Kickstarter

FAQ

• What is game-play like? what does the student/player do?
  Glory is a four player game, but we have modifications for 2, 3, 6 and 8 players. We also have a tournament style for multiple games. -Each player controls a lane of the board (a "territory") and has a pawn representing a world traveler. -The goal is to win as many cards as possible by answering history questions. -As players travel around the world, they land on "event spaces" which call upon specific actions. Depending on the career of your world traveler, you might have to do different things, for example, the merchant has special privileges if (s)he lands on a marketplace, but has to pay the missionary if (s)he lands on the house of worship. 

  -The game ends after an allotted time period. In a classroom environment this is usually one class period; at home or with friends we recommend 90 or 120 minutes.

  Last updated: Tuesday May 1, 11:10pm EDT
• Will there be different levels of questions? Perhaps a basic level and an AP level? What kind of standards are used in the game?

  The core question cards included in the game set we plan to ship in September cover all historical time periods, regions, and themes from the classical period to the present. These questions are anchored to the AP standards, but are written at an 8th-10th grade reading level. They are appropriate for AP or Regents prep, or just a broad-based historical review. The game design itself is anchored to the core understandings of the AP curriculum and the skills emphasized in the common core standards.

  A few other points: 

  We include blank card questions for custom questions. 
  We will probably start offering extension packs of different question cards later this year or in 2013. It depends on demand. 

  Last updated: Tuesday May 1, 11:10pm EDT
• How is "Glory" different than "Trivial Pursuit"?

  Glory is similar to trivial pursuit in that players have to answer question cards, and correctly answered question cards are the basis of the points one earns to win (active cards are what you draw; bank is where you store your winnings). Other similarities are that players move around the board based on a dice roll, and there are different categories of cards.

  Beyond that, however, Glory goes much further, by constructing a narrative that is reinforced by the core game mechanics; each player controls a territory and world traveler; there are different careers that a player will choose from, and each career has different advantages for movement around the board. The experience of each career as well as the obstacles and opportunities represented by "event spaces" (the war zone, settlement, market, etc) mimic real historical patterns that would be revealed in the process of traversing a foreign territory.

  Last updated: Tuesday May 1, 11:10pm EDT
• Why is Glory a game I (or my students) will want to play over and over? How can I be sure that spending a lot of time with the game is more interesting and challenging than simply knowing trivia?

  This is where our technology and our teacher's guide play a particularly important role. The role of our web app is to record scores at the end of a game; as a player plays for multiple games, it becomes possible to unlock additional careers which the app will track. Each unlock represents either a "promotion" or a "career-change" within a category. So for example, by answering a certain # of economics questions correctly, the banker is unlocked; the beginner career of a merchant is less desirable than the banker, but by answering even more questions in this category, it is possible to combine the merchant and banker to play as an industrial "titan." All the advanced careers--titan, guru, legend, icon--transition the game play towards a style of play almost resembling an RPG. While the question cards are still involved, players have the ability to change the rules based on their careers and their influence over a particular domain, and/or their relationships with the other players.

  All of this matters because it is a big part of what makes Glory different than a trivia game or a tournament style competition. It's important to know info, but the game also has a story, and strategy plays an important role, increasingly as players earn the right to modify and customize the playing experience.

  Last updated: Tuesday May 1, 11:10pm EDT