Can You Survive the Black Death?: Simulating Pandemic Disease and Its Impact in a College Classroom Game

Board Game Academics, March 2025
Published in Vol 2.
Presented at NASAGA 2024, Atlanta, GA
DOI: https://doi.org/10.70380/65yuc6jlt

Dr. Franklin Rausch, Mr. Jackson Bolt, Ms. Jessi Patton, Ms. Cassandra Rollins
Lander University

To understand pandemics, it is necessary to consider their biological, economic, political, and social impacts. To help students better understand such phenomenon, I developed the “Can you survive the Black Death” game (hereafter CSBD) in the wake of the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, I will describe this game and its development with three purposes in mind: (1) to enable people to run this game in their classroom; (2) to explain the principles behind the game to contribute to the discussion on the use of such games in a classroom environment; and (3) to discuss revisions to show alternate ways the game can be run depending on instructor and student needs.

GAME ENVIRONMENT

Games designed for the classroom have certain requirements based on students, space, and technology. The CSBD game was designed for a 100-level gen-ed world history class at a public regional university. That means most students were not history majors and had not chosen the class. In addition, students have highly varying degrees of academic ability. Therefore, the game must be both intellectually engaging and relatively simple, particularly as the class period is only fifty minutes, of which only forty can be devoted to the game. Thus, while designed for a college classroom, it could easily be adapted to a secondary or even middle school classroom. I teach this world history class as a hybrid, with lectures online, which allows me to keep in-person meetings small, usually between 15 and 20 people. That is important as it makes running the game more manageable. There is a study guide due before class meetings based on the online lectures, meaning that students will theoretically have some understanding of the historical context surrounding the Black Death before they come to class. 

GAME SETUP, COMPONENTS, AND GENERAL PHILOSOPHY

A typical classroom at our university has tables with four seats. That is convenient, as I have found that groups of four tend to work well as typically, at least one person in the group will quickly grasp the rules and help others, keeping delays for explaining rules to a minimum. Each group represents a family and is given four family cards. Each student is told that they are that person for the simulation and should keep that in mind as they make decisions (if you have groups with less than three, assign a student multiple roles). Each of these cards has an image of the person, their name, family role, age, occupation, and quirks (for instance, the daughter/older sister Fotina loves animals and cares for sick ones).

Figure 1. Daughter and Older Sister Fotina

In addition, each family member has a weekly earning stat, measured in “soldo” (money) and food. The family lives in an Italian town, and these two different resources are included both to illustrate the rise of commerce and industry in the high Middle Ages and to create a mechanic that reflects growing food scarcity resulting in rising prices and the mechanic’s impact on health.

Figures 2 and 3. Examples of Soldo and Food Counters

Students are also given “Event Cards,” one of which is drawn each turn, representing a week of in-game time. These can have positive or negative results and are meant to simulate historical contingency. For instance, two cards relate to wife and mother Dolce—one which states that she was distracted by caring for her roses and does not contribute her weekly earnings that turn and another in which a young man courting his paramour has bought a lot of her roses, granting extra soldo. These cards also feature public domain art to immerse students into the time period. This encourages immersion and engagement (students will congratulate each other when their character draws a good card and tease each other when they draw a bad one). 

Figure 4. A bad event card—Fotina has troubles with her animals

To help students keep track of resources, they are provided with a 13×19 board printed on cardstock (the board could be easily revised to be on 8.5×11 regular paper). There is a “Lockbox” space in which students place counters representing soldo and a pantry space for food counters (and a note that students cannot have more than ten food counters in that space). Students are instructed to place two soldo counters in the lockbox and two food counters in the pantry, which helps them remember what goes where. There is also a line of numbers for “food needed” and “family earnings,” with separate numbers for soldo and food. These numbers are calculated from the individual cards, and I provide the totals at the beginning for the sake of ease and time: the family produces 25 soldi and 4 food and consumes 17 food.

Figure 5. The Game Board

The game also requires the use of a twenty-sided die (d20). However, other dice could easily be substituted.[2] As I teach multiple sections back-to-back but in different rooms and I must share classrooms with other professors, I must prepare materials for quick setup and breakdown. I use small plastic boxes with dividers in which I place the counters, dice, event cards, and individual cards. This allows me to hand the materials out to students quickly.At the end of class, I ask them to put everything back as they found it, and then I place everything back in a banker box. The boards go on top of the box, but the use of regular paper would allow them to fit inside. 

