For my Stanford d.school senior capstone project, I spent 6 months working with my team towards our common goal of re-discovering the joy of play in adulthood and harnessing it to build social connection. This is what we created:
PlayDate
Making friends is hard.
Last year, 50% of people in their 20s reported having zero close friends.
That’s why we created PlayDate:
your new favorite two-player game to build social connection.
Creating PlayDate
To begin our quest of rediscovering play in adulthood, we conducted a series of interviews with the world’s leading experts on play: preschoolers! During these interviews, we uncovered a crucial insight from which PlayDate was born: the joy of breaking something you’ve built, for fun.
We had experienced a similar feeling while playing Jenga, when the tower falls and crashes to the ground. Play often involves creating things without any attachment or expectation of permanence — just for the fun of it (as well as the fun of watching it topple over).
Play experts Henry and Michael breaking their creation (for fun)
Based on this insight, we designed our game around stacking blocks (that ultimately, inevitably crash and fall).
We made 5 prototypes to develop PlayDate, testing each prototype on 5 groups of recent grads. Using what we learned from each round of game testing, we refined our challenge cards and rules of play.
We used psychological research on synesthesia to design our block shapes and match them intentionally to corresponding prompt themes for the challenge cards: wholesome, intimate, imaginative, active, spicy, silly, and connective.
Next, we conducted many in-depth interviews with people from our target user group (recent grads relocating to new cities and seeking new friends) to get a better understanding of their needs.
We learned that recent grads need to casually deepen distant connections, and one way they like to do so is through structured activities (to help calm their social anxiety in one on one settings).
To address this need, we designed PlayDate: a two-player game, combining block stacking to keep players’ hands engaged (to relieve anxiety in one-on-one settings), with challenge cards to encourage bonding through silly physical tasks & questions that spark deeper conversation. We also made sure that:
Each challenge card has two questions so that players can adapt the game to their level of vulnerability by choosing between two different emotional themes/challenge types.
Some cards ask players to pose their own questions to their playmate to encourage organic connection and enable many rounds of play (without conversations becoming repetitive).
We spent months defining our brand aesthetic, designing the packaging, and physically manufacturing the game pieces by hand. We used hand-dyed resin for our blocks because it’s beautiful, and our testing found that it was the best weight for stacking.
What’s in the box?
1 pamphlet with gameplay instructions
80 dual themed & color-coded challenge cards
30 blocks (resin printed and hand dyed)
+ a sticker and QR code to our website
How to play:
On your turn, draw a card. Each has two color-coded prompts, corresponding to our themes: wholesome, imaginative, intimate, spicy, silly, and connective.
Pick the prompt that calls to you. Answer the question or complete the challenge, then stack a block that matches the color of the challenge or question you just completed.
Take turns drawing, playing, and stacking until someone completes their stack to win!
Key Design Challenge:
After making all the pieces, cards, and packaging, it looked messy, all thrown together in the box! We realized that we needed a system to organize everything nicely in the box, so I designed and manufactured a PLA insert.
Having sketched the game pieces by hand in CAD, I started with that CAD file, sketched a box the dimensions of the Playdate box around the pieces and carefully arranged them, spaced out in a natural stack form, to match our brand aesthetics. I added a rectangle for the card stack, and then extruded all my sketches to form a box with holes for the pieces + cards.
I 3D printed this prototype to test the fit in the box and the sizing for each of the holes (for pieces + cards). I made the full insert dimensions slightly smaller than the game box, and the insert holes slightly larger than the pieces + cards for an easier fit (& easier removal).
Insert prototype CAD in Fusion360
Testing the insert prototype on Playdate
Insert prototype, 3D printed
After testing quite a few smaller prototypes for each hole that wasn’t fitting its piece perfectly, I finally had a design that allowed pieces and cards slide in and out easily.
For the next round of prototyping, I added finger slots between each hole, to allow easy removal of the pieces. I also rounded the base of the finger slots for comfort and made them slightly deeper than the holes, for better scoopability.
Sketch to determine finger slot placement
CAD outline of insert with finger slots
CAD screenshot of rounded finger slots
We discovered during testing that having two finger slots adjacent to each piece makes them much easier to grip and remove, so I doubled the number of finger slots in our final version. I also filleted each edge in CAD to avoid scratching the pieces or players’ fingers with sharp edges. Finally, I hollowed out the whole thing to make it lighter weight and avoid wasting PLA.
Final insert features:
2 finger slots adjacent to each piece for easier access, rounded at the bottom & deeper than pieces for easier scooping
All edges filleted to avoid scratching pieces with sharp edges
Space between insert and lid so pieces can be thrown in, rather than carefully placed, when players are in a hurry
Hollowed out for lighter weight & to avoid wasting PLA
The future of PlayDate
So far, we’ve made 7 copies of PlayDate.
We designed and hosted a picnic where we invited new grads to come play PlayDate. We had lots of fun, and people loved PlayDate!
We also built a website to market our game. Click the button below to check it out:
Our marketing efforts have been a huge success, and hundreds of people have signed up to eventually order PlayDate.
We are in the process of obtaining copyrights and trademarks for PlayDate, in the hopes of finding someone to manufacture, license, or buy it. More updates to come.
