at a time. – Just like our life, eh! 

Tiles have been randomly marked with actions to be taken. – Each day is different! 

If you land on a tile that asks you to pick a vaccine card, pick one from the deck of Vaccine-Cards. – Hoping that luck favors you and you get to pick a Covid vaccine card. 

If you land on a tile which asks you to quarantine, get into the quarantine zone. You get out of there only when you can spin the arrow of the spinning wheel into the get-out-of-quarantine section. 

If you land on a tile which asks you to pick a card, you pick a card from the Pick-A-Card deck of cards and hope you pick an immunity card and make a collection of 4 of these cards so you can escape. – Improving your immunity is crucial, covid or no covid ! 

You may have to quarantine if you pick a card that says Fever or Breathlessness. 

Symptoms like sneeze, throat pain etc will result in you skipping a turn. – It is important to take it easy sometimes and some rest always helps! 

If you finish one full round of the life in the pandemic, and you have not escaped it, you start all over again. – All of us hope this gets done in one round, don’t we! 

Each player starts with 500 points in hand and points get added or deducted during the game. You sometimes donate to the covid relief fund, or get govt aid of a certain number of points. You are faced with a pay cut at times. The players face all these hurdles and keep hoping that with each throw of dice, he/ she is getting closer to the ESCAPE tile. 

It was a good learning experience, the whole board game thing. 

Once we decided the concept and the rules, we ordered a board game kit from amazon. Then, we got into the work of design and execution. It was a fun time with colors and stencils and brushes.

The board game kit come with
A blank board
Box
Blank cards
Blank spinner
Dice
Multi color player tokens
You get all you want to design a brand new board game..

When we had the final product in hand, we couldn’t wait to play the game. Some of us were lucky to get a covid shot and some landed on the pandemic disappeared tile with ease. We all rejoiced when one by one, we escaped the pandemic. 

Since kids are back to the school mode, we will probably play very less of this game. But each time we open it, we will have wonderful memories of how this whole thing shaped up. 

And, when we all escape it, in the real world, we will call this game,  a retro game. A game of a time that existed long ago. 

Can’t wait to escape! Can’t wait to pick up that covid vaccine card or end up on that pandemic disappeared tile! 

We will all Escape…. 

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