This class will explore, through a series of projects, the fundamental questions of game design. What are the common features of hopscotch, Skyrim, boxing, Farmville, poker, and Tic-Tac-Toe? How do you create an engrossing, challenging, vivid, or surprising environment of play? How do you determine the value of skill, chance, cooperation, and competition in play? What effect does the social, sexual, gender, political, and economic environment of the game's creation have on the game play? This course will start students with theoretical structures and immediately move to their implementation through the development of small games, which will be either physical (card games, board games, etc.) or computer games, at the student's discretion. Students will be evaluated based on class participation, online discussions, and the creation of their own games. No previous computer programming experience is required, but students who want to implement games in computer platforms will be able to.