THE GAME

After you have traveled the trail, you and your group will be required to create a board game that will map out your journey for the rest of the class.  Follow the directions below in order to complete this task successfully.  Don't forget, you are the expert now.  Refer to your journal in order to recall what you learned.

Before you begin creating your game, you must share your journal entries with your fellow Corps members.  This will allow you to become familiar with what they have discovered.  You may want to take notes so that you will be better prepared to play the game and re-live the adventure.

Wait, this just in!  First, the United States government is issuing a test to make sure you are fully ready to re-create the trail.  Together, you and your fellow group members should take a virtual test of the journey by clicking on this link.  At the end of the tour be sure to click on the map of your journey to help you with the game!!

Go West Across America with Lewis and Clark
Now, using the map you just found, you are ready to make the game.

Materials:

  • game board sized paper or poster board
  • construction paper
  • markers/paint
  • game pieces
  • 1 die
  • 40 question cards
  • any other materials that might make your game board more creative or look more real!

    • As an expert in your area, you will individually:
     
    1. Create 12-15 question cards for the game.  Place the answer in small print on the bottom of the card.  A fellow member will read the question to the player who will try to answer it.  Here are two examples:
    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

    (Example for the Indian Affairs Expert)
    What was the name of the Indian woman who helped Lewis and Clark?
     Answer:  Sacagawea

    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

    (Example for the Topographer)
    What was the problem when the Corps reached a large fork in the Missouri River?

    A)  They hit a rock and sank.
    B)  Lewis and Clark would only go down the right side of the river for fear of grizzly bears.
    C)  They did not know which fork to follow in order to reach the West the most quickly.
    D)  They turned around and started their trek home.
    Answer:  C
    2.  Represent your area of expertise on the game board with at least 3 pictures or images of items you discovered or saw while on the trail.  They can be decorations (placed anywhere on the game board) or illustrations (placed in the actual spot where they were found or seen):

    You and your fellow Corps members will:

    1. Design the game board in the form of a map of the trail.  The general trail should go from St. Louis to Oregon and back to St. Louis.

    You may choose either to have the players reach Oregon and then turn around and follow the same squares back, or you may make the squares separate, but close to each other, knowing that the Corps followed basically the same trail to and from St. Louis.  Remember that around the Marias and Missouri River that Lewis and Clark split up on the way back to St. Louis.

  • Your game board should include the area of the United States where the journey took place, not the whole US.  For a good example of the area you should use, return to the map at the end of your virtual tour of the trail.
  • Your game board must have at least 20 squares.
  • You may use squares, or footprints, or whatever mark you would like your players to follow as they circulate the US.
  • You may use whatever kind of game piece you like, but remember, they should be distinctly different (color, shape, etc.) so that the players can tell their piece from the others.
    • 2.  Select 5 major events on the journey to label on the game board.
  • These labels should be written neatly or typed.   They should help guide students who have never studied Lewis and Clark... now you must be the teacher as well as the expert.
  • They can be located anywhere they look appropriate.
  • Examples:  In 1805, the Corps spent a long, cold winter traveling over the Rocky Mountains.

    •

    Rules of the Game:

    1. Each player gets one game piece, beginning on the start square of the game (St. Louis).
    2. The player with the highest role of the dice begins.
    3. The first player roles the dice and travels the number of squares accordingly.
    4.  If the player lands on a box that indicates a question, then a fellow player must read the question to him.

  • Correct Answer = Take another turn.
  • Incorrect Answer = Turn is over.
    • 5.  If the player lands on a square with a direction (ex. Snow storm, go back 2 paces, or Grizzly bear attacks- must hide in a tree, skip next turn), then the player will follow the direction. Player's turn is then over.
    6. First person to return to St. Louis (the beginning) WINS!!!

    Tips:

    Students may take artistic liberty when developing a theme or creating the squares for the game.
    These rules are basic ones.  Students are encouraged to develop a more innovative set of rules for the game.   This map below illustrates a basic outline of where the trail should go!


    Image courtesy of PBS