Simulation Games
Educational Resources: Simulation Games
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Basti LIfe
Revised and updated!
Families become paper-bag makers for survival and have to contend with unfair shopkeepers, debt collectors, and other hazards of slum life. It also explores the possibilities of positive social change through community development work in a Basti.
Global Village
This is a game that explores some of the issues of inequality, wealth and poverty in our world. Game Information:
- Complexity: High, considerable setup required
- Intended age group: High school age and over
- Group size: 20+
Ikengeza
Can you survive through the year to harvest?
Find out what life is like in a typical African village by playing the Ikengeza Game. Based on the real village of Ikengeza (pronounced ih-ken-gay-za), near Iringa, Tanzania, the game presents some of the challenges faced by farmers the world over.
Level Playing Field
This is a simulation that raises issue of global aid, trade and debt as part of a full-on game of touch football.
Game Resources:
- Complexity: Medium, little setup required. The game also assumes a working knowledge of the basic rules of touch football.
- Played in: A football field, park or playground
- Intended age group: Upper Secondary and above
- Group size: 8 - 30
- Time Required: 30 - 60 minutes
Monsoon
Become an Indian farming family and explore issues of poverty, justice and faith under the fickle Indian monsoon.
Monsoon is a realistic and highly interactive simulation game that focuses on some of the dynamics of poverty in an imaginary village near Mysore in India.
Players take the roles of farmers and experience some of the forces that shape people's lives in a village. The game was originally designed and developed by SEARCH of India to help train people working in these communities. It has been modified by TEAR Australia to focus on challenging Australian Christians to think about issues of global poverty and injustice and how they relate to our faith.
- Complexity: High, with extensive preparation required. This simulation is rich and detailed. For this reason, we recommend that you participate at least once as a player before you run the game yourself. TEAR staff are able to assist in training sessions or run this for your church or group.
- Played in: a large hall or open space
- Intended age group: Older youth and up, or family groups which include children and youth
- Group size: 30+
- Time Required: 2 - 3 hours
Refugee Game
This simulation can be emotionally extremely confronting so please take care when running it. TEAR Australia does not recommend this simulation for participants under 18 years of age. TEAR staff and volunteers are also able to run this simulation for any group that wishes. Please contact the TEAR office if you would like to find out about the possibility of running Refugee with your group.
- Complexity: High, extensive setup required
- Played in: A large hall or open space along with nearby rooms and hallways
- Intended age group: Upper Secondary and above
- Group size: 30+
- Time Required: 2 - 3 hours
Rickshaw
Explore the kinds of jobs people do to make ends meet in poor communities. What are the pressures on the working poor in India?
- Complexity: Simple, little setup required
- Played in: Anywhere you have some running-around space
- Intended age group: Upper Primary to Middle Secondary
- Group size: 12+
- Time Required: 15 - 30 minutes
Simulations about Water
These games are pretty much guaranteed to get people wet. Because of this, some sensitivity is required as to where they are played and how people (especially girls) are dressed. Give people plenty of advanced warning about when these games will be played. Consider providing raincoats or garbage-bags with head and arm holes for protection.
Slum Survivor
Every day, over 1 billion people have to survive in the growing slums in many of the world’s cities.
The basics of life can be very hard to come by. Houses are built from scraps of timber, plastic and cardboard. Toilets may be non-existent or shared by hundreds of people. Piped water is a luxury that people in slums can't afford.
...This is Reality
Slum Survivor is a simulation experience designed to:
- help people get a taste of what life might be like in a slum
- reflect on God's concern for the poor
- start thinking about how they can respond.
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