Home / Board Game Therapy™ / Game-to-Goal
What does the mechanic ask people to do?
Game-to-Goal is selection logic. The same game can be useful, neutral, or harmful depending on goal, group, timing, and facilitation.
Mechanics only in context
Mechanics are interventions only in context. Do not choose a popular game and invent the goal afterward. Ask what the mechanic asks people to do, then match goal, group readiness, and facilitator scope.
Examples (not a shop catalog)
- Cooperative crisis → distribute leadership and prioritize under pressure
- Negotiation / trading → ask, bargain, tolerate refusal, define fairness
- Limited communication → handle ambiguity and repair misunderstanding
- Interpretive imagery → perspective-taking and partial disclosure
Also named in method notes (use carefully, not as a product list): role selection; hidden information; push-your-luck; social deduction (high relational demand; not suitable for every group).
Social deduction and high-betrayal mechanics are high relational demand and not suitable for every group. Do not engineer humiliation to create a lesson.
Field guide
A more detailed Game-to-Goal field guide is in development.
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