A game in which you try to hack each other or the game. This in a simplified way that at the same time explains something about computers and programming, also playable for young children.
Three possibilities for execution.
- Everyone plays a hacker who tries to break into something
- Everyone tries to jointly hack something/keep someone else out.
- One must lay down a small program beforehand, which is then executed step by step to move pieces or turn things on/off. But in the meantime things may have changed and the program may no longer be correct, etc.
- (Like the fundamental mechanism in Colt Express or RoboRally.)
It is even more fun if this game also explains/covers the fundamentals of programming.
- Variables
- Execution order
- If/else conditions
- Functions (reusing blocks of code?)
- Operations (addition, multiplication, etc.)
- Data structures (how you decide to store data, and how you retrieve it again)
- … algorithms?
IDEA: You can refer to functions, or variables, etc. in other people’s pieces of code (if you are smart)!
IDEA: You never know which cards you get, so you cannot always apply the same (“optimal”) strategy.
IDEA: Everyone lays down computer programs. Every so often (or completely at the end) they are executed manually by simply going through a step-by-step plan.
Robot turtles! I think I can mainly steal the function frog. One can define a certain block of instructions, including a label (“block 1”, “block 2”, etc.) Then one can, with a special function card, and a number, call those blocks whenever one wants.
IDEA: Use real-life examples? So as “scenarios” a few ways in which hacking is done in real life? (Encryption, ddos, brute force, etc.)
This gives me another idea for another game: guessing passwords. (And something with encryption or such.)
IDEA: Maybe someone has to encrypt things themselves (if they choose to), which means the opponents also have to figure out what the used key is.
Alternative titles: “hack me if you can”
Original Dutch title: “Hacker Puh”.