Humanitarian Crisis Game Tournament 2015

For the second year in a row I will be running a mini-tournament of AFTERSHOCK: A Humanitarian Crisis Game for some of my POLI 450 (Peacebuilding) students at McGill University this term. I have posted the tournament rules below, both for my class and for those who might be considering how to integrate this or a similar type of game into a large course.

• Participation in the tournament is  optional.
• Teams must consist of eight players. These will be divided among the four roles: Carana, United Nations, NGOs, and the HADR Task Force.
• To form a team, simply announce it in the appropriate online (myCourses) discussion forum. Up to three teams may compete.
• Each tournament game will consist of 30 minutes of instruction in game mechanics, followed by 2 hours of play. Student are welcome to read the rules in advance.
• The three games will be held at 16h30 on February 6th, 9th, and 11th at ICAMES (3465 Peel). Each team will be assigned a date.
• All participants gain class participation credits. In addition:
  • All members of the team with the highest number of Relief Points will gain additional participation credits.
  • The player(s) with the highest number of Operations Points in each of the four roles (Carana, UN, NGOs, HADR-TF) will also gain additional participation credits.
  • In the event of a tie, both OP and RP will be considered.

In this particular case, 10% of the POLI 450 course grade is based on class participation. While this usually takes the form of online discussion, I do sometimes credit other activities—including both this and my modified version of the Afghan Provincial Reconstruction game which I will be running again this year.