Hi,
I teach students from 12 - 20 years of age. I also like to use games with my students, especially strategy games. Any suggestions about games for older students? It always seems that the really creative stuff is geared towards younger students.

Thanks,
Laura

G'Day Laura,

12 to 20 is the perfect age for most good strategy games. Just so I can be a little more specific and helpful - are there any subject areas you would prefer to focus on? Any skills or game styles that would be preferable? And what sort of timeframe do you think would be best to work within?

Without knowing any of that here are some broad suggestions:

Pandemic ~ A co-operative game that is quite simple to teach and yet offers some good depth and difficulty. The upsides here are that the game is co-operative, thus the players must work together and fight against the game itself. Players need to use leadership and teamwork skills. The game can be played with between 2 and 4 players and generally lasts around 30 minutes to an hour.

Incan Gold ~ A 'treasure hunting' game where players push their luck to try and get the most gems over a series of adventures. Players need to assess the probabilities of success and failure, and it can be a blast to push the luck and chance the probabilities in the hope of a real treasure haul. This game plays with 3 to 8 players (though is at its best with 4 or more), and lasts around half an hour.

There are two games I would recommend for that age group - there are plenty of others, including Carcassonne, TransAmerica, Ticket to Ride, Mission: Red Planet, Citadels, Apples to Apples Junior, Werewolf, and a great many more. I hope that helps somewhat!! If you can answers those questions above I can narrow the field down a little, so sorry if these suggestions aren't what you're after just yet!!

Great to read that you use games!! What games do you use and for what?

Cheers,

Giles.

Thank you for those suggestions. Math, science and world studies are areas where we are weak. A game that takes between 20 and 40 minutes to complete fits in best.

We use a lot of games for language. My favorite, and the students love it too, is "Pass the Bomb" it is a game that uses cards to prompt students to think of words. The beauty of it is that it can be done individually or in teams and you can make it as simple or complicated as you need to fit your students' levels. Teams work great if you have mixed levels playing together. You can play in as little as 10 minutes (great filler for those odd moments once they know how to play). Or you can play a longer game. What I like is that the students who don't have great vocabularies can use strategies to come up with words if they listen to the other participants.

The manufacturer is Piatnik. You can search the internet and find it easily.

Thanks!

Pass the Bomb is a great game.

Hmm, there are plenty of games for Maths and World Studies, but far fewer that would neatly fit into the Science curriculum...

I would suggest for the various areas:

Maths:

Incan Gold ~ Which I described earlier, is a great maths orientated game. Maths skills involved here are: Probability, Addition, Division. Not only is tehre a good basis for these maths skills (I have used this game in lessons on Probability for example), but it is also good fun.

Carcassonne ~ Which I threw in as a mention above is also a great Maths game. In this game players add square map tiles tiles to a 'growing' board, so at the start of the game the 'board' is one tile, by the end of the game the 'board' is a map of cities, roads and so forth made up of a great many tiles. The game asks players to assess what is valuable and not so valuable and thus make judgements based off this information. It also asks players to think spatially, as the placement of the tiles is vital to good play. Carcassonne is a game for 2-5 players and lasts around 30-45 minutes.

Torres ~ This is a more complex game, and should last 30-45 minutes. It can be played with 2-4 players. In this game players build 3D towers, and move their pieces into positions at the highest points so they can score the most points. Pieces score points for how high they are off the board (3D spatial thinking) multiplied by the area the tower covers (obviously area and multiplication skills). It is an excellent and challenging game. Maths skills (I've already mentioned really) - Addition, multiplication, area, spatial thinking skills, value assessment.

No Thanks! ~ Is a short card game of bluff and push-your-luck. In this game players have a certain amount of small 'chips' or coins, every turn a player will flip over a card that has a number value on it between 3 and 35 (I think ), players must either take the card, or pay a coin not to take the card. Each coin paid goes onto the card, so when someone does take it, they also get teh coins paid out to avoid taking it. The idea in the game is to end the game with the least points (each card having a points value between 3-35). Sometimes a card which is undesired can start looking desirable as it holds more coins...this is a game where assessment of probabilities, addition and a bit of luck are all key componants. It plays very quickly - 15-30 minutes, and can be played with 3-5 players.


There are plenty more too - if these don't suit, investigate economic games like Owner's Choice, & Ys, spatial games like Blokus or Amazeing Labyrinth, or pure maths logical games like Zertz, or Powergrid.


