Black Death/Bubonic Plague Game, No printing required, Fun & logical reasoning

The Bubonic Plague/Black Death game is based off the game Mafia (sometimes known as One Night Werewolf). This game is a great and fun way to get students thinking logically and giving rationals for their argument. It can teach them to provide and weigh up evidence, the importance of bias and reliability and also enjoy learning at the same time. All you need is a deck of cards, a dice and this powerpoint and off you go. The rules seem hard at first but the whole class will understand within the first round.

I have played this game with students in middle-high schools and it is loved by grades 7-12 but could easily be played by younger grades. I recommend at least 15 minutes the first time you play but rounds can last as little as 5 minutes once they know the rules.

For HASS I encourage students to ask questions about symptoms, discuss facts around the events and incorporating what they have learnt. For incorporating drama, I encourage dramatic deaths and faster rounds, for English/Language Arts I focus on different areas of their arguments, including structure, rationale, bias, reliability of sources etc. The students respond well and can then apply this structure in drafting assessment.