Activity

Hearthclone - a Conditional Card Game

For 2-6 players (per printout). Players read instruction rules on cards and execute their function.

If your kids enjoy Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon cards, MTG, Hearthstone or the Best of the Best TCG Infinity Wars, and you happen to be practicing such conditionals as "If" or "when", then this game is for you.

The rules are explained in detail in the attached rule book. You'll need to print out 1 deck for every 6 students. You can have teams of students, or let them play individually.

It's an elimination game that requires the students to read the rules on the card, assess the situation on the board, and decide whether their card can be played or kept for later.

Tip: You'll need to reduce the number of healing cards in the game for time's sake. I've found that with the included number of healing cards, games can go way over time. Reduce them by at least half and I recommend reduce them by a quarter.

I can always design more cards for the sake of balance, so let me know your feedback and how your students played this game, and what you think could be improved.

Admittedly, it takes a fair bit of work to prep. But there's nothing better than printing and laminating in the morning with a coffee while listening to phat beats. It's a form of meditation for me at this point.

Files:
Small files
  • HearthClone rulebook.docx (17.7 KB)
  • Medium files (requires an account to download) -
  • Cards_Combined_V1a.pdf (24.5 MB)
  • conditionals board game.pdf (3.02 MB)
  • 7
    Submitted by Beestonian August 17, 2021 Estimated time: 20 - 45 minutes
    1. the_een May 30, 2022

      Wow! This is gorgeously made and seems very complex. Can I ask, how did this go? I want to make something similar for my classes (or just use this at some point!), but I'm concerned that 1) the students can't handle just playing a game in English and 2) the JTE might feel there's not enough "drilling of the target grammar" involved....thoughts?

    2. Beestonian June 8, 2022

      In my experience, because the card rules were in English, students were invested in finding out what their new powers were, so they dedicated a fair bit of time to reading and comprehension. They try to read the card out as a way of confirming with others what the meaning of the card rules are, and once they all come to a consensus on what it does, then the card is in play.

      While the game rules are simple, yes, the emergent gameplay is complex. I think this is good for JHS students.

    3. stevenyc113 December 19, 2022

      this is very detailed and a lot of work went into it—my respects to you for making this.

    4. letstry April 21, 2023

      WOW! Nice job, I'd like to try but a bit worried it's too hard.

    5. AariCynward June 2, 2023

      I played the game with my special needs class. The kids liked it, but there were some things that I noticed. The first is that some of the colors don't really seem to match (purple looks like pink, gold looks like orange). Also two of the cards say "gold pentagon," when there aren't pentagon shapes on the board. I noticed it because one of those cards also said "played from gold pentagon. If you are on blue or green, heal 3 HP." Even if pentagons were on the board, you couldn't use this card, because you can't be on a gold pentagon at the same time as a blue or green space. And one of the trap cards doesn't really make sense; it says " when a player discards a card, you get it instead." I didn't see a rule where you could discard cards, so maybe "use" is a better word than "discard." The cards are also not consistent on capitalization and word choice.

    6. AariCynward June 2, 2023

      *continuing from previous comment
      In the instructions you use the word "tiles," but then never use "tiles" in the cards, either they say "space" or they don't say anything.
      I do think it's fun, and I might try and make a version too. I feel like it would work well in small classes (so there aren't as many groups, so the ALT and JTE would be able to help more people).

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