Grandma’s Blocks: Instructions, Templates, and a Croatian Pun I Fully Stand Behind

Every good game needs a clear set of rules, so I made those too.

I wrote them in Croatian, because Grandma doesn’t speak English.

Naturally, every good game also deserves a good name, so I leaned into a bit of Croatian wordplay.

In Croatian, kocka means a block or a cube, while skockaj se is an idiom that roughly means “pull yourself together” or “get yourself together.” So in a way, Grandma would be putting both her blocks and her skills into shape.

You know.
Like: Grandma, get it together.

Yes, I’m aware that sounded better in my head.

But I still maintain that it works beautifully in Croatian.

The instructions themselves covered only the basic version of each game, because the goal was never to overwhelm Grandma from the start. Quite the opposite. The whole point was to begin with something simple and familiar, and then build from there.

That logic made sense on every level. It made the games easier to approach, easier to explain, and easier to adapt. Once the basic version feels natural, adding new variations becomes much simpler.

I also recorded a video about this part of the process, including the instructions and the name itself, so I’m leaving it below.

And then came the fun part: figuring out all the different ways the games could actually be played.