Almost Mario Kart

GRAMMAR: General Game     SUBMITTED BY: Scott Foss / Anne Recinos     DATE ADDED: 10-14-08     EDITED BY: まだ

ÒÓÔÕ    éêë   35-50 min.   32 votes: 4.5-stars   If you're going to give this activity a low-rating, please post a useful comment to help make it better. SearchJHSActivity

Materials Needed:

• A box ("item box") for reaching in to draw Power-Up cards from.
• At least one normal 6-sided dice (three recommended).
• A piece of paper per group to write on.

Detailed Explanation:

• POST-GAME:
  1. The winner is the team that is farthest along the track, just like any other race called by time.
  2. My method of choice to solve a tie is a "dice-off". The teams who tie, each roll a dice, advancing forward the number that comes up repeating until one gets an advantage. Other methods could be a "Janken-off."
• POWER-UP EXPLANATION  (I will use Mario Kart terminology for quickest understanding.)
  1. THE MAKING OF THE POWER-UPS
     • Power-ups are printed on square paper sheets 2-3 cm long. (One power up per sheet)
     • I use a total of 40 different power-up cards. In the descriptions below, the number in parathesis next to the power-up name is the amount of cards of that type I have in the item box.
  2. POWER-UP FUNCTIONS (Note: the PULLER is the Janken winner who pulls the card out)
     • GREEN TURTLE SHELL (5)- The team directly in front of the puller's team gets knocked back the number of squares that is a dice roll divided by two and rounded up if needed.  So, a dice roll of 4 or 3 would knock the next team back 2 spaces. If multiple teams are in that box, I have those teams janken and the loser being the one to be hit. I do half the number of the roll because a team not in first place ends up usually being the team hit. If the puller is in first place, it is a wasted pull.
     • RED TURTLE SHELL (4)- The puller gets to choose which team, from the teams ahead of the puller's team, gets hit. That team to be hit goes back by the number that comes up in a dice roll. Since red turtle shells can be targeted, most of the time the are targeted at leading teams, which is my justification for using the whole number. If the puller is in first place, it is a wasted pull.
     • BLUE TURTLE SHELL (2)- Every team in front of the puller's team gets knocked back a number of squares. The first place team goes backward the number of spots that comes up in a dice roll, all others half that dice roll (rounded up, if needed). So for example, if I were in 4th place and drew a blue shell, then roll a 5, the 1st place team goes back 5 spots, and the 2nd and 3rd place teams each go back 3. If the puller is in first place, it is a wasted pull.
     • BANANA PEEL (3)- The puller rolls two times (or two die at once), and the banana gets "thrown" to the spot ahead of the puller equal to the total roll. Then, as teams pass that spot on a successive round, the team(s) that moved over that spot Jankens the ALT or JTE. If the teacher wins, that team "slips" on the peel and stops there. If the student wins, they get to finish their movement. Multiple teams can potentially hit the same banana peel so long as it's in the same round, but once at least one team moves on or over the square with it, once that round is over, I put the peel back in the item box. The throwing team can hit their own peel (just like in Mario Kart!).
     • SINGLE MUSHROOM (8) - The puller gets to roll the dice again and move forward the number of spots that come up on the dice.
     • GOLD MUSHROOM (4) - Like the single mushroom, but two additional rolls are given (or two dice at once).
     • TRIPLE MUSHROOM (3) - Like the other mushroom cards, but three additional rolls are given (or three dice at once).
     • GHOST (6) - Simplest item in the game, it's a non-powerup. Nothing happens. Nada. Nanimo. Just put it back in the box and sit down!
     • FAKE ITEM BOX / TRAP BOX (4) - The worst item! The puller's team gets knocked back a number of spots determined by a dice roll!
     • STAR (1) - The BEST item! If the puller is in first place or tied for first, the STAR is treated as a single mushroom. If the puller is not, then the puller's team automatically gets transported to the spot just behind the first place team, then gets to roll the dice once more and move from there. (The spot just behind is chosen because there is a 1/6 chance of a dice roll of one, ensuring a well deserved 1st place isn't flat out taken away.)

