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Abstract
This paper uses a board game to construct “the looks of Hakka” to allow people to understand the formation process of Hakka communities (after crossing the Strait to Taiwan) and to identify the characteristics of Hakka people in various aspects through the game.
The design of the board game is based on Hakka-related history, culture, and life aspects, such as the process of crossing the Strait, the society back then, religious beliefs, political changes, and everyday life. The board game aims to portray Hakka culture and interpret the formation of Hakka communities so that Hakka people can learn easily about their own culture whereas non-Hakka people can also learn something about Hakka culture through the game. Gamers can use “Description Cards” to deepen their understanding on relevant cultural contents, and find out “Hakka Change” factors from issues such as regime changes, global trade, ethnic issues, and identity issues. The board game is played through “rolling the dice and controlling the region”. The author adopts the gaming logic of Lizard’s Adventure (Utility Model Patent M516770 acquired) to create this Hakka Board Game and to build Hakka contents. After tested, it is found that people generally like to learn through playing games. Nevertheless, in order to achieve learning outcomes, a variety of items are required to be thought out such as the design of gaming mechanisms. The test results showed that Hakka students are proud of their Hakka ancestry and yet Minnanese students are more motivated in learning Hakka culture. Students are more able to understand things that can be seen in their everyday life such as the four stewed and four stir-fried dishes (traditional Hakka dishes), differences between Wu and Cuo (terms for house), indigo dyeing (decorations of the testing site are all indigo-dyed objects), and Hakka open-mouthed lion, but are less able to comprehend historical issues.
Keywords: board game, Hakka board game, board gamer, Lizard’s Adventure, Indigo House
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