[gui-talk] Uno on Skype, one cool low-tech idea for an accessible online game!

[Doug Lee]

Maybe this amuses and impresses me more than it will others, but I
think it's worth mention...

I have discovered that a number of blind Skype users have taken to
playing Uno in Skype conferences.  The method is very simple:  Each
player uses his or her own Braille deck of Uno cards.  The "table,"
virtual though it is, is organized alphabetically by first name of
player, so it will be clear who follows whom.  Playing always starts
in alphabetical order, so a reverse makes it go in reverse alphabetical
order.  When it's your turn, you play from your deck onto your
discard pile and announce the card.  The next player plays a legal
card to follow yours onto his or her own discard pile, etc.  The
game works just as usual in all other respects, it's just like
having one huge Uno deck divided into several separate draw piles.
Of course, there's absolutely no reason not to play with a mixture
of blind and sighted players either, and the cost is nil plus the
price of a deck of cards.  I'm sure there are other games that could
be made to work like this as well.

We're used to things costing a mint and being a challenge, so this
one just struck me as one of the simplest ways to make an accessible,
international, and totally sight-independent game online.


-- 
Doug Lee                 dgl at dlee.org                http://www.dlee.org
SSB BART Group           doug.lee at ssbbartgroup.com   http://www.ssbbartgroup.com
"It's not easy to be crafty and winsome at the same time, and few accomplish
it after the age of six." --John W. Gardner and Francesca Gardner Reese