Variations:

• For power-ups pulled from the item box, I put them back in the box but you can leave them out (or choose which ones stay out, which ones go back in).
• Banana peels can stay in play forever once thrown on the track, or conversely hit the first team only to ride over it.
• Other obvious adjustments can be made to fit your style (more of a certain power up, less of another, etc). This is how it works for me, but for you?
• If you can create enough characters, you could potentially have 1 person teams!
• If you have so a lot of teams, you can choose to have more than one person be a puller of power-ups.

Teaching Suggestions:

• I know the above instructions may seem long and complicated, but I wanted to ensure 100% understanding. An actual explanation to a class takes about 10 minutes, one time. Students understand and like Mario Kart, so this game is learnt real fast! It was initially inspired from the video game. The students like it because it's fun and unpredictable, and I like it because even the last place group always has a chance to become first place so long as they get the question/translation/whatever correct, which means that all the kids in the class tend to try to get the answer correct at all time. Other games I've played, the group with the "smart" kids tended to become the only groups that would try.
• PRE-GAME: I explained my reasons for a lot of my rules, for example see GREEN TURTLE SHELL, but you don't need to explain these nuances to the students.
• CHARACTER DISTRIBUTION: I go to each group with all the characters in hand, have one kid from the group roll a dice, then count thru the character sheets the same number of times as the number that came up on the dice. This elimates bickering among the groups (and sometimes leads to hilarious results when an all male team gets a princess type character) and saves time. Furtherly, on a small section of the chalkboard I make a small name-chart to help keep in mind what character the teams are. So for example, using Mario Kart Terminology again, if the team that received the character Donkey Kong was in the front right, I'd write on the board "DK" at the top right. - I draw a start/finish checkered line, but even if someone passes it we keep playing until the end of the period.
• IN GAME:
  • For translation problems and the like, My JTE's and I would have the JTE read the Japanese to be translated then I correct, and vice versa when it's English to be translated into Japanese.
  • So long as the kids say "One more time please," (IN ENGLISH), I'll repeat the problem as many times as needed within the time limit.
  • I always "give" 2 minutes, but on problems that appear tough, I let allow more time, and vice versa for easier ones.
  • Use of the textbook can be permitted at you and your JTE's discretion. My JTE and I generally agree that the harder/newer a topic is, the more likely we will allow the textbook.
  • If you want, announce time remaining notices; "30 seconds!" "10! 9! 8! ..." etc.
  • While checking the answers, it's up to you and your JTE over how strict you are, for example, if capital letters are missing, no apostrophe, etc.
  • MAKE SOUNDS! My kids love it when I make the whooshing and explosion sounds of a turtle shell flying and hitting another team.
  • Instead of teleporting to the spot the dice tells them to go to, move their character one spot at a time counting outloud in English.
• POST GAME:
• Like Mario Kart at the end of a Circut (or the Olympics), I put the top three characters on a pedistol (drawn on the chalkboard).
• You can give the winners prizes if you want (stickers, etc). Furtherly, you can choose to give higher placed teams more of the prize (3 stickers to first place team members, 2 to second place, and 1 to the third place team, or other methods).

Cautions:

• Like any activity or game, have fun but watch out that the kids don't get TOO loud. The next class over needs to study, too. Like any group-based game, try your best to ensure that a single person doesn't do all the work for a group. 

Comments:

• (Jan 23, 2012) Fred said: Great printouts, thanks a bunch. Huge hit with all years. Obviously JHS kids are pretty familiar with the game and it`s especially appealing to the less interested students. I simplified it a tad so students draw 6-8 cards from a box but that`s only because most of my classes are aren`t the most academic. Nice one.
• (Nov 1, 2011) kazzy said:
  I love this idea, and I also love how clearly it was explained. Thank you.
• (Oct 31, 2011) David said:
  I tried a blitz version of this game (mainly for review and speaking practice) with a responsible group of kids and it went wonderfully. Here are the alterations I made:
  
