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Xbox X|SWe've documented 40 accessibility features for The Isle of Cats, including Playable Without Hearing, No Pressured Communication, No Pressured Reveals, Audio Cues Mirrored Visually (Or no critical audio signals) and No Close Inspection Disadvantage. Its accessibility is strongest in Physical and Getting Started but it also has features in Reading, Visual, Difficulty and Audio to reduce unintended barriers.
This report is created with input from accessibility experts and the player community to help people find games that have the accessibility features they require. Once you have found potential games on the database, there are excellent specialist accessibility sites that offer in-depth reviews to guide your purchasing decisions.
External examiner, Frank West, first checked The Isle of Cats accessibility 4 months ago. It was re-examined by Frank West and updated 4 months ago.
Game Details
Release Date: 01/01/2019
Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds
Players: 1-4
Genres: Brain Game, Collecting (Puzzle and Strategy)
Accessibility: 40 features
Components: Bag, Board, Cards, Figures, Pen and Pad, Placeables and Tokens
Developer: Cityof Games HQ (@CityofGamesHQ)
Costs: Purchase cost
Difficulty
We've documented 5 accessibility features for Difficulty in The Isle of Cats which deal with how you can adjust the challenge of play.
Difficulty Options
Simple and Full Version: Game provides layered rules to enable the removal of elements for a simpler version of the game. Ideally, these are given non-stigmatising descriptors for example, "simple/complex" rather than "novice/expert".
No Memorisation Advantage: You don’t need to memorise and recall the state of the game, cards played, sequences and resources to play the game well. Players who are able to do this more easily are not at an advantage.
No Deceit Advantage: No game mechanic where players need to deceive each other to progress. This includes bluffing and lying.
No Colour Advantage: Game can be played without colour-blindness being a barrier to performance.
No Mathematics Advantage: Game can be played effectively without doing more than simple counting. It doesn't require calculations or working with large numbers.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Difficulty
If you want to play The Isle of Cats, but it doesn't offer the Difficulty accessibility features you require, this similar game extends the Difficulty accessibility:
- Zoomates (7 Difficulty Features)
Getting Started
We've documented 9 accessibility features for Getting Started in The Isle of Cats which deal with what support is offered to get started with the game.
Assistance Getting Started
These features aid your play of the game in terms of cognitive load on learning controls, dealing with pressure and coping with the environment and challenges.
Clear Manual: Game provides a manual that breaks play into number sections, groups information sensibly and uses illustrative pictures.
Electronic Version of Manual: A free online version of the manual provided by the publisher.
Getting Started Video: Game provides a tutorial video to get you started. This video must include subtitles and offer real examples of play.
Digital Version: Official version of game is available on digital platforms to both enable remote play and aid learning rules with the computer managing systems.
Reference Aid: In addition to the main rules, a succinct quick reference card is also provided for each player to remind them of key rules, actions and currencies. This may be a separate card or integrated onto the board or cards.
Assistance Progressing
These features aid your progress through the game offering different ways of managing your pieces and progression.
Play Order Tokens (Or play order doesn’t change): Where player order impacts the game or there are multiple play phases the game provides a means of keeping track of this. Includes provision of play order tokens or use of piece/board orientation.
Reaction-Time Not Critical: Individual game actions don’t need quick reactions. This means you don't need to quickly respond to events in the game or other players.
Low Pressure: Decisions aren’t time-limited so you can take your time with each action.
Low Impact: Decisions are low impact. If you get something wrong, you can still make up for it and/or progress another way.
Reading
We've documented 6 accessibility features for Reading in The Isle of Cats which deal with how much reading or listening comprehension is required, how well the game provides accessible text.
Reading Level
How much reading is required to play the game and how complex the language is.
Simple Minimal Reading: Minimal reading is required. The quantity and complexity of reading are at a level that a primary/elementary student (9-year-old) could understand.
Necessary Text Visibility
How clear are the required text or numbers to play the game.
Large Clear Text on Board (Or no text required): Text or numbers are large and clear font at least 8mm tall (22pt) on the board and any other elements that are at a distance to the player.
Large Clear Text on Cards (Or no text required): Text or numbers are large and clear 5mm tall (14pt) on the pieces that you can hold close to read.
High Contrast Text (Or no text required): Text or number colours contrasts to the background. The text in instructions and other information is presented in high contrast ideally with a solid background.
