As a new trend, games are all the more often included in the educational process, and for a good reason. It is widely known that participatory activities have an increased effectiveness in passing on educational content. The recreational nature of games allows the participant to enjoy the learning process, thus paying more attention and absorbing the offered knowledge and skills. In addition, the cognitive function of the learner is increased, as their participation implies decision making and social interaction.

In the recent years, the gaming industry – particularly the board game industry – has made leaps in progress, and has evolved in unfathomable heights. Its use in the educational sector however, has remained linked with the obsolete state of games of decades past, and has not been up to date with the new and intricate game mechanics that govern the modern gaming industry.

When studying many projects and results, their focus on serious games is more often than not based in old concepts, lacking understanding of the capabilities the modern gaming industry offers, and are usually limited to digital game versions, which have many a disadvantage when compared to board games. The advantages of board games are mostly found in their social aspect, as people are required to socially interact with their peers as a basic condition to participate in a board game. Additionally, despite living in a digital era, the lowest of economic classes often struggle to acquire what most people would take for granted – use of the internet, and ownership of a computer is not free, especially in the recent times of economic upheaval and the repercursions of natural disasters and pandemics.

Our project envisions to help bridge the gap by brigning together organizations with a variable set of expertise, in order to facilitate a modern understanding of the potential uses of board games within education, for different target groups. The organizations herein all work at a different stage or aspect with board games (manufacturing, design, application with Disabled people, application with Minorities and Excluded people), and by bringing them together, they will see each other’s needs and particularities, being able to define the common grounds and the information that each one needs to have in order to effectively cooperate and be more efficient in their respective fields.