Trash Trek

One life-form’s trash is another life-form’s treasure

• The Concept:

  • Trash Trek is a team-based space-age board game that has players undertake the role of a trash collector trying to rebuild their hyper drive in order to escape the galaxy they’re stranded in.

• Research for Game Mechanics & Dynamics:

  • Each of us researched a facet of our core theme in order to produce accurate mechanics and dynamics for our game. Our core theme was “trash collecting in space” the components of this theme included utilizing trash as an energy resource, how we assign value to items, what happens to trash in space, and how to use trash as tools for construction/engineering.

    • My topic of research was how we assign value to items. In a game that requires players to view trash as something of value, how could I make trash into something that was desirable?

      • The idea of assigning value to items led me to hoarders, who assign value to anything that fits their interests. Honing in even more, I wanted to understand the psychology of the acquisition of objects and what factors attribute to this. There must always be a passion or thrill of the hunt to seek out and obtain objects. I soon discovered that many hoarders also have kleptomaniac tendencies, which led me to create the game mechanic of stealing from other players, giving way to an emotional game dynamic of the “thrill of stealing.”

• The gameplay:

  • Players will take turns rolling the dice to determine how far they are allowed to move that turn. They will roll a trash dice that will determine how much trash they can collect once they land on a planet. Collecting trash will yield the supplies needed to improve your space ship so you can escape the galaxy. The requirements for each upgrade are listed on the player mat. Each upgrade must be completed in order. Once the player has fully upgraded their ship (completed upgrade 4, Hyper Drive) they must then refill their fuel before they can hit hyperdrive and win the game.

• The finished product:

  • We made this game playable in Tabletop Simulator and a physical copy we presented at the 2023 iSchool showcase. I printed, cut, and sleeved about 80 cards!

Board games are a timeless source of fun that can often be overlooked in an increasingly digital world. It was a joy to be a part of the creative process to make this game with my team.