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BGonline.org Forums
Attendance ... Perhaps it is the Money
Posted By: huntoften In Response To: Attendance ... Perhaps it is the Money (Bill Riles)
Date: Saturday, 20 June 2009, at 7:56 p.m.
As an elementary educator (mostly in 5th grade)for 13 years and an avid BG player for almost 29 years, I've got some insight into the classroom/BG situation. I have at least 4-5 boards in my classroom at all times. Most are mine, one was donated to me by a wonderful lady in Novi a coupe of years ago. I do what I can to fit it into our extremely crowded curriculum.
I avoid calling the dice "dice" and do my best to call them "number cubes", but the kids know that dice are dice and what their purpose is for...generating random numbers. I use dice to have the students explore possible outcomes and they turn those into a probability chart in which they turn fractions into decimals and percents. They use this chart to base checker play decisions on the odds of getting hit or not getting hit...very rudimentary strategy, but it's enough for 10 year olds. The kids love it, but rarely if ever play the game outside of class...video games are much more exciting, fast paced, and require a lot less strategy. It's a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless...it's the way of a lot of things.
I've never had a problem with any parents or administrators because I treat it as a math game. I'm more nervous using cards for math because the kids KNOW how to gamble with cards even at 10 years of age.
The other problem with this is that I am the ONLY educator I've ever seen that actually plays the game. There aren't that many players out there to begin with and the type of personality that is usually drawn to BG isn't usually drawn to the field of education...I'm an odd duck to say the least. lol
As for growing the game, the only way it will ever come close to the success it had in the 70's is to get a LOT of publicity. I've been a member of the KC club and the USBL since their humble beginnings a few years ago. We rely on word of mouth, Internet postings, and small newspapers. We're a counter-culture of sorts it seems and will likely always be one unless MAJOR publicity happens in some way or form. I don't know if there's a Chris Moneymaker out there in the BG world that could blow this game up, but it may take something of that magnitude to make it happen.
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