The Trading Game (How to Barter in the Ancient World) Remix with Student Reflection Questions
The Egyptian Barter Game
This game is to help teach
about barter systems of exchange while also focusing on ancient Egyptian
culture. The game is a simple card
exchange based on given rules. The game
provides for a varying level of skill level, with some students directed towards
direct exchanges and others having to exchange things twice in order to meet
their needs.
Clip-art works well for each image; laminate cards to use in future years. Each player gets a card which is printed both their role in the society (which should be turned to the front for easy identification) and what they need to barter for (on the back).
The players of the game try to barter for the things they need. So the Weaver, who has cloth, barters with the Farmer for vegetables. Each Role has to determine how many of cards they’d be willing to trade-one doesn’t want to trade too much or too little or you might not be able to get all your needs. They have to find out what the people they wished to trade with wanted, get those items and then trade for what they need. At the end of the game, the ideal is for everyone to end up with all the cards of their “needs” (and some may have leftovers of their “haves”). Some needs are basic materials for their work and some are personnel needs for their own use.
There are 9 roles and all are needed in order to have the “perfect” set of trades. You can double and triple the sets for larger classes. To account for slightly less than 18 or 27, you could double up roles for some of the more straightforward Roles (such as Fisherman and Potter, or Farmer and Fisherman)
Here is a list of the roles and trading cards.
|
Occupation |
Has |
Needs |
|
Farmer |
8 Vegetable cards |
Fish, Cloth, Pots, Bread, Papyrus |
|
Potter |
9 Pot cards |
Fish, Vegetables, Bread (has large family so should try to get more than 1 of each) |
|
Fisherman |
12 Fish cards |
Vegetables, Bread, Cloth, Pots (has large family so should try to get more than 1 of food items) |
|
Scribe |
4 Service cards |
Cloth, stylus, papyrus (should try for more than 1!) (gets food from Pharoah) |
|
Papyrus Maker |
4 Papyrus cards |
Vegetables, Scribe Services, Necklace |
|
Baker |
8 Bread cards |
Vegetables, Flour (should try for more than 1!), Pots, Papyrus, Cloth |
|
Weaver |
7 Cloth cards |
Scribe Services, Necklace (to celebrate your marriage), Fish (might need a lot for your party!), Vegetables |
|
Jewelry Maker |
4 Necklaces |
Bags of Gold (should try for more than 1!), Bread, Scribe Services |
|
Trader |
1 Papyrus, 1 Stylus, 2 Bags of Gold, 2 Flour cards |
Bread (need more than 1 to take on the road with you), Cloth, Necklace (need 2 for customers in next town), Scribe Services |
For all to get what they
need, the play would go like this. See
how close the students get. Encourage
them to barter for amounts—is one fish worth one pot? Is one basket of vegetables worth a
papyrus? How much should the should the
Papyrus Maker give to the scribe for services?
It might be a good idea for the students to play through once, consider
the results and discuss strategy, then try again.
Farmer:
Trades with Baker for bread
Trades with Fisherman for fish
Trades with Papyrus Maker for papyrus
Trades with Potter for pots
Trades with Weaver for cloth
Potter:
Trades with Baker for bread
Trades with Fisherman for fish
Trades with Farmer for basket of vegetables
and so on...
The following are scans of the playing pieces for your reference.
Modifications
With lower level students, partner students up the first time you play the game. They may feel more comfortable and are more likely to achieve their goals. This could also help if you have a large class or want to move through the activity more quickly.
Reflection questions for the assignment: What were the problems/frustrations with the barter system? What are the advantages of a barter system? How is value for each item determined? Why do you think that cultures eventually moved to a coin/monetary system?