Questioning the Board in Computer Science Education Board Games

In the space between the well documented shortage of access to computer science educational (CSed) opportunities, especially those that broaden participation, and the increasing consensus that computer science knowledge is a fundamental modern literacy lie an eclectic collection of non-traditional and informal CSed projects. An increasingly popular form of interest-based CSed product are board games, which are often justified as interventions due to their 'unplugged' nature and their supposedly natural appeal to diverse audiences of children. Through an exploration of the popular and academic discourses around the CSed board game genre, we found over 30 games which specifically aim to teach core CS content, often with a wide variety of rationales for utilizing a board game format. This poster will display the results of our preliminary work investigating how designers position cardboard as the exciting new alternative for teaching computer science education. Our examination of game makers' documentation and related research suggests that further work is required to determine how well the board game medium serves the various justifications presented by the game makers in our sample.