OUGD603 Brief 05: Further Research

Further Research:

After our meeting we thought about what we had discussed and decided that it was quite a lot to include in one game and that we may possibly be over-complicating it. Pictionary and charade type games have been over done and there are lot's of variations on the original which make it harder to come up with something new. We decided that looking at card games that we could possibly reinvent and make more relevant would be better so that we didn't over-complicate things.

Kathryn did some further research into the card game 'Cheat' and thought about how that could be developed.

I then found a card game called 'Through the window' which I had never heard of before.

The Object 
Win the most cards.

What You'll Need
A standard deck of playing cards and three or more players.

Setting Up the Game
3 to 13 players sit around a circle facing each other. The dealer shuffles the cards and deals them face down one at a time until each player has 4 cards.

Playing the Game
The dealer begins the game by saying "I looked through the window and saw...", just at that moment they turn up one of their four cards so all players can see it.

Each player including the dealer must try and say an animal, object or place that begins with the same letter as the card shown.  For example if the card is an Ace players might call out apple, aardvark or Arksansas. If the card is a 4 they might say freckles, frog or Florida. 

The first player to call out a correct word takes the card.  The turn now goes to the player to the dealers left. The player follows the dealers lead and says "I looked through the window and saw..." and flips over one of their four cards for all to see.

Each player creates a captured card pile separate from their original dealt cards.

Play continues in the same way with each player taking a turn until all the cards originally dealt have been turned up and captured.

During play no player can use the same word nor can another person use a word that has already been used to capture a card.

Winning the Game

The player who captures the most cards is declared the winner.


The game was quite simple and easy to understand and I think that it has the potential to change and be more engaging. Me and Emma created a mind-map to help us see how we could work on and change the game.

Initial thoughts:
- Penalty cards
- Themes - Movies/Books/Theatre/Music
- Customise deck to prompt words
- Using symbols to confuse starting letter - 'C' for circle
- Word association