Brinkmanship Game
This game is designed to be a modified version of risk, to show students the dangers of global escalation and brinkmanship that was occurring during the cold war.
Set up: For this game, students should have some type of tokens that represent "influence". These are used to represent spread of ideology around the world. The game is played on a map of the world (a map with clearly defined regions like a Risk or Axis and Allies map would be ideal), where multiple players try to spread their ideology around the world. To start the game, each student starts in their 'home region'. These regions are 'safe', that is their ideological belief cannot be contested.
How to play: The game progresses in 'rounds', where each player has a chance to try and 'claim' a region. To do this, students place their ideology tokens on a free area. After every player has had a chance to claim a territory, uncontested territories come under the control of their respective players. However, individuals can also contest country claims, by placing their own tokens in territories that others have attempted to claim on the same turn. In the case of these conflicts, students will compete in a best of three rock-paper-scissors. Ultimately, through uncontested claims or the aforementioned conflicts, students will expand the reach of their country, with the end goal of controlling the majority of the world.
Where problems arise however, stem from the conflicts with these other countries over contested territories. Every time two players fight over a territory, it raises the risk index (called DEFCON). This risk conflict does not drop, and goes from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 1. At DEFCON 1, countries undertake nuclear war, and the game is over. Due to this, students must weigh the risk of contesting territorial claims, and raising the DEFCON level to the point of Nuclear war.
Set up: For this game, students should have some type of tokens that represent "influence". These are used to represent spread of ideology around the world. The game is played on a map of the world (a map with clearly defined regions like a Risk or Axis and Allies map would be ideal), where multiple players try to spread their ideology around the world. To start the game, each student starts in their 'home region'. These regions are 'safe', that is their ideological belief cannot be contested.
How to play: The game progresses in 'rounds', where each player has a chance to try and 'claim' a region. To do this, students place their ideology tokens on a free area. After every player has had a chance to claim a territory, uncontested territories come under the control of their respective players. However, individuals can also contest country claims, by placing their own tokens in territories that others have attempted to claim on the same turn. In the case of these conflicts, students will compete in a best of three rock-paper-scissors. Ultimately, through uncontested claims or the aforementioned conflicts, students will expand the reach of their country, with the end goal of controlling the majority of the world.
Where problems arise however, stem from the conflicts with these other countries over contested territories. Every time two players fight over a territory, it raises the risk index (called DEFCON). This risk conflict does not drop, and goes from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 1. At DEFCON 1, countries undertake nuclear war, and the game is over. Due to this, students must weigh the risk of contesting territorial claims, and raising the DEFCON level to the point of Nuclear war.