Empire“The greatest game I’ve ever played!”

-King George III

Your King, King Barr

The Year• 1735

• What was life like in 1735?

The Teams• Colonial Farmers• Southern Planters• West Indies Planters• European

Merchants• London Merchants• New England

Merchants

Object of the Game:• Each team has a different amount and variety

of goods to trade and is looking for different resources that the other teams have.

• During the different rounds of play, you plan your trades and work to make a profit.

• At the end of several rounds, the team with the greatest percentage increase in their value wins.

Step 1: Planning

1. Decide who from your team will stay at your station and who will travel (one must remain!).

2. What do you want to buy? What are you willing to sell? What’s legal/illegal to sell?

3. How many contracts do you need to purchase for this round?

4. Buy your contracts from customs agents– Don’t talk to any other teams during this phase– Remember that you might decide with your team that you

need to smuggle (Are you trying to sell an item to a team that that you’re technically not allowed to sell to?)

Step 2: Trading Time

1. Bring blank contracts with you to prearranged stations. 2. Haggle (bargain) and agree to a price and a quantity for

trade (remember: you’re trading for goods, but may use money if necessary).

3. You may have up to 4 chips per ship. 5 is smuggling. 6 sinks your ship (no can do). Both teams must initial final contract. (*Note: a smuggled good would not be recorded on the contract.)

4. When King Barr flashes the lights, you must return to your station or risk the dungeons.

5. Remember: trading will last for a limited amount of time. The quicker you go, the more likely you are to lock in your trades.

Step 3: Shipping1. Fold chips/money inside the contract2. Label origin and destination3. Put on ship and place at edge of desk, ready to set sail.4. Customs agents will then flip sailing cards to guide your ships

(hopefully) to safety.5. The customs agents will do this again for the return journey6. Cards you may encounter:

• Good Sailing (continue on)• Lost in Storm (you lose the ship and your goods)• Captured by Pirates (you lose the goods but keep the ship)• Boarded for Inspection (hopefully a bribe will keep you out

of trouble!)7. 1-2 cards along the coast, 3 cards to cross the Atlantic

– Fill out captain’s log with money/goods traded/acquired and money/goods acquired/spent

Step 4: Captain’s Log

To win the game• The winning team is the team that has the highest

percentage increase in total value (money and goods)

• Note: There are penalties for not getting desired imports – try to get what you need!

• Note: There are penalties for getting products that you should not have imported. For example, if you have flour, but your team did not need flour, you will not get the full value of that product in scoring.

Cheating Your Teacher Will Not Over Look

• Stealing From Other Groups

• Trading without Shipping

• Taking Empire objects outside of 314

• Touching the map• Destroying any

materials

“Cheating” Your Teacher Will Overlook

• Bribing customs agents

• Breaking embargos through smuggling

• Smuggling extra cargo In ships

• Unfair trades or bartering

Illegal Trades• As you learned from studying the

Navigation Acts, there are some goods that the British colonies can ONLY sell to London.

• European merchants, you may not be able to make your deals as, hmm, legally as you’d like.

Customs Agents• Enforce Trading Laws: They’ll make sure you’re following all

classroom rules• Collect Tariffs: They’ll charge you £50.00 per contract (prices

may go up over time)• Oversee Shipping: They’ll let you know how your ships faired

during shipping.• Confiscate Goods and Stop Smuggling: They’ll occasionally

board your ship to make sure there are no smuggled goods.• Some of my less ethical Customs Agents have been known to

take bribes. I ask, as your loving and benevolent King, that you not encourage this dastardly behavior.

Customs Agents• Don’t tell them I said this, but

my British Customs Agents can sometimes be a real pain in the butt. If it were just up to me, I’d really just want you to trade freely. I know you love your Mother Country and, guess what, she loves you! But…there are some things they have to do to, you know, keep order…

• (Also, is King Barr actually a magician? Maybe…)

A few other items to note…• All trades require ships

• You may rent a ship for roughly £100

• You may purchase a ship for an agreed upon price (usually upwards of £1000)

• Please note that some teams are starting out with much more wealth than others, but ANYONE CAN WIN! Just keep trading – a small profit is better than no profit, and winning requires the greatest percent of change.

Let’s Get Ready

• Assign teams

• Inventory packets

• Rules

• What’s a good trade: “Do your math”

• Make team posters

Inventory – Count what you have

•Money•Chips per product•Rules sheet•Trading instructions sheet•Tally Sheet •Captain’s log

Posters

• Must be completed within one class period

• Team name: large• List all Sell products on the top half of the page (and

label them “sell”)• List all Buy products on the bottom half of the page

(and label them “buy”)• Illustrations are optional, and only if time allows

London Merchants

SELL: Textiles, Ironware, Tea, Spices, Ships

BUY: Sugar, Tobacco, Fur, Indigo, Lumber, Rice

Sample Poster

King George Says, “Do Your Math!”

• Southern Planters trade:– Tobacco 600– Tobacco 600– Tobacco 600– Rice 200

= 2,000 pounds spent

• European Merchants– Slaves 2,500– Iron 700

= 3,200 pounds spent

Which team gets the benefit of this trade?

Your Groups, Section 1:

Customs Agents: Andrew, Jeanne

New England Merchants: David, Olivia, Sam

Colonial Farmers: Alison, Allie, Erin

Southern Planters: Guy, Lily, Bobbi

West Indies Planters: Erik, Casey, Alex, Maimouna

London Merchants: Sophia, Mikayla, Yahni

European Merchants: Armin, Julia, Brianna, Trisha

Your Groups, Section 2:

Customs Agents: Thomas, Anna

New England Merchants: Declan, Mykhalo, Melissa

Colonial Farmers: Hannah, Nathan, Naoyuki

Southern Planters: Erica, Yael, Ben, Jonathan

West Indies Planters: Andrew, Josh, Aliana

London Merchants: Emma, Harry, Layla, Abel

European Merchants: Morrigan, Jack, Abby, Avery

Your Groups, Section 3:

Customs Agents: Lawrence, Jeanette

New England Merchants: Aaron, Joao, Rosmery, Noelle

Colonial Farmers: Wisam, Rose, Emily, Ty

Southern Planters: Laura, Jeremy, Ali

West Indies Planters: Hayoung, Taylor, Tomer

London Merchants: Nicholas, Miles, Jason, Kiara

European Merchants: Tommy, Riley, Amos, Nicole

Your Groups, Section 4:

Customs Agents: Miles, Rose

New England Merchants: Alex B, Juan, Jonas, Sarah

Colonial Farmers: Celia, Dylan, Martin, Ming

Southern Planters: Toby, Hunter, Ali

West Indies Planters: Andy, Alex K, Samantha, Mitchell

London Merchants: Alida, Robin, Eve, Jojo

European Merchants: Liam, Lexie, Matthew

So, good luck, and happy trading!