Two rounds of four-day workshops. 56 teenagers signed up, 47 finished — mostly grades 9 to 12. We wrote a detailed plan in advance, and almost none of it survived contact with the room. That turned out to be the finding, not the failure.
Round one · 17–20 September
Round two · 23–26 September
Objective
Identify the gamer persona of Ethiopian adolescents, and define what "fun" actually means to them.
Objective
Connect games to nutrition, culture and behaviour — without losing the previous day's energy.
Objective
Fuse game design principles and nutrition knowledge into something playable by the end of the day.
Objective
Synthesise the strongest mechanics into a minimum viable product, and validate it through playtesting.
In their words
Collected in the closing reflection circles. The most common theme was not nutrition — it was the difference between this and school.
It wasn't education, it was a game.Final reflection circle
Class is not understandable, but I understood it here.On learning without a lecture
I wasn't going to come; I was going to play football.On nearly not showing up
I discovered myself.On the rapid prototyping sprints
I didn't know myself — that I could draw.After Crazy 8s
I can create.Day 4
Stress makes you creative.On working against the timer
I used to drink soft drinks.Stated in the past tense, unprompted
Game + food = combined.On the link between mechanic and message