The Toy Lens: Breaking Down Video Games into Real-Life Fun
Picture by Bartosz Wanot on Unsplash
In the realm of game design, we often discuss intricate mechanics, immersive stories, and cutting-edge technology. Beneath all that sophistication, however, is one fundamental element: play. At their core, video games function much like the physical toys we grew up with. Strip away the high-end graphics and deep narratives, and you’ll find a core activity that could be replicated with simple toys—and that’s where the fun lies.
The idea that video games function like toys has roots in many well-established game design philosophies. In The Art of Game Design, Jesse Schell explores the idea of “toy-like play” as a core principle in successful game design. Schell argues that the best games often take a simple, compelling activity—much like a toy—and build layers of complexity around it to engage players for longer periods. In this blog post, we’ll deconstruct a few famous video games into their fundamental toy-like mechanics and analyze why those mechanics are essential to their lasting appeal.
Movement as Play: Super Mario Bros.
Let’s start with one of the most iconic games ever created: Super Mario Bros. At its core, the game is all about movement. Players are required to run, jump, and time their moves to avoid enemies and overcome obstacles. These basic movements are timeless and simple, yet incredibly engaging.
If we remove the video game screen, Super Mario Bros. essentially mimics playground activities. The in-game functions are comparable to running through a backyard obstacle course, jumping over hurdles, dodging imaginary enemies, and balancing on logs. Moving through spaces and overcoming physical challenges have served as forms of entertainment for generations, long before video games existed. Kids naturally engage in Mario-like adventures on playgrounds every day as they run around, leap from obstacle to obstacle, and pretend the ground is lava.
In A Theory of Fun for Game Design, Raph Koster says the simplest forms of play often translate into the most enjoyable game experiences. Movement-based mechanics, like those in Super Mario Bros., draw on our instinctual love of challenge and physical interaction. The pleasure of navigating space—whether it’s digital or physical—easily satisfies to our innate need for fun.
The core elements in Super Mario Bros. also translate to toy design. In the Lego Super Mario sets, players build physical courses for Mario to traverse. The concept works because—much like in the video game—the brain finds pleasure in manipulating the world and solving movement-related challenges, as Koster discusses. Whether in the form of a video game, toy, or playground activity, the jumping and running mechanics in Super Mario Bros are timeless.
Physics-Based Play: Portal
Portal is a game that stands out for its innovative use of physics-based puzzles. Players get to manipulate gravity, create portals to navigate through space, and use physics to solve problems.
You can probably think of some classic toys with similar mechanics. Marble runs, domino setups, and Rube Goldberg machines all operate on the same fundamental principle: manipulating objects in space, watching them interact with their environment, and solving a problem through movement and timing. Portal’s appeal doesn’t come from flashy graphics or storytelling—it comes from setting up a solution, seeing the physics in action, and achieving the desired result.
This kind of play aligns with the idea of flow described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Games like Portal create an environment where players become fully immersed in problem-solving. The carefully crafted physics challenges help players enter the “flow” state, in which their skills match the task’s difficulty, creating an optimal gameplay experience.
If you were to translate Portal into a physical toy, you could create a series of mirrors, ramps, and triggers, where the goal is to move a ball from one end of the setup to the other using only environmental manipulation. The puzzle-solving element and sense of accomplishment would remain the same. Portal succeeds because it taps into the timeless joy of physics-based play—a type of fun that’s just as rewarding in the real world as it is in virtual games.
Combat as Play: First-Person Shooters
First-person shooter (FPS) games like Call of Duty and Halo revolve around combat, but their primary mechanic—aiming and shooting—is directly comparable to how we play with toys. Nerf guns, water pistols, and slingshots involve the same basic actions of aiming, calculating distance, and launching projectiles to hit a target.
In both FPS games and toy-based play, the core fun is about mastering your aim. Whether you're shooting a Nerf dart at a target or firing a sniper rifle in Call of Duty, the experience has the same satisfactory payoff when you hit the target. The immediate feedback and sense of control make these games deeply engaging, and they mirror the essence of play found in childhood games with toy guns or slingshots.
