Board Games, Systems, and Equity — An Inquiry — Week 16 — Betrayal at House on the Hill
Those of you who have been following along will notice that I skipped Week 16 and went to Week 17. I got busy doing other things and put this blog off for a bit, and the class where we explored Smallworld went so well, that I finished that one first and published it. Apologies for the confusion.
This game is ALOT. I think the kids really loved the Scooby Doo vibe, but it was like teaching 50 different games. You’ll understand when we get to that part.
This week, I wanted to explore the idea that systems do not exist in a vacuum. They are layered over each other, overlap, are built upon the ruins of other systems, and in some cases exist in opposition to one another.
Systems, in other words, are not necessarily coherent. There can be chaos in order. This is often reflected, but probably not often acknowledged in the world our students live in. How often have we talked about something being the way it is, because history, or culture, or ‘common-sense’, or just ‘because’? We ignore or are blind to issues of equity, we rarely consider the societal implications of how things work and instead simply live with the contradictions created.
This conversation represents the culmination of our work together. I wanted students to see that just because something is a working system, and just because that system is effective, or efficient — doesn’t mean that it is valuable or right or fair. And while these last three considerations may not be the only criteria we need to consider, they definitely need to be considerations that we weigh.
I also wanted them to know that most human created systems (I’d say all, but there may be examples that we/I didn’t consider) have a lifespan. They reach a point that where they no longer do what they were supposed to do. At some point, systems can no longer be renovated and must be re-invented.
We had a great talk. Some of their points hit rather close to home. The pandemic has caused people to evaluate what is important in their lives, and we shouldn’t be surprised that students have also spent time reflecting. The purpose and delivery of school was a hot topic. Students saw less importance and relevance in the current model of school. Most preferred some sort of hybrid model, and many felt that there was a huge amount of ‘useless stuff’ that they were forced to memorize, regurgitate, and then forget to make room for new ‘useless stuff’.
Ouch.
But totally fair. Even if we would argue that alot of what we teach isn’t useless, we have to respect and listen to the student voice here. They clearly want something different, something more personal and meaningful. It is our job to figure out how and to what extent we can do that.
More than anything, students were really strongly in agreement that they wanted to be able to make an impact, and a difference when they believed that something wasn’t working. In our current world, they felt that this was hard, if not impossible. When I pointed out that teens like Greta Thunberg were helping to reshape the world, they pushed back. You shouldn’t have to be ‘exceptional’ to make a difference. You should only need to be engaged. I agree with them. It reminded me of an episode of Malcolm Gladwell’s “Revisionist History” called The Lady Vanishes:
In it, he talks about how overnight sensations do not change the landscape (usually) or open space for others. Instead, they are an opportunity for systems to claim that space has been opened. However, as time passes and those exceptional individuals recede, what we find is that systems actually contract and become less responsive to marginalized voices.
I wrapped up discussion on a hopeful note. I spoke about how thankful I was that they had gone on this journey with me and how amazed I was at the things they had taught me. I hoped that what they had learned about systems and how they functioned would help them to navigate them, understand them, and change them if they weren’t working. I said that I believed in them and their ability to create a world that reflected their values.
This was not the end of our work or discussion s— we are about to enter the next cycle of inquiry — but it was a nice way to bring our discussions full circle.
From this we moved into Betrayal at House on the Hill. In this game, students begin as collaborators, working together to explore the secrets of the haunted mansion. However, at a certain point, something happens, and one of the players becomes the enemy, whereupon the betraying player and the remaining collaborators compete with conflicting goals towards a final victory.
This game has great replayability. Players select a character that has unique skills in both the mental and physical realms. These stats can go up and down and impact the difficulty of challenges in the first part of the game, and ultimately decide survivability in the second part. The game board (house) is created by drawing and placing room tiles from a pile and placing them connected to other rooms on three floors. Because of this mechanic, the board changes every time. Opening new rooms usually requires players to draw a card which leads to some spooky episode or challenge. Eventually, ‘the haunting’ happens and based on the place it happens and the item that causes it, players must refer to the game guide to find out what happens next. Sometimes, it is the person who triggers the haunting is the person who becomes the enemy, although often this is not the case. In any event, when you determine what second half scenario that you have to play is, the betrayer player is asked to leave the room to read some information and the remaining players (heroes) stay with the game board and read a different section.
Each group discovers that they have a new goal to achieve victory. They are told what they must do, and any special abilities they have, or liabilities they must overcome are. Neither group shares this with the other.
When they reunite, both groups then play to complete their victory condition with the first team to do so winning. Sometimes this can be as simple as ‘killing’ all the other players. Sometimes it requires an item or a ritual to be complete.
This is the most complicated part of the game. The second half is essentially a brand new game with new mechanics and rules and players must navigate all of this without revealing their goals. There are 50 scenarios and each of them are different. It is, as I said at the beginning, ALOT. Some kids were overwhelmed by the game and while they had fun in the first part, they totally shut down for the second. And, from a teaching point of view, it was much harder to support the students. Because the second section isn’t the same for every group, I had to spend time reading and learning and trying to figure out each individual game. Things lagged and some kids checked out. If I did this again (when I do it again), I will complete the same second section for all groups so that they see how to do it. This will mean setting up the board and cards in a particular way and not playing the first part of the game, but I think it is important. I would also, and this is the only game I have said this far so far, have used 3 weeks to teach and play this game.
The game is spooky and atmospheric and kind of like a bad horror movie, which the kids really loved.
After Dark Moon (which I have already published), we are moving into our next cycle of inquiry. I am very excited to see what the students will do and how far they have come in terms of trust with the teaching team and their willingness to take risks.
Thanks for reading!
