Guest Blogger: Kerum Kendall
(Kerum Kendall is a freshman
at Clayton State University majoring in Information Sciences. He loves history
and has spent year trying to get his history teachers to use video games in
class. His ultimate goal is to design education games for use in Social Studies
classrooms. He shares reviews with the Histocrats and on his own site.)
Title:
Mission Three: A Cheyenne Odyssey
Platform:
Online, Apple iPad, Android
Role:
The player plays as Little Fox, a 14-year old Northern Cheyenne in what is
modern day Montana in the year 1866.
Time Period:
19th century
Context of the Game:
American Civil War is at an end and attentions formally given to the war are
now looking to the west. A huge influx of settlers is heading west to start a
new life, following the new railroads that are starting to cut across the
content. New dreams, hopes, and ambitions are on everyone’s minds all except
the Native Americans. The tribes of the Great Plains; the Cheyenne, the Lakota,
the Crow, and many other tribes are worried about this influx of foreigners on
their homelands. Some want to fight them, others want to seek peace but they
all are worried about their future as the buffalo herds start to disappear and
more settlers settle on their lands.
Goal of the Game:
The goal of the game is to try and survive in the American West as a Cheyenne
boy. There are many endings and multiple choices relating to family, the tribe,
and everyday life that you have to make. Once you make a choice it is permanent
and it will affect the rest of the game.
Neat Features of Game:
The game is an interactive story that will have you on your toes all the time.
The game is separated into parts,
each one different from the last. In part one you spend a day as a child in a
Cheyenne village, getting an introduction into the world of the Plains Indians.
In part two, you are sent to trade at a nearby fort and learn about the
complicated relationship between the Native Americans and the white settlers
and so on. Each part immerses the player in events, issues, and the growing
conflict in the west between these two very different groups. One part of the
game even sets you as a leader of a band of Cheyenne and you have to try to
provide for your tribe for two years awhile dealing with nature, other tribes,
and the “white man”. There is also a badge system where you increase your
skills in a certain area through your actions in the game making continued
gameplay fun and interesting. With the multiple choices that can be made, the
badges that can be earned, and the multiple endings make playing the game
always unique and interesting.
What You Learn:
You learn about many components of Cheyenne life and culture such as counting
coo, life around hunting buffalo, and the importance of tribe and family. You
also learn about how the west is changing because of the mass movement of
settlers and how the Native Americans had to adapt to this changing world.
Players also learn about important events such as the singing the Treaty of
Fort Laramie, the Battle of the Greasy Grass (Little Bighorn), and the Cheyenne
exodus from reservations in Oklahoma. Players also learn about important people
of the time including Chief Dull Knife and Chief Little Wolf.
How You Know Students Have Played:
The game comes with a learning plan for teachers or for parents at home. The
plan has it of where the students must have played the game to be able to do
the activity. The plan is separated into parts, just like the game, and each
lesson is associated with one of the parts from the game. The lessons are
designed for game play and less in class. Students play the game in class and
then take part in a lesson and discussion afterwards along with primary
resources. The plans are on the same website that the game is on and is
accompanied by instructions to help teachers plan out their lessons in relation
to the game.*
Overall:
The game is well-developed and provides players with a fun and educational
interaction that immerses the player into the time period and is a very helpful
tool that can be used to full effect in the classroom.
Sponsors:
Mission Four: A Cheyenne Odyssey is a Mission US game and is funded by the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the National Endowment for the
Humanities and is sponsored by National Council for the Social Studies, the
American Library Association, and the American Association of School
Librarians. A Cheyenne Odyssey is specifically sponsored by Chief Dull Knife
College, a community based, land grant, and tribally controlled community
college on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana. The college
provides culturally influenced education through quality life-long learning
opportunities for local Northern Cheyenne.
*You must register to MissionUS
before you can play the game. It is free.
In Toronto, there is a
great place where you can mix lattes and playing tabletop games. While traveling through the city recently, I
was able to stop in at the local gaming café, Snakes and Lattes. I have always
been a gamer and even helped launch a local game club in our community at a
neighborhood hamburger joint. So, I am
happy to find a place devoted to food and gaming. 
Snakes and Lattes is a board game cafe and currently
has two locations in Toronto. We visited the main café on Bloor Street.
It is a very inviting place and the staff is quick to answer any
questions. When we sat down, our server
gave a rundown of the rules of the café.
For example, everyone pays a cover charge of $5 to stay and play board
games for as long as they like. The café has
a huge collection of board games.
Really, just about any game you could think of was on the shelves. We
managed to play two different games, a quick couple of rounds of Loonacy before
dinner. Then we played Tokkaido while waiting for our food to arrive and as we ate. 
Looking around the café, it was clear that everyone in
Snakes and Lattes is all about playing games and socializing with friends. Although the name implies coffee, it does
serve a variety of café food and beverage items. The place we got to visit is a larger version
of what opened in 2010 by owners Aurélia Peynet and Ben Castanie. We had put it
on our Toronto to-do list after seeing Steve Tassie’s videos on the DiceTower
YouTube channel. Considering we have
seen all of Steve’s videos about games and Snakes and Lattes, we were excited
to actually meet him in person and talk about our love of gaming with him. 
