We have identified many board games that have the potential to effectively gamify the training of Explorers in specific maritime careers. Board games, if well designed, are effective simulations of business and and military tasks. There are also simulators using computer software, but they entail significant IT infrastructure costs as well as frequent update maintenance cycles. To contain costs and focus volunteer labor on training, paper board games are preferred at this time. As we acquire board games based on online user reviews we need to verify their effectiveness in training Explorers. While this can be a lot of fun for volunteers, it also requires us to be methodical and thorough in our evaluations.

Stephen Ressler and Wayne Place have excellent materials for teaching structural engineering. We need to adapt those ideas to create hands on activities for our Explorers.

The plain reality (pun intended) is that professions have heaps of acronyms, jargon and symbols to memorize and understand. Maritime careers are no different. To impart some fun to this learning objective, we will be creating memory card aka Concentration games for each group of knowledge memorization. Both the front and back of the cards will need to be designed. Just the right amount of detail is needed so that the game can function as intended. Too much detail and the game becomes confusing and no longer fun. Too little detail and the game never transfers knowledge to the players. To entice the Explorers to play the game the cards must also be visually appealing and impart a level of excitement. Finished and tested artwork will be subcontracted to a specialty card deck printer. Depending on the results, the card deck games may also be sold by the Explorers as a fundraiser.

There are coloring books for very young kids and there are coloring books designed to calm down adults. We want to make coloring pages for teens to learn about maritime concepts and careers while doing a focused calming task that builds finger dexterity. Suggested maritime subjects for such coloring sheets are bridge instruments, electrical and hydraulic schematics, flowcharts, and port layouts. The level of detail must be appropriate such that the page can be colored easily (actual areas to be colored) but also that there is enough detail to keep the Explorer's mind interested. Text identifying each item in the page will be needed so that learning can take place. In some cases there may need to be a separate or adjacent key to what is being colored. This is a challenging volunteer task that sounds much easier than it actually is. Testing is always important to make sure we get the intended results.

A possible source for interesting and technically detailed coloring pages are blueprints of historic watercraft.

Some games use dice and a grid/network that roughly approximates the environment. The games have different versions for different environments. Something about the game design hints at a more general principle that could be used to create additional port versions or more specialized areas of simulation, such as cargo handling. The deluxe versions of the games have features that users have claimed make the game play better and more interesting. This task would be to help the Explorer adults understand the theory behind the games and find ways to use that technique for better and further instructional purposes. Analysis may extend to the other games we will be testing and we would like to steal any good ideas we can find.