Take the example of a sniper rifle in Call of Duty. The task of aiming and firing parallels the experience of shooting a toy projectile, but the game adds layers of complexity, such as bullet drop and moving targets. Despite the added complexities and military theme, Call of Duty still retains the core interaction of aiming and firing that keeps players engaged.
This form of play is not limited to FPS games. Arcade-like games like Angry Birds, in which players launch a projectile and predict how it will interact with the environment, also use these principles. Mastering the arc and trajectory of a shot, whether in a game or with a toy, is a timeless, instinctual joy.
Building as Play: Minecraft
Minecraft is arguably one of the most successful games of all time, and its appeal is rooted in an extremely fundamental mechanic: building. Since long before Minecraft, kids (and even adults) have enjoyed constructing their own worlds with toys like Lego or building blocks; the act of assembling something from the ground up engages people’s creativity and problem-solving skills and is inherently satisfying. Minecraft brilliantly transferred the tactile experience of building with physical blocks into a limitless digital environment.
In The Art of Game Design, Jesse Schell discusses the idea of “pleasure in control.” Minecraft is a perfect example of this concept, giving players complete freedom to manipulate every aspect of the game environment. Players can create anything from a small house to a fully functional city. They can tear structures down and rebuild with ease. The freedom to create without boundaries taps into the core pleasure of play we associate with toys like Lego; the joy comes from imagining, constructing, and bringing your ideas to life.
Minecraft’s success proves the fundamental joy of building transcends mediums. Whether in the real world or a virtual game, constructing something with your own hands (or through your avatar) is an activity that resonates deeply with us all.
Social and Role Play: Animal Crossing and The Sims
Some games rely less on physical mechanics and more on the social and role-playing aspects of play. Games like Animal Crossing and The Sims allow players to build lives, form relationships, and create their own narratives. These types of games are reminiscent of the dollhouses and action figures many of us played with as children.
In Rules of Play, Salen and Zimmerman explore how role-playing games are centered around the concept of agency. Animal Crossing and The Sims are perfect examples—they give players agency by allowing them to shape characters’ lives, create environments, and direct social interactions. The games’ core appeals are personal expression and storytelling, much like the imaginative narratives we created for our action figures and dolls.
When playing with dolls or action figures, children often make up stories, assign roles, and act out scenarios. Animal Crossing and The Sims apply these same concepts to a structured, digital experience in which players can craft narratives, manage relationships, and create unique worlds.
Players find these types of games enjoyable because of the personal connections they foster. In Animal Crossing, you build relationships with your villagers, decorate your home, and partake in everyday activities like fishing or gardening. In The Sims, you manage your characters’ lives by making decisions that affect their jobs, relationships, and well-being. The games provide a framework for creativity and social interaction, but the player’s imagination drives the experience—just like when we used to play with dolls or action figures.
From Toy to Game: Designing Your Own Toy and Video Game
Now that we’ve explored several famous games and compared them to their toy equivalents, let’s take a look at the reverse process. If you design a simple, fun toy—such as a set of puzzle pieces that fit together in different ways and allow players to build structures—how might you turn that toy into a video game?
The first step is to consider why the toy is fun to play with. Perhaps it’s the creativity involved in building something unique out of the puzzle pieces, or maybe it’s the problem-solving aspect of fitting the pieces together in just the right way.
From there, you can layer additional mechanics on top. In a video game version, you might introduce different levels of difficulty, with each puzzle getting more complex. You could add time limits or multiplayer modes where players race to complete the puzzles. The key is to retain the toy’s core fun while adding depth, progression, and challenge.
While video games are often seen as a form of art, which is certainly one aspect of the experience, their true essence lies in toy-like fun. Video games and toys might seem worlds apart, but when you look at their most fundamental elements, they’re strikingly similar. At the heart of both is the joy of play, creativity, and interaction. Whether through a screen or in your hands, the act of playing taps into something universal and timeless.
