As rich as the Vietnamese cultural history, local board games have been an essential part of family and friend relationship growth during special occasions. We sought to develop a board game with a focus on how clinical research deals with a viral infection to increase understanding between clinical scientists and the public.

In order to maximize engagement from future players, game development included both target audiences: clinical scientists and college students with medical and scientific backgrounds. This inclusion allowed the earlier development phase to input barriers, ideas, and rationales from both parties and integrate them into the core mechanism of the game. The game design emphasis was on simplicity, mass appeal, and fun with the backbone of scientific concepts. With multiple sessions in between, game development had three main phases: core team concept brainstorming, prototype review, and balance control through invitation playthrough with external parties.

As a result, an interactive board game was created to educate the public and university students on clinical research principles and ethical considerations in research. The project was successful, with positive feedback from the 60 participants in the two pilot sessions assessing the game’s impact on their increased knowledge of clinical research principles.