Schoolyard Settlers: Gather, Trade and Build

Inspired by settlement board games, four teams race to gather colored resources (wood, stone, wheat and wool) from four distant deposits and combine them to build settlements and cities. Each deposit is closer to one team, so trading at the central market is essential to build anything.

How to play

1. Place four deposits (hoops with tokens of one color) in the corners of the schoolyard and a central market; each team's base sits near a different deposit (4 min).
2. Explain the costs: settlement = 1 of each resource (1 point); city = settlement + 2 stone + 2 wheat (2 more points); road = 1 wood + 1 stone, which opens a second, shorter gathering route (3 min).
3. Each team names gatherers, a trader who stays at the market and a builder who keeps the inventory (2 min).
4. Game phase: gatherers run one at a time, take one token per trip and bring it to base; traders make deals at the market (for example, 2 wool for 1 stone) and a runner delivers the traded tokens (16 min).
5. Count buildings and points using each builder's inventory (2 min).
6. Analysis: which resource was scarcest, how its trade value changed and which trading decision was key (3 min).

Rules

• One token per trip per person; anyone who takes two gives both back.
• Keep to the right on the way out and back to avoid collisions at the deposits.
• Every trade deal must be honored: changing the terms afterward costs one building turn.
• Roles rotate halfway through so everyone runs and trades.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: take the trader or builder role, which involves math and negotiation but no running.
• Visual impairment: resources also differ by texture (tokens with and without rough tape) and a partner runs alongside.
• Injury or low fitness: use the short route opened by a road, or walk briskly instead of running.

Learning goals

• Manage scarce resources toward a building goal.
• Negotiate fair trades and honor agreements.
• Coordinate different roles within one team plan.

Equipment for a class of 25

• cards: 120
• hoops: 8
• cones: 16
• pinnies: 28
• stopwatch: 1

Teacher tip

Bag the tokens by color before class. A gatherer should make 15 to 25 trips: if the pace drops, lengthen the distances or have builders gather too.

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