Fun First, Then Learning: Lessons from Designing an Educational Board Game

By Dr. Brinley Kantorski

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic I decided to create an educational board game about vaccines. If you’re curious about the full story behind the creation of the game, which came to be known as N.O.V.E.L.—Newly Observed Variant of Extreme Lethality, you can check out my recently published case study here. 

That article dives deep into the process from expert interviews to classroom playtests to design constraints and production hurdles. But for this blog post, I want to zoom out. Instead of walking you through the development of N.O.V.E.L. step-by-step, I’d like to share a few lessons that have stayed with me — things I hope other educators, designers, and facilitators might find useful in their own work.

Collaborate Early and Deeply

No one designs in a vacuum — especially when the goal is to teach something as complex and socially loaded as vaccine science. One of the first and most important things we did was bring in content experts. We didn’t wait until we had a draft to get feedback; we involved them at the very beginning.

Before even brainstorming a mechanic or sketching a prototype, we immersed ourselves in the science — reading literature, identifying gaps in public understanding, and compiling questions. Then we brought those questions to our experts. Their input didn’t just fact-check our ideas; it shaped the foundation of the game. And trust me, science experts LOVE sharing the intricacies of their work with anyone who is willing to listen.

If you’re designing a serious game — whether it’s about health, climate, history, or anything else — build it on a base of real, trusted expertise. And don’t be afraid to ask “obvious” questions. Sometimes those lead to the most clarifying design breakthroughs.

Design for the Realities of the Classroom

Teachers have enough on their plates — don’t give them tools they can’t use.

That became one of our unofficial mantras. We wanted N.O.V.E.L. to be used in real classrooms, not just admired as a cool idea. That meant designing for real-world constraints: limited class time, varied group sizes, tight budgets, and packed curricula.

So we built the game in modular phases, each playable in under 30 minutes. Teachers could run one phase per day, or do the whole game across a week. We included a mini lab notebook to help students track progress, and transitions that reinforced connections between phases.

We also took the time to align the game with existing educational standards. This helps teachers know exactly where in their curriculum the game can fit- no guesswork needed.

Teachers can’t be experts on everything — so help them out. We created a how-to-play video for N.O.V.E.L. so teachers could learn how to play easily, and share the video as a resource with their students to use while playing, too. 

Mirror Real-World Collaboration

In N.O.V.E.L, you don’t play against each other. You play against the disease. No doubt that this scenario is one you may have encountered in titles like Pandemic or Plague, Inc. N.O.V.E.L., however, sets itself apart from these titles by emphasizing the process of developing a cure: a crucial, real world step in combating disease that is often overlooked in other games.

That cooperative structure was a purposeful choice. In N.O.V.E.L., players take on the roles of scientists working together to stop the spread of a new disease. They share resources, negotiate strategies, and make collective decisions under pressure. It’s a crash course in collaboration — and a mirror of how science works in real life.

The design encouraged students to practice soft skills that are essential but often hard to teach: communication, empathy, negotiation, and resilience. And because the stakes were tied to a shared goal — preventing global catastrophe — their collaboration felt urgent and meaningful.

If your game’s subject matter involves real-world cooperation, let your mechanics reflect that. Use gameplay not just to deliver facts, but to model values and positive behaviors.

Fun First, Then Learning

Yes, this is an educational game. But if the game isn’t fun, the learning won’t stick.

We prototyped, playtested, and rebalanced again and again — not just to check content accuracy, but to make sure the game flowed, surprised players, and offered satisfying choices. When we saw students arguing (respectfully!) over how to spend their last time resource cube, or celebrating a narrow win, we knew we were getting somewhere.

Serious games don’t need to be serious all the time. Incorporate the silly, the absurd, and the goofy. Let the fun do some of the pedagogical heavy lifting. Get your players laughing. When students are immersed, invested, and enjoying themselves, they’re more open to learning — and more likely to retain what they learn.

Final Thoughts

Designing N.O.V.E.L. was one of the most complex and rewarding projects I’ve worked on. It was also a reminder that designing for learning is never just about content — it’s about context, constraints, and connection.

If you’re building your own educational game, I hope these lessons spark ideas. Start with real expertise. Design with your audience in mind. Let players collaborate. And above all — don’t be afraid to lead with fun. Because when students are playing with purpose, they’re learning more than you think.

If you’d like to know more about N.O.V.E.L., check out our website. To get your own copy, please send a request to info@ThePartnership in Education.

Brinley Kantorski, Ed.D. is an educational gaming expert with over a decade of experience creating cool, educational multimedia. She specializes in designing tabletop games that are as fun as they are effective. When she’s not playtesting, she’s likely tending to her houseplants, planning her next Halloween costume, or enjoying a square (or three) of dark chocolate.