Idea
Appropriation, more specifically cultural appropriation, has been a part of my many experiences throughout life. As a Vietnamese Buddhist woman, I’ve seen my ethnicity, race, and religion be appropriated by people thousands of times in person or through media. So, this assignment stood out to me and the idea for my art work came quicker than it would the last project.
The idea I came up with was the cultural appropriation and aestheticization of a religion, more specifically Buddhism. I had initially wanted to make a game about Asians, their fetishization, appropriation, and harmful stereotyping, but upon looking at my jade bracelet and pendant, two pieces of jewelry that is commonly bought simply for their aesthetics, I decided on Buddhism.
Buddhism is a non-theistic religion that teaches us how to reach enlightenment, a state where all desires, hatred, and ignorance is eliminated. It tells us that greed is the source of all suffering and has been passed down to many countries and cultures—India, Vietnam, China, Japan, Cambodia, Bhutan, and more.
However, in America, many people use objects that symbolize this religion and represent its teachings in ways that completely disregard any of its meaning. They use Buddhist objects for their own desires—For their desire to fit in, their desire for money, and their desire for beauty; materialism.
It’s a bit ironic isn’t it? To be quite frank, these people frustrate me. Due to their own willful ignorance and greed, they take symbols that are significant to millions of people and display it on their yard, sell cheap and fake Buddhist objects, or wear it on their body with no awareness of its significance.
So, I decided to make the game off of this; a sarcastic interpretation of the cultural appropriation of Buddhism. The game itself is the appropriation of Buddhism.
Inspiration
When creating this art work, I wasn’t completely sure on how I would implement the ideas and thoughts of Dadaism into my game. Compared to the previous art work, a score was something that already existed and I could simply take inspiration from Grapefruit by Yoko Ono. Of course it wasn’t easy, but at least there was already somewhat of a template for me to know how I should shape the score and its meaning. With Dadaism and this art work however, I needed to take inspiration from the movement to then make a game that was the epitome of Buddhist appropriation.
Nevertheless, I loved the anti-art and chaos that Dadaism exhibited. The movement displayed a defiance from artists and thinkers against societal norms and traditions, rejecting the brutality and political state of the world during World War I. What I was most inspired by Dadaism was the message that they sent. Their deliberate absurdity and satire in their art forms, showing freedom of expression, and developing so many other artistic movements such as my beloved surrealism was admirable and vitalizing. I wanted to make something similar; to mock the cultural appropriation of Buddhism and people’s ignorance.
Multiple art works from Dadaist artists inspired my game as well, most notably Marcel Duchamp. From his art work La Jaconde/L.H.O.O.Q. which mocked the famous painting The Mona Lisa and traditional art, to his structure, Fountain, which uses a urinal that is usually dirty, mundane, and never seen in art work. It’s satire and mocking, but it’s also beautiful and inspirational art. Another art work from a different artist stood out to me called A Victim of Society (Remember Uncle August, the Unhappy Inventor) by George Grosz. The art work was disturbing. It used mundane items, objects that wouldn’t be used in art for its “unaesthetic” properties, from the razor to the spark plug and machine parts. However, it somehow accurately shows a victim suffering from mental turmoil.
A Victim of Society ( Remember Uncle August, the Unhappy Inventor) by George Grosz.
Fountain by Marcel Duchamp
L.H.O.O.Q. or La Joconde by Marcel Duchamp
Furthermore, a game that had been stuck in my head since Celia presented it to me was the controversial table top game made by Brenda Romero in 2009 called Train.
Layout of the controversial table top game by Brenda Romero (2009).
Players are tasked with loading what seems like a train with passengers and at the end of the game, they realize that they were loading passengers on the train towards concentration camps during the Holocaust. Despite its controversy for being too explicit or not accurately representing the experience of Holocaust victims, I felt like the game brought more awareness to the terrifying feeling and guilt of being an “ignorant bystander” and how much power Adolf Hitler had over Germany, to the point that many people did not realize how bad what they were doing was.
Front cover of The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal (1969).
I’m still not educated enough on the topic, but the title of a book I read a few years ago instantly entered my mind, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal. This book discussed whether Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor, should forgive a dying SS soldier for his murders and atrocities on Jewish civilians. It writes about the history, morals, and conflicts of the soldier, but also recognizes the brutality and ignorance of soldiers. Many soldiers and people involved followed Adolf Hitler blindly. They knew something was wrong but wouldn’t do anything about it. They convince themselves that what they were doing were okay, labelling Jewish civilians as monsters. It was brainwash. This still doesn’t make what they did okay, but I believe Trains help bring awareness to that side of the Holocaust as well and the mental conflicts it had on bystanders and soldiers alike. The message and the way Trains conveyed it stood out to me and was a leading factor on how I developed this game.
Combining all these works created my game (and a little inspiration from capitalistic games like Monopoly). It has the satirical qualities of the Dadaism movement such as using karma as a currency, assigning monetary value to Buddhist objects, the upside down Buddha on the cards, and having to decorate a board with those Buddhist objects in order to gain favor and currency. Similar to Train, players are playing as the ignorant people that appropriate Buddhism, sitting uncomfortably as they realize what they’re doing and who they play as.
Playtests
So, the process of this game was long, with multiple iterations and playtests. In the middle of it, I also happened to get COVID so that was great. This game needed a lot of tweaks and feedback so with the amount of playtests I had, I think the game is starting to shape into a more fleshed out game. Here, I will detail a couple important points of each iteration and photos of the playtests.
ITERATION 1
For iteration 1, I did not have any of the cards nor pieces. I used pens and a wheel spinner to replace the die and cards. Evidently, it was a veryy slow process. We had to pass the laptop around, AND it was broken so its fan was so loud. It was a very comedic experience and we didn’t get past round 2 even two hours in. So, by the end of this iteration, I had to:
- Make all physical cards
- Grab an actual die
- Have actual Buddhist objects
In the second playtest of this iteration, here are some more feedback from them:
- The karma values of each object needed tweaks
- The use of the die made the game unnecessarily longer
- Fix the wording for cards to help players understand it better and make it more appropriating
Gameplay of the first playtest with friends.
Some of the important rules and things players should remember.
The pieces of the game, from the cards as a wheel spinner and a die found online, to Buddhist figurines being pens, and the rest being made of paper.
ITERATION 2
In iteration 2, we have the actual pieces but I experimented and used a blank paper instead of actual interior design magazine pages. This brought upon more creativity and more fun when voting but didn’t send the message I wanted to send as much as it should.
Example 1 of Decoration Board
Example 2 of Decoration Board
Example 3 of Decoration Board
View of gameplay
Some notes:
- Change the voting system: The voting system had many, many iterations over the several playtests of Iteration 2. Sometimes, it wasn’t anonymous enough so players would vote according to how the person voted them previously. Or, it was too anonymous and players were just voting however they wanted, giving everyone 0s.
- Make a design board
- Balance the values more
ITERATION 3
In the final iteration, the pieces were completed. I added my pendant and buddha bracelet in as objects as well. There were tweaks to the karma values, what each card did, and the player count. There were other tweaks as well, but I will only show the rules and gameplay to the final iteration. After the final playtest, here are what I’ve noted:
- Use a different form of design board, such as a doll house OR make all the objects 2D. However, if I decide to make them all 2D, then it will take away from the message that I want to send about cultural appropriation of Buddhism.
- Get a frame around the quotes
- Design the game in a way where there’s less calculating? More doing.
Here are the pieces and photos of the final playtest.
Paintings
Figurines
Some event cards
Voting cards
Final Playtest!!
A player looking through her action cards for her turn.
Passing out karma tokens.
A player decorating their design board.
Some of the figurines.
Voting phase after the first round.
Gameplay
So, there were lots of tweaks made to the gameplay, but this is what we ended with! If I want to add this to my portfolio, like I mentioned in the playtests section, I would make dollhouses the decoration board instead of the blank pieces of paper or magazine cut outs of interior design. This was the final iteration of the gameplay rules, pieces, and how to set it up!
GUIDE (3-4 Players)
Win Condition: Get all 23 Buddhist objects OR acquire 100 Karma tokens
Pieces
Karma Tokens: The monetary value in this game. Used to buy an object or win. Acquired through:
- Selling objects
- Owning objects
- Events
- Actions
- Ranking of Design boards
| BUDDHIST OBJECTS | | KARMA TOKEN COST |
| FIGURINES (10) | 3 |
| QUOTES (7) | 7 |
| PAINTINGS (5) | 10 |
| PENDANT (1) | 25 |
Karmaback & Karma Value: The value of karma tokens upon selling objects (Karma Value) and the amount of karma tokens Buddhist connoisseurs get back upon owning objects (Karmaback).
Karmaback: There are specific amounts of karmaback certain owned objects get. After a “Buddhist”’s turn, the total karmaback for all objects owned by the “Buddhist” will be given to the “Buddhist”.
Karma Value: Upon selling object(s), Buddhist connoisseurs get back the karma value of the object(s).
TABLE of VALUES
| BUDDHIST OBJECTS | | KARMABACK & KARMA VALUE |
| FIGURINES (10) | 2 |
| QUOTES (7) | 5 |
| PAINTINGS (5) | 7 |
| PENDANT (1) | 10 |
Die: A singular 6-sided die to decide the order of the turns each round and to break tie breakers with the person landing the highest number winning the tie break.
Action Cards: Each Buddhist connoisseur will always have 3 action cards in their hand. Upon disposing or using an action card(s), grab more action card(s) until the Buddhist connoisseur has 3 in their hand. Used in order to gain an advantage against the other “Buddhists”.
Event Cards: Played after every round. Every “Buddhist” must act on the event card unless it addresses specific “Buddhists”. Discard the event card each time until they run out. Then shuffle all of them in again.
If Event Cards cannot be met by a minority of “Buddhists”, then they must pay a 10 karma token fee. If the fee cannot be met, they are now in debt and must pay off that debt.
If Event Cards cannot be met by a majority or half of the “Buddhists”, then they can pull a different event card and shuffle the other card back in.
Design Board: Indoor and outdoor designs. Place objects on this board in specific, aesthetic ways in order to win other Buddhist connoisseurs favor and get first! Getting first in the rankings will give a “Buddhist” a boost in karma tokens.
Objects: Collect all objects to win. Can be sold, collected, bought, stolen, taken, etc.
Figurines (10)
Quotes (7)
Paintings (5)
Pendant (1)
Voting Cards: Point cards for Design Board. “Buddhists” will have numbers 1-3 with 3 being the highest points to be given and 1 being the lowest. If it’s only 3 players playing then the maximum points will be 2.
Action Cards:
| QUANTITY| | ACTION CARD |
| 10 | Steal any figurine from a Buddhist connoisseur |
| 10 | Choose a “Buddhist” to skip their turn. Their next turn will be skipped. |
| 10 | Block any form of sabotage (Use any time) |
| 5 | Use this card to play an extra two cards (in your hand) |
| 4 | Collect tokens from a connoisseur of your choosing equal to the karmaback of all your objects |
| 2 | Choose a Buddhist to lose karma tokens equal to the karmaback of all their objects combined |
Event Cards:
| Auction Night! | Players each auction up their most valuable object! The initial cost will be its karmaback. One object must be sold to move on. |
| Charity Event | Every player must donate at least 2 karma tokens to prospect but poorest (aka brokest players) buddhist enthusiasts. |
| Magic Trick | Everyone closes their eyes and chooses a number from 1 to the total amount of players. (EX: 2 players must choose a number 1-2 while closing their eyes). Display them with your fingers. If your number matches any other buddhist enthusiasts, trade all objects! |
| Natural Disaster | Everyone loses their objects to the disaster… Your karma tokens are safe though! |
| Spin Master | Quick! Spin 5 times and point at the pendant. First to touch it gets 15 karma tokens. Those who don’t spin lose 10 karma tokens. |
| Birthday | It’s your relatives’ birthday! Each player must ‘gift’ their relative. Take an object and put it with the rest of the unowned items |
| Gamble Night | Each player must bet at least one of their objects. Grab the die and bet on what it lands on. If a player is correct, they get the objects. If multiple get it correct, split/share evenly. If none get it correctly, lose all objects betted. |
| Art Showcase | Show the object you love the most in your possession with a 20 second pitch. You will be awarded 10 karma tokens. |
| Insurance | If any players are in debt, the debt is cleared and balances are back to 0. |
| BOGO | For the player with the least amount of karma tokens, buy one get one free for figurines! |
Setting Up
Each player will get:
5 karma tokens
1 Buddhist figurine
1 Design board
3 Action cards
Use a die to decide the order of turns. The “Buddhist” with the highest number rolled goes first, then the second highest, and so on.
Play
In a round:
- Each player takes a turn
- Rank Design Boards: Hand out the point cards to each “Buddhist”. After, add up all the points that each “Buddhist” gets and the highest amount of points is first. First place gets 5 karma tokens, all other players get 1 token.
- Use an Event Card
In a turn:
- Sell or buy object(s).
- Play an Action Card OR Discard an Action Card OR Do nothing.
- Grab Action Cards to have a total of 3 in your hand.
- Gain the karmaback from the objects you own.