From: jim.speirs@canrem.com (Jim Speirs) To: dannys@iis.ee.ethz.ch (Danny Schwendener) Subject: Survival: A Wide Game Summary: Wide game for older cubs, scouts and venturers. Requires 30-50 people. Article #R139. ============== Survival: A Wide Game Bob Thaler The Leader, August/September 1991 This wide game for older Cubs, Scouts, or Venturers simulates the pressures of survival on animals in the food chain. I first learned it at a Hamilton YMCA camp in 1975. You need 30 to 50 people to play, which makes it great for a fall camporee or joint activity. The beauty is that you can adapt the complexity to the age group. The game involves a human, fire, disease, large and small carnivores (meat eaters) and large and small herbivores (plant eaters). It requires some preparation. Give each player a role. In a game of 40 players, the division will look like this. One human One player who is Fire One player who is Disease Five large carnivores (wolves) Seven large herbivores (deer) Five small carnivores (foxes) 20 small herbivores (five each: chipmunks, mice, squirrels, moles) You need a different coloured identifying armband for each group: e.g. small herbivores, green; small carnivores, blue; large herbivores, yellow; large carnivores, orange; Disease, white; Fire, red; Human, black. You also need to prepare life cards for the animals. These are the "lives" they give up to predators that catch them. To survive at the end of the game, an animal must have at least one of his own life cards left. When a carnivore is caught, for example, he must give up his own life card--not one of the herbivore cards he captured. Cut the cards about 50 mm x 75 mm from bristol board. Small herbivores: 6 life cards each Small carnivores: 4 life cards each Large herbivores: 3 life cards each Large carnivores: 1 life card each We gave each animal a metal shower curtain ring on which we'd strung the appropriate number of life cards. In the woods, hide 10 numbered food and water stations. We made them from bristol board cards 25 cm x 30 cm and fastened 20 food/water tags labelled with the station number to each. Herbivores search the woods to find these stations and take a tag. To survive at the end of the game, a herbivore must have collected a tag from each station. Notice that there are fewer food/water tags than herbivores, a simulation of the competition for food in the natural world. How to Play Begin the game in a central location, where a leader stays to manage comings and goings with a whistle. Have all animals tuck a scarf into the back of the pants. A predator makes a capture by pulling it out. Explain the game and your whistle signals (a single blast means another group is starting out; a double blast means end of game, for example). Allow time for questions. When everyone is ready, send out the small herbivores to begin their search for food and water. About 10 minutes into the game, send out the foxes to hunt small herbivores. When a predator catches prey by pulling out the scarf, the prey animal must give a life card (not a food/water tag) to the predator. Prey with lives left then reclaim the scarf, tuck it in, and resume their search for food and water. An animal who loses all his life cards dies and returns to the start point to wait out the remainder of the game. To survive, a fox needs to take six small herbivore life cards by the end of the game. About 10 minutes after foxes leave, send out the deer. They also must look for food/water stations and collect a tag from each to survive at the end of the game. Foxes are too small to catch deer. Ten minutes later, send out the wolves. They can catch any animal. To survive, a wolf must catch at least two deer and three small animals (either foxes or small herbivores) by the end of the game. After another 10 minutes, send out Fire and Disease. They may prey on any animal and, like predators, catch them by pulling out the scarf from the back of the pants. They, of course, do not need to search for food. Finally, send out the human for five minutes before game's end. Because humans have guns, they only need to see an animal to kill it. These animals are dead and out of the game, no matter how many life cards they have left. After five minutes, sound the signal that ends the game. When everyone is back at the centre, count the survivors; animals that haven't been shot by the human, have kept at least one of their life cards, and have found enough food/water tags or, if predators, have collected enough life cards from their prey. The key now is to sit down and discuss the game to turn it into a real learning experience. Talk about the competition for scarce food and what happened when predators started to appear. How did the herbivores feel? What did it feel like to be a predator? Talk about the devastation wrought by the human. Although the game uses a gun as a symbol, lead players to discuss different ways humans affect wildlife--habitat destruction, pollution, etc. With older members, take a look at the relative numbers of animal lives and humans. Adaptations You can change elements of the game to match the abilities of the group. With younger players, for example, you can simplify things by reducing the competition for food (i.e. providing more food/ water tags). With older players, you can introduce the concept of mating. Give each animal a mate card. Before animals may search for food, they must search out one of their own kind and exchange the mate card. Older players can also play over a wider area and in thicker bush. It could be a good game for winter camp. Remember, the game involves some set up--about three hours work for one leader--less with helpers. It's important to explain carefully the difference between life cards and food/water tags, but once members understand the game, they love playing it. Bob Thaler scouts in Victoria, Newfoundland.