Components, Layout, and Player-Facing Clarity
Key principles for reducing cognitive load through clear components, icons, and card text.
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Active Recall
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Spaced Repetition
Review difficult cards more frequently than easy ones
Multiple Sessions
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Explain Aloud
Verbalize answers to reinforce understanding
Questions Covered in This Set
12 cards to master
What is cognitive load budgeting?
The idea that players have limited working memory, split between interface load, rules load, and strategic load — and only strategic load is fun.
What are the three types of load a game spends working memory on?
Interface load (decoding components), rules load (remembering the system), and strategic load (reasoning about opponents and options).
What is the design goal that follows from cognitive load budgeting?
Push as much rules memory as possible onto the physical layout/components so working memory is free for strategy.
What is information locality?
The rule should live where the player looks when they need it — e.g., turn phases printed on the player board, action costs printed in action spaces.
Why is every player question during playtesting useful?
Each question is a bug report showing a rule is stored in the wrong place; move it onto a component.
Why should icons differ by shape as well as color?
About 1 in 12 men has red–green color deficiency; shape + color makes icons distinguishable by more than one channel (test with a black-and-white photocopy).
What does 'iconographic grammar' mean?
Establishing syntax: arrow = convert left into right, slash = choose one, colon = trigger: effect — so a few symbols let players parse many cards.
About how many distinct icons should a game cap at?
Roughly 12 — beyond that players start forgetting; merge or cut icons.
Rewrite: 'You can get two coins by using this if you have wood, once per round.'
'Once per round: Pay 1 wood → gain 2 coins.' — bold timing keyword first, arrow grammar, icons for nouns, imperative voice.
Why does the difference between 'may' and 'must' matter?
'May' creates a choice node for the player; 'must' does not — so one word changes the strategic game.
What is card templating?
A fixed grid where cost, effect, and timing always appear in the same place, so players learn the shape once and read faster.
What is the squint test?
Blurring your eyes or stepping back two meters to check whether the board's key information hierarchy still reads clearly.
