Syllabus

• Week 1

  What Is a Folk Game?

  • Section 1：Course Introduction

    This week introduces the core question that guides the whole course: What is a folk game?

  • Section 2: Understanding Folk Games

    Understand folk games from the perspectives of concept, scope and characteristics

  • Section 3: Origins of Folk Games

    Folk games originated from daily life, community rituals and common social activities, and are one of the oldest forms of games in human history.

  • Section 4: Types of Folk Games

    Classification helps us notice both variety and pattern. By grouping games according to their form or function, we begin to see what different societies value — strength, skill, rhythm, chance, imagination, cooperation, or ritual.

  • Section 5: Assessment

    Test your understanding of core concepts: what makes something a game, the definition and types of folk games, their origins, and how they differ across cultures.

• Week 2

  Structured Folk Games

  • Section 1: Why Structure Matters in Folk Games

    Folk game mechanics are tradition-rooted: simple rules, physical interaction, or luck-based dynamics. They stress community bonding, cultural inheritance, and easy participation.

  • Section 2: An Overview of Structured Folk Games

    This section explains why board and card games are ideal examples of structured folk games. Their clear rules and repeatable actions help reveal how structure shapes play and interaction.

  • Section 3: Board Games as Structured Systems

    Board games translate real social and cosmic order into a miniature space of movement. They are maps of fairness, time, and fate. Across cultures, the board becomes a world in itself: ordered, bounded, and balanced.

  • Section 4: Card and Tile Games — Structure through Patterns and Symbols

    Card and tile games may appear simple: draw, match, discard, repeat. Yet beneath this rhythm lies one of humanity’s most enduring ways of thinking — to find pattern within chance.

  • Section 5: Summary & Reflection

    Rules are never only about play.They are miniature philosophies—models of how people imagine fairness, control, and relation.Each structure reveals not only how we play but how we think about life itself.

  • Section 6: Assessment

    Check your knowledge of structured folk games, including board, card, and tile games. Review game mechanics, core categories, and the cultural logic behind game structures.

• Week 3

  Folk Games with Chinese Cultural Traditions

  • Section 1: Understanding Play as Cultural Expression

    Play reflects the values, stories, and traditions of a community. Through simple actions and shared rules, people express identity, pass on cultural memory, and connect across generations. Play becomes a living form of culture.

  • Section 2: Thinking Through Play — Wisdom and Strategy

    Chinese traditional intellectual games use strategy and logic to develop clear thinking. Games like Go and Chinese chess reflect deep cultural values and show how learning and play have long been linked in China.

  • Section 3: Playing Together — Social Meaning and Aesthetic Experience

    Chinese traditional social games add fun to festivals and gatherings. Drinking and tea games, along with graceful pastimes like floating cups or pitching arrows, build shared joy and polite interaction.

  • Section 4: Playing with Time — Seasonal Rhythm and Festival Life

    Seasonal and Festival Games are tied to seasonal rhythms, agricultural cycles, or traditional festivals. Their playtime, meaning, and social function are defined by specific times of the year.

  • Section 5: Assessment

    Check your understanding of Chinese folk games this week, and review key ideas before moving on.

• Week 4

  From folk to design

  • Section 1: Introduction — From Folk Play to Design

    Folk games aren’t gone in modern times—some are kept alive as a living cultural resource, while others have evolved into new cultural forms as the world changes.

  • Section 2: Folk Games in Transition — From Tradition to Modern Life

    Folk games aren’t gone in modern times—some are kept alive as a living cultural resource, while others have evolved into new cultural forms as the world changes.

  • Section 3: Designing with Folk Games — Tradition as Creative Resource

    By examining how folk games express values like cooperation, rhythm, and creativity, you will explore how they can be reimagined today and see how cultural heritage inspires modern design thinking.

  • Section 4: Reflection — Openness, Participation, and Design Thinking

    Reflect on how openness and participation shape design. Consider how folk games welcome new players and ideas, and how this principle applies to your own creative work.

  • Section 5: Assessment

    Evaluate your understanding of how folk games continue into modern life. Learn how traditional play inspires design, new games, sports, and creative applications today.

Who will you learn with?