Mattel will make 80% of its games color-blind accessible by the end of the year

 

June 27, 2024

Mattel will make 80% of its games color-blind accessible by the end of the year

Everyone deserves to crush their opponents in Uno. Now slight design changes will make gameplay possible for people with color blindness.

BY Hunter Schwarz

Mattel is making its colorful card games, like Uno, accessible to players with color blindness.

The toymaker announced this week that 80% of its global games portfolio will be color-blind accessible by the end of the year, a figure it says will reach 90% by the end of 2025.

For Uno, that means cards will have symbols in addition to colors and numbers (square for blue, circle for red, diamond for yellow, and triangle for green) so players can tell which color the card is without actually seeing the color itself. Blokus, a strategy board game, will add in patterns to differentiate colored game pieces. Mattel will also update Dos, Phase 10, Skip-Bo, and Ker Plunk by the end of the year.

Mattel will make 80% of its games color-blind accessible by the end of the year | DeviceDaily.com
[Photo: Mattel]

Accessibility in analog games is playing catch-up to video games, which are required by law to be accessibly designed. A 2019 update to the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act mandates that video games have voice-over and electronic messaging options for players who are hard of hearing, though the World Institute on Disability says video games still have a way to go before they’re fully accessible.

“At Mattel, we are proud that our portfolio of games continues to bring people together—transcending languages and cultures—and this initiative to offer more color-blind accessible games is another proof point on our inclusivity journey,” Mattel VP and global head of games Ray Adler said in a statement.

He added that the company is proud to “make products accessible for more people, so that all fans can come together and enjoy universal gameplay.”

Mattel will make 80% of its games color-blind accessible by the end of the year | DeviceDaily.com
[Photo: Mattel]

Mattel adapted these accessibility updates in partnership with ColorADD, a group that conducts its own online and in-person research and develops design solutions for players with color blindness. Mattel previously released an Uno Braille version of its cards and partnered with ColorADD for a color-blind version in 2017.

According to Mattel, instruction sheets for the updated games will include a section with more information specifically for color-blind players, and color-blind accessible games will feature a badge on the packaging showing a multicolored eye icon.

About 300 million people worldwide experience color blindness, according to the Cleveland Clinic. That’s a whole lot of people who might not have been able to play Uno before. Now they can get in on the game.

 
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hunter Schwarz is Fast Company contributor who covers the intersection of design and advertising, branding, business, civics, fashion, fonts, packaging, politics, sports, and technology.. Hunter is the author of Yello, a newsletter about political persuasion 


Fast Company

(3)