‘Dementia’ is a collective name for progressive degenerative brain syndromes that affect one’s memory, thinking ability, behaviour and emotion. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia.

 

The number of people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias increase every year because of the steady growth of the older population. In Singapore, about 5.2% of elderly, age 65 or older, suffer from dementia. In view of this, Singapore’s National Design Centre for Ageing, >60 Design Centre collaborated with Alzheimer’s Disease Association (Singapore) to design a series of card games for active brain stimulation.

 

Playing games help to develop a wide range of skills and abilities that translate into other areas of life. The challenges of games stimulate physical and mental skills. Some forms of play stimulate the senses and emphasize motor abilities. The elderly enjoy probability games such as ‘Three Card Poker’ and ‘Bingo’ in particular, based on our research. The benefits through such game playing, like Bingo, can advance the speed and precision of short-term memory and actually aids in countering some ageing effects. Through games, the elderly maintain memory skills, improves concentration. The group games also serve as a good platform for social interaction. Most importantly, games for elderly must allow the player to have a feeling of success and accomplishment, consequently, increasing their self-esteem.

 

Out of twelve dementia day-care centres in Singapore, the team initiated visits to six. The research team observed and studied the groups, from their daily activities to the games they played.

 

The team observed that people with dementia tends to be less willing to learn new games or tasks. They did not enjoy being treated like children as most of their existing tools such as puzzles and colouring books are meant for children. The game design needed to incorporate a set of progressively challenging games with easy-to follow rules and repetitive game plays that would facilitate the game play process for people at different levels of cognitive ability.

 

The objective was to design an economical and simple game solution that is easily played and comprehended by the players of all ages. In consultation with the resource panel, card games were indentified as the design brief. Card games are portable, economical, and can be played in various ways, whether in groups or individual.

 

The design was inspired by the research studies that hinted at physical, leisure and cognitively stimulating activities having combined effects of reducing the onset of dementia. According to the resource panel’s advice, their dementia patients play with cards frequently and are very familiar with the game play. There is also more versatility as the card games can be played in multiple ways, in numerical order, in family order, in matching order and more for mental and memory exercise.

Although designed for people with dementia in mind, the game must be universal in nature, be it for Alzheimer’s disease patients, elderly in general or even young children developing cognitive skills. The card game is designed to keep players mentally engaged, for them to have fun, while at the same time, improving their overall emotional and mental heath.

A-HAH! MEMORITZ (Left)

MEMORITZ is a set of forty cards consisting of numbers from zero to nine and twenty image pairs of nostalgic objects in sets of four different colours.

A-HAH! FRUITO (Right)

FRUITO is a set of forty cards consisting of ten sets of fruits, each fruit formed by four cards. Each card is colour-coded to differentiate the fruits.

The game can be played with grandparents and grandchildren, amongst family members or be used in care centres as an everyday tool for caregivers. The team went through observation, conceptualization, user testing, and refinement of design ideas and the final prototype and design was endorsed by Alzheimer’s Disease Association (Singapore).