How to play:
Students make groups of 3-6 and receive the following:
- 1 game board
- set of characters
- 1 character clip per player
- card set
- 1 dice
Players choose their characters, then janken to see who goes first.
They take turns rolling the dice and moving along the game board from spaces labelled 1 to 100. First to reach the 100 space wins. (It's up to them whether they need to land on it with a perfect roll or not)
(Also, another optional rule that can be used or not is if they land on the same space, they janken, loser goes back 1 space.)
SPACES
LEVEL 1:
Vines = climb up (from base only)
Pipes = slide down
Question Block = draw a card
Red Mushroom = Roll again
Spiny Enemy = Go back 1
Ice = Lose a turn
LEVEL 2 Additions:
Fire breather = go back 2
Pipes = go up or down
Spring = jump up 1 row
Shock ball = lose a turn
Boo = lose an item
CARDS
- Question cards: These have basic English questions varying slightly in difficulty. Easy ones are worth 1 coin, harder ones are worth 2 coins.
- Bonus coins (2,3) : Coins gained from question cards or bonus coin cards can be used to move forward 1 space per coin with your dice roll. only 1 coin card/item card can be used per turn. They cannot be stacked.
- Red Mushroom = roll again
- Poison Mushroom = lose a turn
- Star = Safe from everything for 5 turns (which means you can wipe out piranha plants and go up pipes in lvl 1)
- Freeze flower = Freeze another player for 1 turn
- Fire flower = Kill enemies (including piranha plants to go up pipes in lvl 1)
- Boo = Take an item from another player
- Banana = put a rubber band on any of the 9 spaces surrounding you, when a player walks over it they stop and lose a turn.
- Blue Shell = goes after the 1st place player, who loses a turn and all their items.
- Switch = originally a pipe, it's used to switch places with a player based on a dice roll. 1 = 1st place, 2 = 2nd place, etc. (Case by case rules might need to be established within the group based on number of players and who each number is assigned to.)
- Bullet = Brings you to the next player
- Vine = Climb up one row (thinking I'll change this to the spring for continuity with the board.
(An aside: as you can see, it's a lot of details, and it's always a work in progress, constantly evolving. It can also be a lot to explain initially, which is why I recommend starting off with just a few elements and adding more each time you play, which will make it easier for the players and also be something exciting, like they're unlocking new features, characters, levels, powerups, etc.
There are also some nuances that may pop up and rules that have to be changed or created, but deal with those as they come. This game roughly plays with the same principles as Mario Party and Mario Kart combined. Most but not all kids are familiar with these games, so many of the games mechanics will be understood naturally.)
I have evolved this activity many times over the past few years from a version of Snakes and Ladders I found on this site, from sophieinniigata.
One of the previous ALT's at my base school left behind a bunch of Mario board game assets like little laminated characters, dice, etc.
The first change I made to the original Snakes and Ladders board was to turn the "roll again," "go back 2," and "card" spaces into mario versions.
Lucky! (roll again) correlated to a mushroom
Unlucky correlated to an enemy (goomba)
Card turned into the famous question block.
Snakes turned into piranha plants.
Ladders turned into climbable vines.
I made cards with question blocks on the back, and included cards containing either basic English questions, some kind of item/bonus, or penalty.
Over time I made more and more complex levels, with longer "snakes" and "ladders," more types of items, different questions, more kinds of spaces, more characters, completely new character and card sets, etc.
It became a lot!!!!
Recently, I've perfected the formula and started fresh with the boards. I was lucky enough to find a pre-made board for a coincidentally Mario themed snakes and ladders game called "Pipes and vines," which was perfect. I took it, modified it, and added my own flare to it. I also made an entirely original level design for the back of the A3 board, so when players were done with one side, they could try another.
I also ordered some little colourful card stands to slot the characters into, because moving little laminated cutouts on a laminated board is a pain.
Erasers also work in a pinch instead of characters, but I like to match the flavour.
It's been a labour of love, but it's always a hit in class, and is usually welcomed with applause when they find out we're playing it.
I will attach the games most recent iteration, along with some older versions.
Modifications may be necessary on your end. Leave a comment if you have any questions.
I recommend playing the newest version, Pipes and Vines.
Print off the 2 levels on A3, not double sided, then laminate them together back to back.
For the characters, print them A4, cut them out in their mirrored pairs, fold symmetrically then place them in a laminator sheet, laminate them, and cut out (easier said than done).
For the cards, I printed them double sided and made sure the question block backings lined up. Some ink bled through, though. These can be laminated or not, your choice. Laminating required a lot of work and a lot of corner-rounding.
While there is a lot of prep involved with an activity like this, the payoff can be rewarding, and you can just pull it out whenever your JTE wants to have a "fun day." You don't have to do much other than walk around and make sure the game is being played fairly and the rules are clear. If the class is small enough, you may even be able to play with them, which is lots of fun! I also like to bring a speaker sometimes and play some Mario BGM's for an added flavour win. I usually give the winners a sticker at the end.
That's it, good luck, and happy playing!
Well done. Quite impressive set. I would double check for phrasing on a couple question cards (do you like ski/snowboard should use the infinitive or the gerund for example) but overall this is great work.