The Egyptian Barter Game
The Egyptian Barter Game
Meets Virginia SOL: HSS.2.9, HSS.3.2, HSS.3.8, HSS.3.9
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 (use these roles for EL students and those with IEPs) and others having to exchange things twice in order to meet their needs.
A sample card is pictured below; all the cards can be just hand-drawn (pictures used to help those with low-reading skills and to reinforce cultural specifics). Each player gets a cardholder on a necklace, on 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. The cards they start with, associated with their role in the game, are included in the cardholder.
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. For some of the more savvy kids, the game is a little more complicated because they couldn’t directly trade for the things they need (these were the roles of Papyrus Maker, Scribe and Trader). 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
Fisherman:
Trades with Weaver for cloth
Trades with Weaver for more cloth to get bread from Baker (The Fisherman needs bread but the Baker does not need fish but does need cloth, so the Fisherman trades with Weaver for cloth, then trades cloth to Baker for bread)
Trades with Potter for pots
Trades with Farmer for basket of vegetables
Scribe:
Trades with Weaver for cloth
Trades with Trader for stylus
Trades with Papyrus Maker for papyrus
Trades with Papyrus Maker for more papyrus (The Papyrus Maker trades the extra Scribe services to the Jewelry Maker for necklace because the Jewelry Maker does not need papyrus but does need Scribe services))
Papyrus Maker
Trades with Farmer for basket of vegetables
Trades with Sribe for services
Trades with Scribe for more services to get necklace from Jewelry Maker (The Papyrus maker needs necklace but the Jewelry Maker does not need papyrus, so the Papyrus Maker trades with Scribe for extra services, then trades the extra Scribe Services to Jewely Maker for necklace)
Baker:
Trades with Farmer for basket of vegetables
Trades with Trader for flour
Trades with Trader for papyrus (the Papyrus Maker does not need bread but the Trader does so it is easier to get papyrus from the Trader)
Trades with Potter for pots
Trades with Fisherman for cloth (the Fisherman traded with Weaver for fish to get the cloth, but the Fisherman did not need cloth but does need bread and the Baker does not need fish but does need cloth)
Trades with Jewelry Maker for flour (The Jewelry Maker trades a necklace with the Trader for flour, then trades the flour to the Baker because the Baker does not need a necklace but does need flour)
Weaver:
Trades with Trader for gold to get necklace from Jewelry Maker (Weaver does not need gold but does need necklace so Weaver trades the gold with Jewelry Maker for necklace)
Trades with Fisherman for fish
Trades with Fisherman for more fish (Fisherman wants bread, but the Baker does not need fish but does need cloth, so Fisherman gets extra cloth to give to the Baker for bread)
Trades with Farmer for basket of vegetables
Trades with Scribe for services
Jewelry Maker
Trades with Weaver for gold (the Weaver trades with the Trader for the gold because the Trader needs cloth; the Weaver then trades gold with Jewelry Maker for necklace)
Trades with Trader for gold
Trades with Trader for flour to get bread (The Jewelry Maker does not need flour, but does need bread so Jewelry Maker trades necklace for flour which then he gives to Baker for bread)
Trades with Papyrus Maker for Scribe service (The Papyrus Maker needs necklace but the Jewelry Maker does not need papyrus, so the Papyrus Maker trades extra papyrus with the Scribe for services, then trades those extra services with the Jewelry maker for necklace)
Trader:
Trades with Scribe for services (stylus)
Trades with Baker for bread (flour)
Trades with Baker for more bread (papyrus)
Trades with Jewelry Maker for necklace (gold)
Trades with Jewelry Maker for necklace (flour) (Jewelry Maker does not need flour but does need bread, so Jewelry Maker trades trades flour with with Baker for bread)
Trades with Weaver for cloth (gold) (Weaver does not need gold, but does need necklace so Weaver trades gold with Jewelry Maker for necklace)
Once the game has been successfully completed, have students describe to a partner what the term "bartering" means. Do we still barter today? Write some examples of how bartering is used today. Share out as in a whole class discussion.
The following are scans of the playing pieces for your reference.