Pipes and Vines
San Jose, CA
2025, Junior, Interactive & Multimedia
Project Description: My interactive and multimedia project is a turn-based game where up to four players roll a dice and move their avatars up the board. The first person to reach the end wins! Pipes and Vines is a board game inspired by Chutes and Ladders. The game is played with 2–4 players and incorporates traditional movement using a die, while adding meaningful decision making and consequences. Players move forward or backward by landing on vines (which help players climb ahead) and pipes (which send them backward). The game also features Action Tiles, where players encounter either a good or a bad deed. Good deeds help you move up 5 spaces, while bad deeds force players to move back 5 spaces—unless they choose to use their one-time Cancel Card. No cancel card will result in an additional -20 spaces. Pipes and Vines encourages players to consider the consequences of their everyday actions in a fun and accessible way. By combining gameplay and moral decision-making, the game offers an interactive experience that promotes reflection on how our actions affect others and ourselves, and the environment.
Reflection
The idea for Pipes and Vines came from thinking about how everyday choices regarding the environment—like being kind or doing something wrong, can push us forward or set us back. I wanted to make a game that was fun to play but also made people think a little. I’ve always liked games such as Chutes and Ladders, so I used that as a starting point, but added new rules and action tiles to make it more meaningful. I chose to make a board game because I enjoy hands on things. It felt like the right balance for mixing fun with a message. The cancel card idea came from thinking about how we sometimes wish we could undo mistakes and how we have to choose carefully when to use that chance. While working on this project and thinking about the contest theme, I realized that being connected to nature also means being aware of how we act and what kind of energy we put into the world. What we do affects not just the environment, but also the people around us.