Bright Ideas #6: Starwarsopoly Gamification

I have been a Star Wars geek for as long as I can remember.  Not only does the movie hold  incredibly fond memories for me, I really just love LOVEEEE the movies, the characters…the everything.  Super Mario Brothers was our first classroom gamification,  then there was Angry Birds,  so when my students asked me what would be next and they asked me what about Star Wars.  I didn’t even have to think.

HOLY WOW….HECK YES!!!

After Angry Birds (which ended up being exhausting, was way more work than I had anticipated and will probably not be played ever again ever again unless it goes electronic)  I was ready to plan a classroom gamification game that was individual and not so time consuming on my part.  I really wanted a game that would run itself but would also be strong enough to continue to motivate and be fun for my students…especially at the end of the school year!  I knew just the game…Monopoly!!!  Not only was it a game I had wanted to make one for two years now (yeah a long time for an idea…I know) it could meet all my classroom gamification requirements.

I started by researching names,  places, things and  ideas (Best Star Wars site…ever!).   I wanted to say is true to the game of Monopoly, while allowing it to ooze Star Wars fun!  As I started making the board I also knew (from past gamification experience) while cards and some of the extra details that make Monopoly Monopoly would be fun it would also make making the game time-consuming and eventually take the fun away from the game… because it would never get done.  So I decided to try to find that balance.  I decided to balance the complexities of the game, getting the game actually made and not making it exhausting for me and unmotivating for the players.

I ended up deciding on the following:

1. Rent for each space would be the same
2. You would still have to own all your colors to buy houses
3. Buying houses, buildings etc will be the same for all the properties on the board
4. The fine/rent paid for each landing on a property with a house, building etc would be the same for all the properties

To add to the games fun and embrace even more of its Star Wars roots student will for their character (game piece on the board) and be a Rebel or an Imperial. This would be a factor when the game is played giving each player advantages and disadvantages. I also want to try out challenges in this game.  We had never tried it before and it was another thing on my list of things I wanted to try (you really have no idea how long this list is). These challenges were added in place of Community Chest cards and Chance cards. The selected challenges would intentionally be technology-based skills.  They would be skills that I wanted my students to learn or practice.  Finally, I knew daily play of the game, as beneficial and motivating at it would be, would be too time-consuming and take away from too much class time.  So I settled on use of daily / period by period earning of credits in class to reinforce their positive student skills.  With this consistent and frequent positive reinforcement tool in place and the excitement of playing the game, I knew that not playing every day would be okay and I decided on Mondays and Friday play only.

With the game board and the rules completed I am absolutely giddy and so are my students!

‘CLICK’ Image To Enlarge

I can not wait to share more with you!  I can’t wait to share how the game goes and all the fun I know my students will be having play it.  Be sure to check out my Twitter account and the #What264IsUp to for pictures and updates on the out of this world, Jedi mind tricking, space adventure we will be having and may the force be with you! And if you want more information about this or want to try it out in your classroom please do not hesitate to reach out to me (carriebaughcum (at) gmail (dot) com). 

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