A board game which brings disability culture and history to life in a significant and accessible way has won a major prize at the 2025 Games for Change Awards in New York.
Legless in London, which earned the Best Board or Tabletop Game for Impact award, allows players to experience the challenges and opportunities that Victorian London presented to lower-limb amputees.
Through the game, all players assume the role of an amputee and attempt to achieve life goals such as buying property, finding love or fulfilling personal ambitions.
They are challenged to navigate the Victorian streets, the prosthetic limb market, the sickroom, and various locations that provide them with opportunities to achieve their aims.
The game is based on research by
Dr Ryan Sweet, a Lecturer in English and Creative Writing at the University of Plymouth, and an expert in disability history.
It stems from his 2022 book Prosthetic Body Parts in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture, and many of the game's characters, locations, and scenarios are inspired by research he conducted for the book.
Dr Sweet completed a significant amount of his research on 19th century literature while working at the University of Plymouth between 2017 and 2020, and continued pursuing it after moving to Swansea University.
It was there that the idea for Legless in London came into being, and the game - which launched in February 2025 - has been designed and produced by Focus Games in conjunction with Dr Sweet and Swansea University.
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