VBGhost: a braille-based educational smartphone game for children

Abstract

We present VBGhost: an accessible, educational smartphone game for people who are blind or low vision. It is based on the word game Ghost, in which players take turns adding letters to a word fragment while attempting to not complete a word. VBGhost uses audio and haptic feedback to reinforce Braille concepts. Players enter letters in the game by using Braille dot patterns on a touchscreen interface. Players can raise or lower dots to create Braille characters using taps and audio feedback from the phone. When a "raised" dot is touched on the screen, the phone vibrates. In VBGhost, a player can either play against the computer or against another person. We demonstrate the potential for the development of fun, accessible and educational games.