An Analog Game-Based Intervention and a Playability Analysis in the Elderly: A Pilot Study

This pilot study investigates whether a four-week analog game-based intervention can produce favorable emotional and perceptual outcomes among institutionalized older adults. Thirteen participants, with a mean age of 80, played the Ta!Ti! Hand Game, a tabletop serious game designed to exercise memory and upper-limb movement. The authors' central aim was to assess the game's playability in a therapeutic setting, using pre- and post-session Visual Analogue Scale ratings of emotion alongside a perception questionnaire.

The emotional findings were mixed but generally encouraging. Roughly 44% of participants reported increased excitement and a similar proportion showed increased joy, while about two-thirds reported reduced anxiety. Participants rated the game moderately to highly on enjoyment and low boredom, with mean scores ranging from roughly 3.5 to 4.6 on a five-point scale. Importantly, players who recognized the game's serious purposes and perceived greater cognitive effort tended to report less boredom and greater emotional engagement, suggesting that understanding a game's therapeutic aim may support positive emotional states.

The authors interpret these results as supporting the value of playability analysis in elderly therapeutic contexts and as a useful complement to qualitative methods. They also acknowledge important constraints, including the very small single-profile sample, the absence of a control group, a short intervention period, participant dropout, and reliance on subjective measures. Future work incorporating physiological indicators and a more structured protocol is recommended to strengthen these preliminary conclusions.