Boy Scouts Of America Game Design Merit Badge

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Game on! Boy Scouts introduce video game merit badge

The new Boy Scout merit Badge for Game Design Boy Scouts of America

The next time a Boy Scout troop head off into the woods to test their outdoorsy skills they'll obviously take tools like tents, hatchets, and video game consoles.

The last item on that list is a necessity after the Boy Scouts of America introduced the Game Design merit badge at South by Southwest, in Austin, Texas, on Friday.

To earn the badge, a scout must "analyze different types of games; describe play value, content, and theme; and understand the significance of intellectual property as it relates to the game industry," according to the Boy Scout's description of the new badge.

With such a broad charge it is no surprise that the Game Design merit badge is not limited to merely video games; scouts can also turn their attention to athletic, board, and pen and paper style games like Dungeons & Dragons.

Even with such a broad definition, the badge still doesn't fit in with the traditional image of the rugged Boy Scouts, but the organization argues that games are an important part of a scout's life.

"Whether it's soccer, a family night board game, or a handheld electronic device—games challenge us to overcome long odds, tell compelling stories, and work with or against one another," the Scouts argue in the Game Design badge's favor. "Games motivate both young and old to find creative solutions, practice new skills, and keep their brains active."

However, analyzing a game is only the first level a scout must reach on his quest for Game Design merit badge glory.

On the next level up, a scout must take a game that allows players to change the rules, like basketball, purpose three rule changes, and then observe "how the players' action and emotional experiences are affected by the rule changes."

After messing around with the rules of an existing game, scouts then must design, build, and blind test a game of their own design in order to reach the highest level and earn their merit badge.

The Boy Scouts have a long tradition of introducing strange merit badges to their roster.

In the organization's current 131 merit badge roster oddities like Nuclear Science, Fingerprinting, Journalism, Salesmanship, and Space Exploration are present and accounted for.