Primary and Secondary Text Distinguishable (Or no text required): Game separates non-essential flavour text from essential gameplay text, to ease comprehension. Includes games that don't have flavour text.
Information Orientation: You don’t have to read text, numbers or symbols upside-down to play the game effectively.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Reading
If you want to play The Isle of Cats, but it doesn't offer the Reading accessibility features you require, this similar game extends the Reading accessibility:
- Kingdomino (7 Reading Features)
Physical
We've documented 10 accessibility features for Physical in The Isle of Cats which deal with how you interact with the game components and how accommodating these are of different requirements.
Pieces
How the game components accommodate interactions through touch, shape, texture and colour.
No Non-Standard Dice (Or No Dice): The game uses standard numerical dice, doesn’t need dice to play or ensures dice are readable by touch.
No Tiny Pieces: Game pieces are not very small. This doesn't cover cards. The target size for this is not less than 20mm wide and not less than 2mm thick.
No Paper Money: The game doesn’t use paper money.
Cards
How the game assists interaction, manipulation and management of game cards.
Large Card Size: Cards in the game at least the size of a standard playing card (64mm x 89mm). This ensures the cards work with accessibility equipment like card-holders and shufflers.
Standard Card Shape: Cards confirm to standard size so they work with card shufflers and other card management devices.
Limited Hand Management: You don’t need to hold more than 8 cards in your hand. This includes games with larger hands that require minimal in-hand card management.
No Excessive Card Shuffling: You don’t need to shuffle the deck of cards more than twice per total play of the game. This wouldn’t include games like Poker.
No Right-Handed Advantage: Cards don't position key information in only top-left corners that favours right-handed in-hand card arrangements.
Placement
How the game assists interaction, manipulation, management and placement of game pieces.
Player Components Not Shared: Key components are not shared so you can organise them as best suits your needs. Keeping them close to you. Organising them in useful groupings.
Easily Verbalised Actions: The game is clearly labelled (landmarks, coordinates and so on) to make it possible to unambiguously describe game actions and relate those to the board or other pieces. This is useful for players who need others to move their pieces.
Visual
We've documented 6 accessibility features for Visual in The Isle of Cats which deal with how well the game offers visual clarity and adjustments to accommodate visual needs.
Printed Visibility
How well the art on (and design of) components support a range of visual needs.
Colour Blind Friendly Design: Game prioritises the use of colour blind friendly palettes. This eases distinguishing elements of the game where colour is used. Ensure colour blind supporting graphics can be easily described or verbalised.
Double-Coding Colour: Colour is not the only way to distinguish elements. This includes games that make use of texture, shapes, symbols or other visual differentiation, to supplement colour information.
High Contrast Colours: Key information uses high contrasting colours between background and visual elements. This is a ratio of at least 4:1.
Component Identifiability
How easy it is to see and identify the components you need to work with to play the game.
Outline Key Elements: Game uses a highly distinctive visual silhouette for essential elements required to play the game. This may be from the shape of game elements or by applying a bold outline or backing colour. It may also be clear text if that is the only pertinent information
No Busy Backgrounds: Game board or cards have a simple or monochrome design to aid in identifying game elements when observed in play on top of the board.
No Close Inspection Disadvantage: If necessary, players can inspect similar pieces to distinguish them without time limit or risk of leaking gameplay intention.
Audio
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Audio in The Isle of Cats which deal with how the game supports player communication to meet a range of requirements.
Communication
How the game accommodates different styles of communication, particularly non-verbal.
Audio Cues Mirrored Visually (Or no critical audio signals): Where audio cues (soundtrack, player utterances and shouts) are critical for play, there are visual equivalents to ensure players with hearing impairments aren’t disadvantaged as a result of the loss of incidental sound.
No Pressured Reveals: No reliance on revealing actions or choices simultaneously. This ensures players who can’t perform the revealing action in real-time aren’t excluded.
No Pressured Communication: Game doesn’t require you to speak over (or louder or faster than) other players. The game includes gaps where only a single player is permitted to communicate and make their point.
Playable Without Hearing: You can play the game without the need to hear other players or sound made by game elements. Where other communication channels can be used if you have a supportive set of players, this is only included if communication can be low pressure.
Accessibility Report supported by VSC Rating Board, PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors
