I had not planned on entering the "How to play contest" because I am not really a game player. After giving it some thought, I came up with The Instructables University Game. I have been trying to encourage my adult son to join in the fun here, but his schedule does not allow him to get involved. However, things have changed and he has been working on a website and is also developing some board games. I decided to make a game for him and see if it will motivate him to post an instructable and enter a contest. I would love to have him join me and share our experiences.This instructable is not how to make the game but rather how it is played; this is what I wanted to accomplish by designing the game.

Step 1: The Brain Storm

I designed the game to try and motivate my son but as I began to think through the process; I realized there are a lot of members here at instructables who are observers. I thought that if a game was designed to play online here at instructables it could open a door for these observers to get a feel of what the instructables authors experience by posting and sharing their projects. This game was designed to teach authors and potential authors how to get featured, receive comments, views, enter contest, get in a newsletter, and how to win a contest prize. Playing a game like this will build confidence for those people who would like to post an instructable but are not quite ready.

That is when I thought of a name for this instructable. The idea of enrolling into the Instructables University had to be a win for everyone. At the University, your books are instructables tutorials about how to take good pictures, how to get featured, how to win, and the importance of writing a great instructable!

The game board is the neck tie. The game pieces are the instructables robots, rewards (patches) just like at instructables, Bot bucks, and you receive points for certain achievements. The idea of the game is to learn all you can and strengthen your skills for making projects. Get creative with your projects by thinking outside the box. All of these tools are available on the instructables website.

Basically you receive points for your diploma, publishing instructables, getting featured, being featured to the newsletter, and for being a featured author. (For each accomplishment you receive one Bot buck unless you get featured to the front page (2 bucks), are a finalist (4 bucks), or win a contest (8 bucks), collect an instructables community card (read bottom note) and get to move forward one space. You enter contest,become finalist, and win prizes if your projects are awesome enough. At the end of the game the points are counted and the person with the most points wins, unless your playing by yourself, in that case you would beat your low score.

By doing these things you become an active member, your knowledge and confidence increase and you will think differently than you have ever before.

Note: The instructables reward cards say, you have published an instructable, you have been featured,you have been featured to the front page, you are a finalist, or you might get one that says your contest entry was rejected or your instructable failed to save, sorry the instructable site is down and others. If your card is a negative content you miss one turn and loose a buck .

Step 2: Enrolling Into the Instructables University

Enroll by creating an Instructables account.

You may purchase a go Pro- membership using your Bot Bucks (this is a game remember; These bucks aren't real.) but it is not a requirement to go pro, however, it makes it a little easier to post a tutorial. Bot Bucks are used to purchase items, Go Pro, University enrollment, tools and supplies for your instructables. Bot buck are also counted towards your final points at the end of the game. Every space you move forward count as one point. Who ever has the most points at the end of the game wins!

WELCOME to instructables! If you have any questions feel free to check out the community forum.

You have just earned a Bot buck would you like to go pro? If not you may use your Bot Buck to go to The Instructables University and learn how to post an instructable, how to get featured, and how to win!

When you sign up for the university you get to move one place forward. You collect one Bot buck as well.

After you graduate you may begin your instructable adventure! Thanks for being part of this community!

Step 3: Write an Instructable

Example:

Step 1.

Decide what you would like to make.

Collect instructables reward card, one bot buck and move forward one space.

Step 2.

Collect tools and supplies for this project

Collect instructables reward card, one bot buck and move forward one space.

Step 3.

Write a script how to make.

Collect instructables reward card, one Bot buck and move forward one space.

Step 4: Project Build

Example:

OK, you have completed all the steps for building the project and took pictures to document the steps. It is time to publish your work. Good luck! You receive a token for your first instructable.

Collect instructables reward card, Bot bucks and move forward one space.

Congratulations you have just posted your first Instructable! Your project has been entered into the contest and will be reviewed.

Collect instructables reward cards, Bot bucks, move forward one space.

Step 5: Congratulations Your Project Has Just Been Featured

Example:

Congrats, your project has just been featured by one of our editors. Being featured means we think you are awesome! You qualify for a three month Pro-membership. Collect instructables reward card, Bot bucks and move forward.

You have a PM Message, Your instructable has been accepted into the ______ contest. Good luck.

Your profile has been updated. You have 100 views!

Your profile has been updated. You have 3 comments.

Step 6: Your a Finalist

Your a finalist!

Congratulations your instructable is a finalist in the ____ contest!

Collect instructables reward card, Bot bucks, and move forward one space.

Step 7: Congratulations Your a Winner!

Example:

Congratulations you won the ____ contest.

Please go to instructables.com to redeem your prize!

Collect instructables reward card, Bot bucks and move forward one space.

Step 8: Sunshiine's Final Thoughts

At the end of the game, there is a note to my son that says, now, go type your instructions for the second level of this game into the create an instructable site and upload your pictures! You have everything you need to post a feature worthy instructables! Use this game for inspiration when your having a brain freeze. Have fun and good luck!

For everyone else it says type your instructions for ____.

Knowing that people get writers block or sometimes just can't think about what they might want to make, I thought of making the neck tie the game-board so the person can play the game anywhere and write down thoughts as they come to mind.

Bloopers: I am not great at reducing the text to fit a box and had a difficult time trying to get the right size. My computer was having some issues so I taped the text to the cards.But that does not discourage me because; I learn something new everyday here. I did not have a chance to play this game with others so I am guessing it might not be perfect but I sure do like the concept. It was great fun making it and I learned that it takes a lot of thought to write the rules, even for such a simple game and for it to play efficiently. I had to tweak this game a few times.The first time I tried dice and the player moved toward the end much too soon. It was a challenge to decide how the player was going to move forward and that is when I thought of the point system and moving only one space. Then there was the issue of a player that was moving forward not receiving enough points to reward him if he happened to receive a oops card. I had to adjust for that. Hmmm, I wonder if an online game like this could be played when instructables is doing site maintenance?

I wish to thank Instructables and contributors for making this a great place to share. Thanks so much for stopping by and do have fun playing the University of Instructables game!

sunshiine~