ABOUT
Collabyrinth has been under development since ~ 2020.
The primary motivation for the development of Collabyrinth has been to fill a social need whereby people become better at solving problems together. Our capacity for collaborative problem solving will enable us to enact solutions to existential problems like climate change and beyond that, it will allow humanity to pursue its collective potential.
The table top hardware has undergone about ten major revisions. Original builds involved an external gimbal and the first controllers were mounted in plywood during the proof-of-concept phase.
The first prototype proved right away that the game was fun to play and that the experience between players was valuable and unique.
The game is inspired by the desire to connect people and help strengthen social fabric that seems to be fraying under the forces of polarization.
Collabyrinth contains aspects of an older game, Labyrinth which is often found as a wooden maze game and is still available today. Both games share the fact that there are two controllers that control tilt and the controllers must be used to manipulate a ball through a maze.
When two different players are responsible for their own tilt axis as in Collabyrinth, the nature of the experience changes completely and becomes as much about figuring out how to work together as it does about the mechanical effects.
Collabyrinth is now used in educational, family, therapeutic, and public settings where players engage for many purposes ranging from fun to social/emotional development.
