Educational simulation game and method for playing

Abstract

An educational simulation game is provided, comprising: a quantity of game money for use during play of the game; a game map comprising multiple adjoining game tiles representing elements of a country, comprising wilderness tiles, residence tiles, and business tiles, wherein each tile may be acquired by a player of the game, and wherein each tile represents at least a benefit or a cost to an acquiring player; a constitution comprising principles for governing collective game play by multiple players; and a plurality of hidden agendas, comprising one or more objectives, wherein each player is assigned a hidden agenda.

1 . An educational simulation game comprising: 
 a quantity of game money for use during play of the game;    a game map comprising multiple adjoining game tiles representing elements of a country, comprising wilderness tiles, residence tiles, and business tiles, wherein each tile may be acquired by a player of the game, and wherein each tile conveys at least a benefit or a cost to an acquiring player;    a constitution comprising principles for governing collective game play by multiple players; and    a plurality of hidden agendas, comprising one or more objectives, wherein each player is assigned a hidden agenda.    
   
   
       2 . The educational simulation game according to  claim 1  additionally comprising a plurality of wildcards, wherein each wildcard comprises an announcement and positive or negative consequences to a player receiving the wildcard.  
   
   
       3 . The educational simulation game according to  claim 1  additionally comprising economic units wherein economic units are produced by business tiles.  
   
   
       4 . The educational simulation game according to  claim 1  wherein wilderness tiles comprise greenspace tiles and river tiles.  
   
   
       5 . The educational simulation game according to  claim 1  wherein residence tiles comprise mansion tiles, house tiles, and apartment tiles.  
   
   
       6 . The educational simulation game according to  claim 1  wherein business tiles comprise one or more of: energy/industry tiles, farm tiles, healthcare tiles, education tiles, security tiles, insurance tiles, technology tiles, arts and entertainment tiles, and transportation tiles.  
   
   
       7 . The educational simulation game according to  claim 1  wherein the game is configured for play in a classroom setting and the game players are students.  
   
   
       8 . The educational simulation game according to  claim 1  wherein the game is configured for online delivery over a computer network.  
   
   
       9 . The educational simulation game according to  claim 6  wherein each game tile comprises at least one of images and symbols representing the type of game tile.  
   
   
       10 . The educational simulation game according to  claim 1  wherein the object of a player is to earn status points during game play, and wherein status points may be earned by one or more of: earning well-being points during game play, accomplishing objectives of an assigned hidden agenda, and performance and/or participation in game play in a classroom setting.  
   
   
       11 . A method of playing an educational simulation game comprising: 
 providing a game map, comprising multiple adjoining game tiles representing elements of a country, comprising wilderness tiles, residence tiles, and business tiles, wherein business tiles produce economic units;    providing an initial amount of game money to each player;    establishing a constitution comprising principles for governing collective game play;    assigning a hidden agenda to each player;    auctioning game tiles to be acquired by game players in exchange for game money;    conducting a legislative session to establish additional principles for game play;    conducting a judicial session to enforce principles for game play;    conducting an executive session to execute duties of a collective government comprised of all players; and    conducting an economic session wherein players may buy, sell or trade game tiles or economic units.    
   
   
       12 . The method according to  claim 11  additionally comprising conducting an international session to interact with a separate second educational simulation game being played contemporaneously.  
   
   
       13 . The method according to  claim 11  additionally comprising determining a number of status points earned by each player.  
   
   
       14 . The method according to  claim 11  additionally comprising distributing wildcards to one or more players.  
   
   
       15 . A graphical user interface for playing an educational simulation game comprising: 
 a game map pane displaying a game map comprising multiple adjoining game tiles representing elements of a country, comprising wilderness tiles, residence tiles, and business tiles;    a constitution pane displaying a constitution comprising principles for governing collective game play by multiple game players;    a status summary pane displaying a player status summary for each game player; and    a discussion forum pane displaying a discussion forum for interaction between game players.    
   
   
       16 . The graphical user interface according to  claim 15  wherein the graphical user interface is adapted for playing an education simulation game by a classroom comprising multiple student game players.  
   
   
       17 . The graphical user interface according to  claim 15  wherein a player status summary comprises a list of game tiles and economic units acquired a each player, a list of game tiles and/or economic units a player wishes to buy, sell or trade, and a total of status points earned by a player.  
   
   
       18 . The graphical user interface according to  claim 15  wherein the graphical user interface is configured for online delivery over a computer network.  
   
   
       19 . The graphical user interface according to  claim 18  wherein the computer network comprises a central hosting computer, and at least one remote client computer.  
   
   
       20 . The graphical user interface according to  claim 19  wherein the at least one remote client computer comprises one or more of: an instructor computer in a classroom and a student computer in a classroom.