Getting on ‘board’ for social studies

Shalini Sabikhi

Board games have been popular among the young and old since ancient times. The discovery of dice in the Indus Valley site in Gujarat proves that even the Harappans played board games. Board games have been mentioned in literature, can be seen in sculptures, and also in paintings. In the Mahabharata, a game of dice causes the Pandavas to lose their kingdom. Chausar is a dice game similar to Ludo. Other popular board games were Pachisi, Moksha Patam, Chaturanga, Ashta Chamma, Chaupar, Wagh Bakri, Chaturanga, etc. Today’s generation enjoys board games such as Risk, Chess, Chinese Checkers, Monopoly, Business, Scrabble, etc.

Apart from recreation, board games can also be a source of learning. Various concepts can be revised in a fun way with the help of board games. They are fun to play and great to make. Students can design and make their own social studies board games by following a few guidelines:

• When you want to design a board game, first think of the objective. For example, the objective of Ludo is to reach the home in the centre. The objective of Chess is to checkmate the opponent’s king.
• Decide what the players will learn while playing the game.
• Then plan the mechanics, i.e., what should be done to play the game like rolling dice, moving counters, using strikers, etc.
• Think of the components you want to use in the game like board, counters, dice, cards, etc.
• Then frame the rules of the game.
• Give an interesting name to your game.

Here are some examples of board games that can be made to learn social studies:

Game 1: This game is based on Bhed-Bakri, an ancient game from India. In this game, the board is prepared as shown in Fig. 1.
Objective of the game: To reach the opponent’s starting point.
Elements of the game: Board, dice or cowries, two counters of different colours – one for each player.
Mechanics: The player throws the dice and moves his counters.
Rules: The player can start moving his counter only after he gets a six on the dice. The direction of the movement of Player A is shown with arrows in the layout below. He wins if he is able to reach Player B’s starting point. Player B also takes his turn in throwing the dice and moves his counter from his starting point till he reaches Player A’s starting point. If a player’s counter reaches the same square as the other player’s counter then the player who was already there has to take his counter back to his own starting point.

Now let us connect this game with social studies. Some of the squares can have questions from the subject. The player has to answer the question in the square correctly to move forward. If he is not able to answer correctly then he moves one square back and his opponent gets the chance to throw the dice. Instead of dice, four cowries can also be used. The player throws the cowries. He moves his counter as many squares as the cowries with their opening side up. If all cowries fall with the opening side down then it is counted as eight. The number of rows, columns, and questions can be increased as per your choice.

Game 2: On a board, draw and colour the layout of Snakes and Ladders. In the squares at the base of each ladder and the mouth of the snakes write a question from history, geography, civics, or economics. The rules remain the same as for Snakes and Ladders, except when the player reaches a ladder he can climb it only if he answers the question asked correctly. If he reaches the mouth of a snake and answers the question given correctly, he can remain in the same square but will have to go down the snake if he answers incorrectly. Questions can be based on countries and their capitals, states and their capitals, wildlife and vegetation, etc.

Game 3: For this game a board similar to that of Ludo can be prepared.
Objective: To move forward on the board and reach the home in the centre.
Components: Board similar to Ludo, dice, four counters of different colours – one for each player.
Rules: All four players throw the dice. The player with the highest number on the dice has to speak for one minute without pause, hesitation, repetition, or deviation on a topic related to social studies. It can be about a country, state, continent, city, historical personality, climate, pollution, etc. A single theme can also be decided for all players in advance like ‘Travel’. If the player succeeds in speaking for one minute then he moves five places forward, otherwise he goes two steps back. The first player to reach home is the winner.

Game 4: Scrabble can be linked with social studies. Distribute the letter counters equally among the players. All rules for playing scrabble are followed. But in this game the players will make only names of countries, continents, cities, towns, villages, or states.

Game 5: Make a set of 50 cards with names of different countries written on them. Then make another set of 50 cards with the capitals of these countries. Shuffle the set of 100. Two or more players can play this game. Each player is given 10 cards. All the players first make sets of countries and their capitals from the cards they already have and put them down. Then one player opens a card in the centre. If it has the name of a country then another player who has the card with its capital will throw his card, make the set and add to his other sets. If the opened card has the name of the capital then another player who has its country can make the set. The game continues and the player with the maximum number of sets wins.

Game 6: Make a board with a grid as shown in Fig. 2. Each square should have the name of a country. Each player gets 10 cards (as shown in Fig. 3) with one picture/name of a thing associated with these countries drawn/written on it. It can be monuments, food, clothes, flora, fauna, famous people, national symbols (flag, animal, bird, flower, vegetable, fruit, etc). The first player to play selects a card and places it on the board in the box of the country with which it is most associated. He gets five points if he has matched correctly. It is then the next player’s turn and he too puts down his card on the country with which it is most associated. The player who scores the highest is the winner. This game can also be made with the states of a country.

Africa	Australia	India	Canada	USA	Sri Lanka
Bhutan	Nepal	Egypt	France	Germany	Argentina
Bangladesh	Brazil	Denmark	Greece	Iceland	New Zealand
Indonesia	Italy	Japan	Kenya	Maldives	Mauritius
Mexico	Norway	Phillipines	Spain	Switzerland	Sweden
Zambia	United Kingdom	Turkey	Thailand	Peru	Portugal

Cut the squares in Fig. 3 along the lines to make individual cards which can be placed on the countries on the board. Make many cards with different things for each country.

River Amazon	Capital: Port Louis	Currency: Yen	Artesian wells	The Pyramids
Currency: Baht	Dolphin	Statue of Unity	River Thames	Madonna
Cherry Blossom	Pizza	River Nile	Capital: Washington DC	Hollywood
Lion	Peacock	Currency: Peso	Ayer’s Rock	Largest producer of coffee in the world
Lotus	Ottawa	Eiffel Tower	Capital; Ankara	National Game; Archery

The author is an educator at Zydus School for Excellence, Vejalpur, Ahmedabad. She teaches social studies. She enjoys making crafts, travelling, learning and sharing her learnings with others. She can be reached at svs502@yahoo.com.