June 2016 Games of the Week

By Margaret Duncan, Ed.D.

The Histocrats support the idea of incorporating board-games into your personal life as well as in the classroom.  As such, we support and participate in a local board-gaming group.  Any and all board-game enthusiasts are welcome to join the Game Nights that are held every first and third Friday night of the month.  As part of our gaming group initiative, we also recommend history centric games that are fun to play each week to all of our followers.  The selected games receive our “Game of the Week” distinction.  Recommended games are a mix of cooperative, card games, as well Euro style games.

 

Indigo, Ravensburger

Indigo features a hexagon shaped game board on which players develop gem routes to move precious stones along paths that they develop into their collection. Players can work together or separately to lay the route tiles that provide the paths they must travel on their way to exit the board with the most gems. Players can share routes and exits so that they can both benefit, but the game is won by the player who collects the most points from the gems successfully removed from the board.

 

Warriors of Japan, Multi-Man Productions

From 1336-1392, all of Japan was aflame with war. After the fall of a corrupt and ineffective emperor, the two great courts of Japan dueled to determine the future ruler of the country. Warriors of Japan covers the vital period following the destruction of the Kamakura shogunate and the fight to find a successor. 

Tokaido: Collectors Edition, Passport Game Studios

Each player is a traveler crossing the "East sea road", one of the most magnificent roads of Japan. While traveling, players will meet people, taste fine meals, collect beautiful items, discover great panoramas, and visit temples and wild places. At the end of the day, when everyone has arrived at the end of the road you'll have to be the most initiated traveler – which means that you'll have to be the one who discovered the most interesting and varied things.

*All product descriptions are from the manufacturer

Creating Simple Board Games

Whether you are working in the classroom, camp, or after-school activity, games can be a great activity to incorporate in the schedule. Games are fun and engaging. They provide great opportunities for fun  and reinforcement. Yet finding  and affording the materials can be a challenge.  Here are a things to  think about as you work to create multiple game boards for small group use.

--Think about the components of a board game: board, directions or question cards, game pieces.  Tackle each part individually.

--Make a storage and organization plan that works for you before you begin.

--Create a simple set of rules to use or let players establish their own rules.

--Be flexible.

            Are you ready to start assembling your games? Take advantage of games with missing pieces. These games can be viewed as resources for games.  Look at other spare items you have around. Simple items like buttons can be reused.

Game Boards

Games Boards are easy to reuse. All you need is a start and a finish.   I have given this board to students to play with using a variety of questions.

Boards from other games have the advantage of being sturdy and easy to store.

Question Cards

Games often come with question cards that may or may not be useful to you.  You can choose to use the cards, edit the cards supplied, or replace them. All of these options work.

--Editing the question cards provided is easy. You simply remove the irrelevant questions.

--Prepackaged sets of vocabulary flash cards can be recycle into game cards. They can easily be divided into sets relating to different topics.

--Student  can create their own questions cards from review materials as well.

Game Pieces

Game pieces can be recycled. Extra houses from monopoly or odd checkers become game pieces for each player in your new game. A simple sharpie will help you make each piece unique. You can also look to other small common items for came pieces. Cap erasers in different colors or binder clips make simple pieces. Extra buttons work as well.

Want  to create your own custom game boards? Check  out our pinterest board for ideas.