The Braille Bistro 

The Braille Bistro will be featured in an upcoming publication of the Bias Busters book series (over 20,000 copies in circulation) that explores respectful questions to ask to people from marginalized groups and bust down biases!

Timeline: October 2024 to February 2026

My Role: The Braille Bistro is a solo project that began in a class and has since evolved and expanded. It was made possible through great partnerships, so please see a list of partners at the bottom of this page.

How to Play

The Braille Bistro can be played solo or by two people. Imagine this: You enter a restaurant and can't see, and your only way to order is by using the braille menu!

First take the menu, then put on your blindfold and take a braille card. Feel the card for up to a minute, then hide it and remove your blindfold. Write down the dots you believe you felt as a reference, then try to "order" the correct menu item. Two players can alternate turns, competing to make the most correct orders in each of the four rounds (representing the courses of a meal) and at the end of all four rounds.

In multi-player mode, you'll only play two cards per round to ensure there are three options to choose from in case of a tiebreaker. Ties are settled by both players simultaneously trying to make the faster guess.

Bienvenue and bon appétit!

Read the full game rules!

The Research Process

The initial concept and some early feedback-informed changes.

The idea for the game came from a social media post showing a girl being offered a restaurant menu for the first time.

The tweet showed how meaningful accessibility can be, so I asked myself, how can other people make this kind of impact?

After deciding to do a restaurant theme based on the tweet, I originally envisioned designing the game for restaurant owners or managers. But, I received feedback that the game could be enjoyed by a wider audience.

Design Decision: Shift the target audience to anyone who offers spaces, materials, or content that people with disabilities may interact with.

At first I also wasn't sure of the materials I wanted to use. I first thought of players matching cards to cards, then using only a menu (to closer mimic the real-life experience).

Design Decision: Match cards to a menu. This allows for randomization through the cards while still providing the experience that a menu offers.

What I'd Do Differently: When working with a serious topic such as accessibility, try to get a direct perspective early on to address the nuance of disability as well as ways to approach the game experience.

What I'd Do Differently: Consider more rapid designs and testing early on before creating things such as illustrations.

Insight gained following the gameplay experience.

The hypothesis was proven true: all participants (3 of 3) felt more empathy for persons with disabilities after playing and felt there was more their employer could do in terms of accessibility accommodations. Words used to describe the experience included informative and enlightening. All participants were also interested in learning more braille after playing the game.

What needs to be iterated?

All three participants misinterpreted a rule in the writing portion, when they instead wrote down the menu items in Latin script rather than in braille. I adjusted the rule to provide more clarification.

Design Decision: Rewrite the rules as second-person commands rather than third-person descriptions.

• Old Rule: The player removes their blindfold and writes down the braille text they felt.

• Revised Rule: Remove your blindfold and write down, in braille, what you believe you felt.

Additionally, participants felt two graphic illustrations were somewhat difficult to interpret.

Design Desicion: Redesign the menu items to have a more 3D look.

Lastly, one participant noted finger sensitivity/irritation, so I added a warning message to the rules sheet.

Read the full playtesting report, including some great reflections shared by the participants.

I also made changes to the way ties were settled. Previously, there was a designated menu item I printed twice to settle ties. To create replay value, I later printed duplicates of all cards.

Design Decision: Only print one copy of each card, and settle ties with players using different menu items. This saves money!

The game also initially required a moderator to handle cards between turns, which meant one person couldn't play on their own.

Design Decision: Let players flip over cards while blindfolded so they can play on their own.

I tried these new rules out when my colleagues at TechSmith and the students writing the Bias Busters book played the game, and they worked out really well!

Also, after the Braille Bistro won the Serious Play Conference silver medal, the judges provided some feedback. Based on this, I want to ensure that the game doesn't come across as an experience of humiliation but rather that players feel they can reflect without feeling frustrated by the difficulty of reading braille.

What I'd Do Differently: Let players interpret the written rules instead of explaining them myself.

Additional Player Experience (PX) Enhancements

Improving the experience through visual cues.

I identified a few changes and enhancements to the cards to provide a better experience.

Design Decision: Change the card size and orientation from 2.5 by 3.5 inches to 5.5 by 3.5 to accommodate the longest menu item (mozzarella sticks) on one line of text.

Design Decision: Assign each deck a color and shape on the back of the card to provide visual distinction. I also added these to the menu.

What I'd Do Differently: Look into custom printed braille cards for a more professional look and feel.

Seeing the Game's Impact

Aside from the cards, it's important to think about how to create the experience I intended. To do this, I created a Level Up Sheet that allows players to reflect on the game's hypothesis on their own, access additional accessibility resources, and learn about the alternative game modes.

What I'd Do Differently: Start informal tests like this earlier.

The Result and the Future

What's in store for the Braille Bistro? Aside from being published in the Bias Busters book, I'd like to do...

More playtesting!

I'd like more feedback on a few key areas:

• Allow natural interpretation of the rules rather than providing additional explanation (unless asked).

• Rephrase a few questions to allow for a more open-ended responses.

• Test the alternative formats introduced since previous testing.

• Focus on the long-term impacts the game can have.

Iterations (if time allows)!

Something I've observed in informal play sessions is that people want to use the game itself to learn braille. If I take the game in that direction, here are a few considerations:

• Emphasize the writing portion, which many players currently skip.

• Revamp the menu so that the number of letters isn't a context clue and so that all braille letters and contractions are included.

• Create expansion decks (i.e. a Japanese restaurant, an Italian restaurant, etc.) to provider better replay value.

My Role

Although the Braille Bistro was created as a solo project, I'd like to thank the following people for their help and feedback:

• Tesia Freer and Kristin Campbell from the MSU RCPD.

• Professor Amanda Cote.

• My "Theories of Games and Interaction Design" classmates.

• The three formal playtesting participants.

• The additional people who provided feedback after playing the Braille Bistro at the GameDev Showcase.

• My colleagues at TechSmith for their feedback after playing the game.

• My friends who also provided feedback after playing.

• Joe Grimm and his students for allowing collaboration in the Bias Busters publication.

• June Asselin for sewing the blindfolds.