The Archaic Arcade

How do we bring ancient gaming into the modern world?

Have you ever noticed that so many movies, tv shows, books, and
games are based on people and events that took place sometime way back
in history?
Do you think people are losing their ability to come up with new and
exciting stories or is it human nature to celebrate our past through new
forms of entertainment?
We think its the later and want to see how you creatively interpret
historical elements and events of a particular ancient civilization. In this
project you will combine math skills and humanities knowledge to create
your own ancient archaic game board. Let your creativity soar, challenge
your critical thinking skills, and LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
Project Overview:
This project will combine the worlds of math/science and humanities!
You will learn to use your engineering skills and strategies to create
historically wooden themed arcade game based on ancient civilizations. That
is right, you and your partner will decide on a choice of game to design and
build! Civilizations may include:

Labyrinth Puzzles
Shuffleboards
Pinball
Air Hockey
Skeeball

Humanities Overview:
Its time to explore the ancient world through a historians eye. Its one
thing to memorize names and dates, but when we use historical thinking
skills we search out what caused events, we examine artifacts of the time,
we find out how people during the time thought, and we take all that
information to come up with our own truth based on a corroboration of
sources.
Learning is more than just reading facts and regurgitating them back to
your teacher on a test or in a presentation (but those things do help us learn
too!). In this project you will be the researcher and turn your research into
something educational and fun. Gamification is like sneaking vegetables into
a toddler's diet through their dessert. You will give your audience the stuff
that helps their minds grow, but in a way that is entertaining and engaging.

Essential Questions:

Why does pop culture (entertainment) continue to look back to history

for inspiration?
How can we best use gamification to invoke historical interest?

Project Requirements:
Research an ancient civilization.
Become particularly familiar with that civilizations art style and
architecture.
Focus on a singular aspect of that civilization that they would like to
gamify (government, military, daily life, religion, etc).
Write a game manual that helps players better understand your
civilization and the game.

Math/Science Overview:
Have you ever wondered how Egyptians used mathematics to build
The Great Pyramid of Giza? Have you wondered how people have used
mathematics to improve their everyday lives? Mathematics has been one of
the most beneficial tools used to help establish civilizations. From prehistoric
times to present day, mathematics has evolved and helped people
communicate, problem solve, and identify and analyze patterns. There have
been millions of mathematicians who have conquered perplexing math
problems. In fact, some of these math problems have taken years to solve!
You will your mathematical intuition to help design and build your
wooden arcade game. That is, you will use ratios, proportions, and fractions
to help create a working mechanism for you arcade game. This includes
making precise measurements for arcade pieces to function properly. You will
also be responsible for creating a scaled design of your game piece, and
include a prototypes of your initial designs. Get ready to play, and learn
through the world of gaming!
Essential Questions:
How can we use ratios/fractions/proportions to help build wooden
arcade pieces?
How can we best design functioning mechanisms for each arcade
piece?
How has mathematics and science allowed us to make technological
advances in the gaming world?
Project Requirements:
1. First initial design of arcade piece
2. Prototype of game piece
3. Make precise measurements for arcade pieces to function properly
4. Study fractions, ratios, and proportions
5. Build wooden arcade game with functional mechanisms