Town Quest

Everyday English practice,
reimagined as a board game.

A scenario-based learning experience where adult English learners explore a town, tackle real-life tasks, and put language into action.

Town Quest game board — eight everyday locations for authentic conversation practice.

01 Audience

CEFR B1 adult English learners, including newcomers, immigrants, and international students. Instructor-led classes.

02 My role

Collaborative game and instructional design, learning activities, prototyping, playtesting, and iteration.

03 Context & team

University of Pennsylvania graduate coursework.

Collaborative project with Ann Chang, Aashna Patel, and Hanson Qi.

TOOLS & MATERIALS

Physical board prototype · Quest and challenge cards · Dice · Player tokens · Scoreboard

01 / THE CHALLENGE

Knowing English.
Using English.

Knowing grammar and vocabulary doesn't always translate into confident, spontaneous conversation.

We designed Town Quest to close that gap: learners use English to accomplish a goal, from buying a train ticket to explaining symptoms at a doctor's office.

The learning loop

01Travel
02Draw a quest
03Choose a challenge
04Role-play
05Feedback & points

02 / DESIGNING THE EXPERIENCE

Real situations. Purposeful practice.

Start with the task

We built scenarios around eight familiar locations: the train station, clothing store, hotel, bank, supermarket, restaurant, pharmacy, and hospital.

Task-Based and Communicative Language Teaching shaped the focus on meaningful interaction, not isolated drills.

Make challenge adjustable

Three difficulty levels offer sentence frames, phrase matching, and grammar challenges. Learners choose the support and stretch they need.

Separating the quest from its language requirement helps keep cognitive demands manageable.

Keep feedback immediate

Peer conversations, instructor feedback, and self-correction create a cycle of practice, reflection, and another attempt.

Clear goals and game mechanics support engagement without replacing the learning goal.

Quest cards: a situation, location, and practical communication goal.

Challenge cards: sentence frames, vocabulary, and grammar with difficulty indicators.

03 / PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT

Less friction.
More conversation.

Board iterations refined location labels and navigation. A separate scoreboard made progress visible, freeing players to focus on speaking.

An earlier board iteration, before navigation portals were added.

The separate scoreboard helps players track progress without remembering points.

04 / TESTING & ITERATION

What changed after playtesting.

Participation over a single winner

Harder challenges let some players advance much faster. We changed the ending from one player reaching 15 points to three players reaching 15, keeping more people involved.

Faster navigation

Moving across the board took time away from speaking. Two dice, diagonal movement, and portals helped players reach their next conversation sooner.

Clearer conversation boundaries

We added greeting and closing expectations, plus a 30-second or 10-sentence requirement, to give role-play more structure.

Group playtesting: real conversations, collaboration, and moments of laughter.

Players bringing a quest to life through expressive role-play.

Let’s talk learning All selected work