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Scouting America · Merit Badge
Game Design
Analyze games across media, learn design terms, and design, prototype, and blind-test your own original game.
Counselor Qualifications
The fastest, most rewarding path is a paper/card game. Digital is fine, but Scouts hit the blind-test requirement much sooner with cardboard. I emphasize: test early, test brutally.
Dustin Gamble — B.S. and M.S. Aerospace Engineering; Technical Fellow at Lockheed Martin; registered Scouting America Merit Badge Counselor (Los Padres Council).
My Counselor Plan
My operating notes for counseling this badge. Scouts can skim for context; other counselors are welcome to borrow what's useful.
- Stock a shoebox of game parts: index cards, dice, meeples, a chess/checker board, graph paper.
- Require the game design notebook from day 1; dated entries, versions labeled v0.1, v0.2, ....
- For blind test (req 7), coach Scouts to SHUT UP and just watch testers struggle with their rules.
- Push Scouts to change at least one rule between each test and record the predicted vs. actual outcome.
- Cross-badge tie-in: the AI-Built Game capstone (see below) pairs this badge with the Artificial Intelligence badge. Scouts design a game on paper, then use an AI coding assistant to turn it into a playable digital build — hitting the prototype, iterate, and blind-test requirements here while demonstrating responsible, supervised AI use for the AI badge.
Capstone Project: AI-Built Game — From Design Doc to Playable Build
Scouts design an original game on paper, write a clean design document and rulebook, then use an AI coding assistant (with the counselor in the room) to turn it into a playable digital build. The capstone covers the full Game Design badge and doubles as the project requirement for the Artificial Intelligence badge.
See full project page (with requirements mapping) →
Project concept
The Scout owns the design. The AI is a junior developer the Scout directs — it does not design the game, pick the mechanics, or decide what is 'fun.' Scouts start with pencil, index cards, and dice to prove their core loop works on the table, then move into a digital build (Scratch, a simple HTML/JS page, or a chosen engine) using AI to scaffold code, explain error messages, and refactor. Every prompt and every AI change is logged in the game design notebook, so the Scout can show exactly what they asked for and what they accepted.
What the Scout ends the project with
- A written vision statement, theme, and player format (paper or digital)
- A paper prototype that has been played at least 3 times with rule changes recorded between sessions
- A clean instruction sheet good enough for a blind test
- A playable digital version of the game (even a minimal one) built with AI assistance
- A game design notebook with dated entries, version labels, and a prompt log
- A short 'What the AI did well / where I had to take over' reflection
Phase 1 — Paper prototype (before any code)
No laptops yet. Scouts pick a medium (card, board, dice, or tabletop-movement), write a one-page vision doc, sketch the components, and play their game. We iterate at least three times on paper, changing one rule between each session and predicting the effect before testing. This is where the game becomes actually fun — trying to skip this phase is the single biggest failure mode.
Phase 2 — Rulebook and instruction sheet
Scouts write a standalone instruction sheet: setup, turn order, win condition, edge cases. The test is whether someone who has never seen the game can read the sheet and play without help. This is the blind-test deliverable for Game Design req 7 and also forces the Scout to clarify their mental model before handing anything to the AI.
Phase 3 — AI-assisted digital build
With the counselor in the room, Scouts turn their rulebook into a digital build using an AI coding assistant. We go in small, testable steps — the same discipline used on the Telemetry Rocket project.
- Pick a simple target platform (Scratch, a single HTML/JS page, or an approved engine).
- Prompt the AI to scaffold the game window, board, or card layout; accept only code the Scout can read and roughly explain.
- Implement one mechanic at a time (deal cards, roll dice, move, score). Playtest after each.
- When something breaks, paste the error message to the AI and read the explanation before accepting the fix.
- Log every prompt, every accepted change, and every rejected suggestion in the notebook.
- End Phase 3 with a version the Scout could hand to a friend over a link or a share screen.
Phase 4 — Blind test and iterate
Scouts run a blind test on the digital build (Game Design req 7) AND a paper blind test if they have not already. They watch silently, take notes, and then make at least one rule, balance, or UI change with a written prediction of its effect. Then they retest.
Phase 5 — Reflection on the AI's role
The final deliverable is a short reflection: what the Scout directed, what the AI did well, where the AI hallucinated or gave wrong code, and what the Scout fixed by hand. This reflection is the heart of the Artificial Intelligence badge — it proves the Scout used AI responsibly, kept authorship, and can describe the limits of the tool.
Counselor safety and ethics rules
- AI tools are used in a counselor-supervised session or with a parent present.
- No personal information, real names of other Scouts, or photos are pasted into an AI prompt.
- Any art, music, or text the AI produces must be labeled as AI-generated in the game's credits.
- The Scout — not the AI — owns the design decisions and writes the vision statement by hand.
Requirements Checklist
20 total requirement items. Check marks are saved locally in this browser so you can track progress as you work. This is a convenience view — the official requirements on scouting.org are the source of truth.
1. Analyze Games
Do the following:
2. Game Design Terms
Discuss with your counselor FIVE of the following 17 game design terms. For each term, describe how it relates to a specific game: story, setting, characters, play sequence, level design, interface design, difficulty, balance, depth, pace, replay value, age appropriateness, single-player vs. multiplayer, cooperative vs. competitive, turn-based vs. real-time, strategy vs. reflex vs. chance, or abstract vs. thematic.
3. Intellectual Property
Define the term intellectual property. Describe the types of intellectual property associated with the game design industry. Describe how intellectual property is protected and why protection is necessary. Define and give an example of a licensed property.
4. Rule Variations
Do the following:
5. Design a New Game
Design a new game. Any game medium or combination of mediums is acceptable. Record your work in a game design notebook.
6. Prototype and Iterate
Counselor approval of the concept is required before prototyping.
7. Blind Test
Do the following:
8. Professional Perspective
Do ONE of the following:
Additional Resources
Safety and Youth Protection
All merit badge counseling sessions follow Scouting America's Guide to Safe Scouting. Scouts meet with me either accompanied by a parent or guardian, or in a group with at least one other Scout and one other registered adult present. I hold current Safeguarding Youth training.