"Quest for Life" is a drug abuse and AIDS prevention board game for youth by youth. St. Stephen’s Youth Group recognized a need to provide information on drug abuse and AIDS prevention in a user-friendly and educational way. Our objective is to promote discussion and healthy lifestyle choices.
In 1991, the Youth Group, with the Drug Free Arcade Program, recognized a need to make prevention education on drug abuse and AIDS available in a fun and user-friendly way. The game concept was chosen because it presented factual information as well as promoted discussion among players.
The Youth Group attended several workshops on drug abuse and AIDS awareness and prevention issues as well as on game design and development. Quest for Life and another prototype were developed and tested in schools in the Toronto area. Quest for Life was chosen and in 1993, 1,000 copies of the game were distributed, free of charge, to high schools and United Way member agencies in Metropolitan Toronto. The response, as assessed by evaluations that were enclosed in each game, has been very positive. As a result, a National Edition of the game is now being developed. Corporate sponsorships have been secured to develop and distribute, free of charge, a revised version of Quest for Life to 4,000 high schools and Boards of Education across Canada.
For the National Edition, St. Stephen’s Community House is collaborating with University Settlement Recreation Centre. This collaborative effort provides the project with diversified staff and program resources. The Nat-ional Edition is being redesigned to include a more compact game box, a more interesting and detailed game board design, higher quality game cards (which will be secured in their own box), and 60 new questions. The game will also be translated into French.
