Gadget Match is a card game about creatively using all sorts of technology to overcome challenges in later life.
Players choose a technology (from iPads to jar openers) to address a challenge card. Drawing on research, the game helps people think about how they can use gadgets to make everyday life easier - and it’s fun to play!
GadgetMatch is designed to help:
Bring people together to think creatively about strategy and solutions around technology
Support interaction and ways to engage with local community stakeholders
Let people see what is out there in terms of technology and gadget support
Personalise wider challenges, especially how technology and gadgets may have a place in supporting their everyday activities.
GadgetMatch can be played in lots of different ways:
1 to 1 conversations to explore what is out there
Small groups
Larger groups where the facilitators can read out challenges and go around the room to ask for best tech support options
Staff training
The Technology Cards are designed to spark dialogue, helping users understand how different gadgets can address specific needs. They encourage exploration and idea-sharing.
The Technology
People often do not know what is out there to help them in terms of technology and gadgets. Simply put, we don’t know what we don’t know. The serious game presents a co-produced list of technology and gadgets that have been shown to successfully help and support day-to-day activities, improving feelings of independence, social connection, health and wellbeing.
The technology in the cards are high-level representations of the technology you can use – it doesn’t have to be a specific device. The idea is to introduce ideas around technology.
The idea of the technology cards is to spark conversations, highlight how different gadgets can help with certain solutions (and they are not exclusive). There are blank cards available to add more ideas/pictures.
The Challenge Cards are built from narratives and stories of real people, which grounds the game in real-world experiences.
The Challenges
The Challenge Cards are built from narratives and stories of real people. These narratives ground the game in real-world experiences, reinforcing its value for participants and highlighting how shared stories drive meaningful conversations.
Challenges capture some of the day-to-day activities people often need some support with as they grow older, such as eating, drinking, dealing with doors, staying connected.
GadgetMatch allows a safe and creative space to have conversations around help and support without compromising or questioning people’s confidence, dignity or feelings of independence.
The serious game approach lets people explore challenges in a way that doesn’t target or compromise their feelings of independence.
For example, you are not using the game to approach someone to say ‘you need help’ (which can have a defensive outcome) but instead ‘this person found this challenging, and these things helped them’ can lead to more successful engagement that supports ownership and co-production of outcomes.