Science:

There are few good science games out there that I am familiar with so here are three:

Zendo ~ While a 'Zen' themed game may not seem appropriate, this game is all about the application of the scientific principle. I would suggest you read the following review, it makes a very compelling argument for this excellent logic game. Basically a player will create a model that represents some 'truth' ( ie: all the blue pieces point away from a central piece ) , using the process of logical elimination, the other players must build a model (or experiment) to eliminate a possible 'truth' or to guess at the actual 'truth'. Through guesswork and problem solving they gradually get closer to the truth. Therefore, the truth created by the first player represents some natural truth, and the other players go through the scientific method of proposing a hypothesis (their idea of what the truth might be) and experiment (their model), which is tested (the first player says whether the models of the others does conform or doesn't conform to the 'truth' ) , and through repeated and refined experimentation the players hypothesi get closer and closer to the actual truth. The review I linked above does a far better job of describing it than I could - so please read there!!

Khet: the Laser Game ~ In this game 2 players move pieces around the board, each piece houses a mirror, and players also fire their laser (which rebounds off the variously positioned mirrors) in an attemot to hit their opponents 'king'. This is a 2 player game, but contains many 'logical' and problem solving skills, as well as a Laser - the principles of reflection and so forth can be discussed.

Polarity ~ In this game two players try to divest themselves of pieces before the other. Players place pieces on the board by carefuly 'floating' or balancing their magnetic pieces on the different magnetic pieces on the board. An excellent game for looking at the invisible force of magnetism - as in this game players actually get to see pieces balancing off the magnetic fields of the other magnets. Check out this picture.



World Studies:

There are also many games that would fit neatly into the area of World Studies, particularly games orientated around geography. Some such games are:

10 Days in Europe ~ This is actually a series of games, 10 Days in Asia, Europe, Africa and the US are all branches of the same series. Each game is slightly different, obviously the maps they playon are, but there are some very slight rules variations between the games. In these games players are trying to build a full 10 day journey around Europe/Africa/Asia or the US. They do this by picking cards which represent locations (states, countries etc.), and transport modes (Jeep, train, boat plane etc). Players carefully place the locations and modes of transport into their holders, each slot represents a day in the journey. The first player to successfully create a full 10 day journey is the winner. Players must carefully consider how the various pictured countries/states relate to one another geographically, as well as to what oceans they are on and other details. This series is fantastic for looking geography.

Pandemic ~ I mentioned this game above, but it is truly excellent for looking at the world map - players move around the world working together to cure the various diseases that threaten to end the game. This is a very good game.

National Geographic: Expedition ~ Another excellent game that orientates around geography. Players move various expedition tracks around a world map, hoping to be the first to link to all their various locations. This is an excellent game, and again, as it is played on a world map, players are looking out for where their various locations are. One aspect of this game that I really like is that the major land divisions are colour tinted - so Asia is differently denoted than Europe, and North America is differently denoted to South America. Thus, not only are players looking for specific cities around the world, they are also working across continents.

Other excellent games that relate to world studies include: TransAmerica, TransEuropa, and there are also plenty that deal with historical events, from elections like 1960: The Making of a President, or wars like Memoir '44 and even to legends like Shadows Over Camelot,


I hope some of these suggestions help!!

Cheers, and goodluck! If you try any of these out - let us know how you go!

Cheers,

Giles.

Hi Laura!

Giles is correct, it is very hard to find an authentic game that aligns well with science standards.
I do have a few more suggestions to add for you.


Math
Numbers League is an excellent game that incorporates addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in an engaging game. Students build superheroes from heads, bodies and feet. Each part has a value and the hero has a combined value of the sum of its body parts (i.e. a hero with a head of 3, a body of -2, and feet of .5 would have a total value of 1.5). Students work to amass a pool of heroes from which they can combine multiple heroes to capture the villains laid out on the board. Each villain has a value that must be matched to be captured.

There are also one-time modifiers in the way of armor and weapons that students can use to adjust the value of a hero in their efforts to capture villains. For example, a villain valued at 32 can be captures by combining a 10 hero, a 5 hero with a time 4 multiplier added and a 2 hero. There are a number of different ways to reach each villain, making the game very replayable.


World Studies
Many games provide discussion points for history and ancient civilizations. Amun-Re captures the flavor and many elements of ancient Egypt. Students bid on provinces around the Nile river. Each province, depending on its location, has a balance of resource potentials. Once students have acquired a province, they invest in farmers to work the land, bringing in a harvest and stone to build pyramids. Players must be careful not to overextend themselves as they will need to offer a monetary sacrifice to the temple, the size of which will affect how bountiful their harvest will be.


Science
Giles mentioned several excellent games that also have science applications. Power Grid is a network building game that has students working to supply the most cities with power with different types of plants. Students need to upgrade plants to more efficient producers and also acquire the raw materials necessary to power the plants.

Pandemic can be used to discuss infectious diseases: how they spread, combated and managed.

I hope these additions find their way into your student's lives!

Brian

Some more great suggestions Brian!

Cheers,

Giles.