  1. The rows become the teams.
  2. The first student of each row starts with an A4 lamenated printout of their team character.
  3. As a relay race would be, the printout moves down the row with each proceeding question.
  4. I ask the question verbally.
  5. Questions are responded verbally to speed up the game. One student from every team (the one that holds the printout) comes to me and whispers the answer into my ear. (As a side note, I don't pentalize for wrong answers; just correct them and make them say it the right way before continuing).
  6. Every team rolls the die and moves a smaller version of their character along the course(this saves me all kinds of time).
  7. Instead of having the play janken, I draw several stars on the course to represent power-up spots.
  8. All students sit after they roll the die and I check the board after every round going to the individual who has landed on the "star" aka "power-up" and have them draw their fate.
  9. Although this game is in appearance a relay, the winner is still determined by their standing on the course.
  
  This is a great way to maintain order to the game and give everyone a chance to play. It also is much more speedy for those that don't have the entire class to play the game. If kids are responsible and cooperative, they'll know what to do with few instructions (I don't speak a lot of Japanese, so that's great!) and everything is orderly. I played for 15~20 minutes and got through everyone in the class the first time playing! (PS. I didn't give the kids a time limit, because it was verbal. Again, this was a responsible class, so kids came up on their own and took the initiative to find the answer from a teammate on their way up if they weren't sure or didn't know.)
  
  I still haven't found a good method with an unrulely class. I'm not sure they'd be capable of playing games either way:(
• (July 19, 2011) Rakushata said:
  I also tried this activity.Instead of making the student come up to the fron of class; I chose the group participant who raised the hand the fastest. In addition I gave them 10 seconds to answer, no blunders were allowed (this worked well in my instance, as i used mostly spelling and past participle verbs for my Target language). If a team was unable to answer the question, it was passed onto another. The team that was able to answer automatically got to draw a card, whilst the others just rolled the dice. Great fun! Great laughs. I laud your ingenuity here!
• (July 15, 2011) Alex said:
  This is almost a great activity, but as it’s described here, far too much time is spent rolling a dice, deciding who has won etc. The first time I did the activity it took up a full lesson, and we barely got through 10 questions. Following that, I changed the rules completely. Here are my changes.
  
  Remove all the attack cards, including the banana. Keep the trick box, but it just makes you go one space back. One mushroom card makes you advance one space. Three mushrooms card makes you advance 3 spaces. Golden mushroom is the only card that requires you to roll the dice. For the star, advance to first, but if you’re already first, just move one space. When you get a question right, you simply take a card. The only occasion anyone needs to roll a dice is if they get a golden mushroom.
  
  After making these changes I was able to use it as a 25 minute activity, and we got through 10 questions. Students really seemed to love it!
  
  Oh and one last thing. No need to spend ages going through the rules. Just put a Japanese explanation of what the cards do on the back of the students answer sheet, and they understand it without you going into any detail. For me it was a 2 minute explanation, and 23 minutes of fun and games!
  
  Thanks for sharing!
• (July 1, 2011) sum1wholikesengliped said: Cool game. Pity the people who have no sense of fun, and gotta vote a thumbs down!
• (June 14, 2011) EC said: This game is fantastic. Thank you very much for this idea. It's gone over very well with my 5/6 graders, and even my 4th graders enjoy it! They know the characters very well and love seeing the winners knocked back. Very good fun. Thanks, again!
• (Feb 25, 2011) Kat said: This game is fabulous. I've played it about nine-thousand times with my students, and they love it. It's even good with elementary school students (5/6 graders). Sometimes I sweeten the pot with prizes, but usually they love it just because it's funny and they know the characters. Great job.
• (Jan 24, 2011) Joe said:
  Directions with Japanese:
  
  Green Turtle Shell: Roll the dice one time. The person directly in front of your team gets knocked back half the number on the dice. If the number is odd, round up.
  一回さいころを振る。先のチームは数の半分、戻らないといけない。奇数なら、切り上げる。
  
  Red Turtle Shell: Roll the dice one time. Choose any person in front of your team.
  They get knocked back the number on the dice