CyQured: Design, Development, and Empirical Evaluation of a Tabletop Game for Personal Cybersecurity Education

As reliance on connected home devices grows, human behavior remains a critical vulnerability that is often inadequately addressed by traditional, overly technical educational methods. To bridge this gap, we introduce CyQured, a tabletop board game that models a digital home ecosystem of 16 devices, enabling players to simulate 16 STRIDE-inspired attacks and defenses through structured gameplay. We evaluated CyQured with 50 university students, 13 with prior cybersecurity coursework and 37 without, including 14 with limited tabletop gaming experience. The evaluation was conducted using a mixed-methods approach that included knowledge assessments and user-centered evaluations, including the SUS, TAM, and NASA-TLX scales. While novices without domain or tabletop gaming experience reported higher cognitive load and borderline usability scores, knowledge gains were observed across all cohorts. Thematic analysis revealed that novices encountered initial accessibility barriers and elevated cognitive load due to unfamiliar cybersecurity terminology and gameplay mechanics; however, high engagement and social interaction motivated them to persist. Collectively, these findings suggest that game-based simulations can effectively engage diverse learners in understanding home cybersecurity, while also underscoring the need for accessible game design to support players without prior domain knowledge or tabletop gaming experience.