CLASSROOM ACTIVITY Students should work in pairs. Each group follows the directions on the Student Procedure sheets. Brief background information on the origin of the games is also provided on the Student Procedure sheets. Achi—Ghana After discussing the introductory questions and handing out the materials, walk through the student procedure for achi. You can demonstrate how to play the game by challenging the class to a game on the whiteboard or chalkboard. Draw the game on the board and use tape or magnets to attach the game pieces. Once students understand the game, allow them to play together in pairs. Once students have finished a few rounds of achi, ask them what strategies worked best. Banqi—China Repeat this process with Banqi (pronounced ban-chi). Banqi takes longer to play and involves more complex strategy. Give students enough time to play at least one game (about 15 minutes) before interrupting to allow them to discuss their strategies. CLASS DISCUSSION Ask for student observations. There is no correct answer. Let students guide the discussion and present their hypotheses before discussing explanations.
What did you like about achi and banqi? They were fun/hard/new/seemed simple but were really complicated. What strategies did you try? Did they work? In achi, it helped if you got the middle square because then you had more options later. In banchi, you really had to think about whether it was worth losing one piece so that you could capture more pieces later. How could you find more successful strategies for these games? You could play a lot more. You could look on the Internet or in a book. You could find someone who is really good to help you learn.
Games from around the World
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Mindbender Mansion 2008, OMSI