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In Puerto Rico players assume the roles of colonial governors on the island of Puerto Rico. The aim of the game is to amass victory points by shipping goods to Europe or by constructing buildings. Each player uses a separate small board with spaces for city buildings, plantations, and resources. Shared between the players are three ships, a trading house, and a supply of resources and doubloons. |
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In Catan (formerly The Settlers of Catan), players try to be the dominant force on the island of Catan by building settlements, cities, and roads. On each turn dice are rolled to determine what resources the island produces. Players collect these resources (cards)—wood, grain, brick, sheep, or stone—to build up their civilizations to get to 10 victory points and win the game. |
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In Evolution, players adapt their species in a dynamic ecosystem where food is scarce and predators lurk. Traits like Hard Shell and Horns will protect your species from Carnivores, while a Long Neck will help them get food that others cannot reach. With over 4,000 ways to evolve your species, every game becomes a different adventure. "The theme of evolution is not just tacked on: it drives play." - Nature (the world's most prestigious scientific journal) |
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Spirit Island is a complex and thematic cooperative game about defending your island home from colonizing Invaders. Players are different spirits of the land, each with its own unique elemental powers. Every turn, players simultaneously choose which of their power cards to play, paying energy to do so. Using combinations of power cards that match a spirit's elemental affinities can grant free bonus effects. Faster powers take effect immediately, before the Invaders spread and ravage, but other magics are slower, requiring forethought and planning to use effectively. In the Spirit phase, spirits gain energy, and choose how / whether to Grow: to reclaim used power cards, to seek for new power, or to spread presence into new areas of the island. |
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Tikal is a game of exploration within the Central American jungles in search of lost temples and the treasures within. Players send their team of explorers into the jungle, exposing more and more of the terrain. Along the way, you find temples that require further uncovering and treasures. Players attempt to score points for occupying temples and holding onto treasure. |
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The year is AD 79. Pompeii, sitting at the foot of Vesuvius, is at the high point in its development. People come to the city from far and wide to try to make their luck in the city. So far nobody has dreamed of the danger that will bury all of their dreams under mountains of ash just ten years later. Who will survive the eruption of Vesuvius unscathed? |
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A world of beautiful colors comes alive in Pastiche as players choose commission cards picturing 34 of the finest European art works of the past six centuries. Players score their commissions by mixing primary colors through clever tile placement and recreating the palette of colors used by the masters who created these works. Explore the paintings, palettes, and pasts of the artists in this unique and challenging game for the whole family. |
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Games in College Classrooms: A Three-Day Institute
June 10-12, 2019 at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine
This three-day workshop is meant to introduce college-level instructors to the possibilities offered by games in the classroom. Registration deadline: May 15, 2019.
Games are coming to college classrooms.
They’re ubiquitous in American culture, of course. The videogame industry is more profitable than Hollywood films; nearly every student carries with them a game-playing phone. It’s not all digital, either. Board games are undergoing a golden age, with thousands of new titles are expanding the subjects of games – from animal evolution to Jane Austen novels to the history of slavery. Not only are we seeing more games than ever, we’re learning more about what games can do. An interdisciplinary field of academic study, New Media Studies, has emerged to provide the vocabulary and methods to take these important new forms of representation seriously.
Games offer new potential for transformative teaching. Video games, board games, escape rooms – all are being brought in to higher education. Consider Reacting to the Past (RTTP), a set of deeply developed classroom role-playing games that engages disciplines such as History, Classics, Religion, Literature, Government, and Economics. Students in Reacting classes may become Framers of the Constitution, critics of Galileo, adherents of Gandhi, proponents of democracy in ancient Greece, or characters in dozens of other games. Working from a common set of documents, they prepare public addresses, deliver their oratory in class, and seek to advance the interest of their character or faction. Since they were first developed in the 1990s, Reacting games have been used in hundreds of colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad. The system has received awards for pedagogical innovation, and developmental support from a range of institutions, including the National Science Foundation and Teagle Foundation. New Reacting games are being developed for use in STEM classrooms.
This three-day workshop is meant to introduce college-level instructors to the possibilities offered by games in the classroom. We will introduce instructors to RTTP though a day-long Reacting game, examine the use of other role-immersion games and other classroom models, and even take a crack at designing our own simple games. We’ll also examine some important literature on games, and leave plenty of time for opening gaming. Be sure to share with us your particular interest in games and teaching, so we can help tailor the workshop to your needs.
Cost, Registration, and Accommodations
Cost and Accommodations: A small registration fee of $25 is expected of those not employed by Bowdoin College. This includes all materials, as well as morning coffee and lunch. Participants arrange their own accommodations and dinners. Brunswick is a lovely coastal destination with excellent shops and restaurants. Brunswick Visitor Resources
Registration deadline: May 15, 2019
Register here
For more information:
- Kathryn Byrnes, Baldwin Center for Learning and Teaching, Bowdoin College, kbyrnes@bowdoin.edu
- Patrick Rael, Department of History, Bowdoin College, prael@bowdoin.edu