What Are Challenge Cards?
The challenge cards add a unique twist to the discussion! The challenge cards offer an action, question, or new idea to consider with the Big Idea. The cards encourage deeper thinking, empathy, and engagement among players, making game discussions even more dynamic. There are 15 challenge cards in the deck.
How to Use the Cards
- The player who reads the Big Idea out loud can select a challenge card from the deck. This player is the ‘reader’.
- The reader keeps their challenge a secret from the other players.
- Players begin to discuss the Big Idea on the discussion card. They proceed in a circle starting with the player to the left of the reader.
- The reader responds to the Big Idea followed by the challenge. They respond last in the group.
- After responding to the Big Idea statement and the challenge, they read the What If…? question out loud.
- Players repeat the process in step 3.
- When the discussion has quieted and the players are ready for a new topic, the reader places their cards in a separate “completed” pile. The person to their left becomes the next reader. This process is repeated until all cards have been discussed.
What Are Gameplay Agreements?
SYS is unique in that its’ only rules are the gameplay agreements. What these rules truly are, are often referred to as community agreements or norms/guidelines.
Community agreements are shared agreements between people that set expectations for how they want to work together. Agreements include guidelines for what it means to be respectful, expectations for communication, and/or how to structure a welcoming and collaborative environment.
Community agreements are often established before a group conversation to build a sense of community and set clear expectations and boundaries for all participants. The conversation facilitator typically references the agreements as reminders throughout the conversation.
Since community agreements reflect the group’s values, it is best to create them together. To prompt this process as a facilitator, one might ask: “What are some agreements you think we should set as a group to create an environment where everyone feels welcome to participate in the conversation?”. If you’re a facilitator, you should give your participants time to reflect on this question and then ask them to share their ideas with the group when they are ready. If desired, this can be done anonymously with note cards or an online discussion board.
Since classrooms and informal learning spaces are often limited by the time available, we pre-wrote gameplay agreements for facilitators and players to follow to promote mindful conversation. However, we encourage facilitators to write their own or co-create agreements with their group. For example, teachers might consider co-creating classroom agreements with their students at the beginning of the school year as a part of their classroom culture-building practice.
What Does the Card Deck Include?
- 25 discussion cards across 5 categories. Each discussion card contains a ‘Big Idea’ statement and a ‘What If…’ question.
- 15 challenge cards that offer an action, question, or idea to consider with a discussion card.
- 2 rule cards for reference during gameplay.