As noted above, students are reminded to try to think and act as if they are the person they are playing and to consider their family relationships as described in the cards. In addition, the general rule I follow in all my games is that the worldview of the people in the particular civilization a game is representing is assumed to be true for the sake of the game. This allows both for immersion and for worldview-appropriate explanations of contingency. For instance, in games heavily influenced by Buddhism, I have a karma stat. Since this game is set in a medieval Catholic civilization, there are “Divine Providence” cards, which students might draw or be awarded for a particular act described below. These cards allow students to reroll a die and take the higher number (high numbers are always good in this game). I explicitly note this so that students understand that the game is not meant to proselytize but rather to represent the beliefs of the people who inhabit the historical world it seeks to recreate.

GAME TURNS

CSBD is divided into multiple turns/weeks. Each classroom at our university has a projector and screen. I, therefore, use PowerPoint to guide students through each turn. This is important because it helps make it clear what should be done, and also allows me to add special events each turn. The first turn is a “typical” turn, meant to represent what a week is like for the family before the coming of the Black Death. Each turn includes the following phases:

1. Students are given a multiple-choice question based on the study guide that was due before class. This uses a PowerPoint slide and students are instructed that they may answer it as a group. I read out the questions, and after a few seconds (I count down from three when I feel they have had enough time), I provide the correct answer (a copy of the same slide with the correct answer bolded). It’s important to note that all the groups can get it right—they are not in competition with each other. Groups that answer correctly award themselves one soldo. While there isn’t a good in-game explanation for doing this, I found that the promise of a reward helps keep people engaged. This section could easily be eliminated to save time; I just have found that students appreciate the extra review.
2. Students place food and soldo counters equal to their family earnings in the pantry and lockbox spaces and are reminded to make any adjustments called for by the event cards.
3. One group member draws a single event card and adjusts food and soldo counters based on what it says.
4. Students must buy enough food to make sure that they have enough to feed everyone. They should remove the soldo counters needed to buy the food and then the food that they eat.
   1. If students have leftover money, they can buy more food at the price of one food per soldo (this is a conceit of the game rather than a historically accurate price). However, to represent the reality of spoilage and to prevent metagaming, there cannot be more than ten food counters in the pantry. 
   1. If students do not have enough food even after spending money, they must draw Starvation Cards, each of which has a person’s name on it and says that they are weakened by hunger. If there is a deficit of between 1 and 5 food, one card is drawn; 6 to 10, two cards; and more than 11, three cards. If the students run out of cards, then they can ignore further food deficits. This mechanic will come into play later in the final turn and is meant to represent the fact that good nutrition is necessary to survive disease and that one reason the Black Death was so devastating was that during this period, Europeans increasingly suffered from malnutrition. If students ask what it means, instructors can explain that it describes how they feel and might impact them later.

Figure 6. Pazino goes hungry

Each turn follows the same basic format with various twists. In the second turn, Daddo’s friend, Mordechai ben Simon, visits the family. It is explained that Mordechai is a traveling Jewish merchant who does business with Daddo, a blacksmith. Daddo must entertain Mordechai, costing the family three soldo.

Mordechai also brings news that there are rumors of a strange disease spreading in other towns. That explanation begins the turn. Groups then go through phases one through four as listed above, but before moving on to week 3, a new event is introduced. Students are told that they hear a noise outside their home and see Mordechai being chased by an angry mob. He climbs over a wall surrounding their home and bangs on their back door, begging to be let in. Students are then given the option to help him, ignore him, or turn him over to the mob.

Students who choose to help Mordechai must roll a d20 and, if they have one, can use a Divine Providence card to reroll. On a roll of 15 or higher, they successfully hide Mordechai and are rewarded with a Divine Providence card. He then gives them five soldo as a reward (students are not told the number before they make the choice). Successful students are then informed that they help Mordechai escape the town, and he gives them five soldo in thanks. If they fail, Mordechai is captured and killed by the mob, and as punishment for helping, the mob takes half their soldo and food (rounded up). However, they are still given a Divine Providence card.

If students do nothing or if they hand Mordechai over to the mob, he is killed, and they are told that they are haunted by his ghost, which will come into play later (in the latter option, the mob gives them five soldo as a reward).

After the decision is resolved, I give a short mini-lecture explaining how some people wrongly blamed Jews for the plague, for instance, accusing them of poisoning wells, leading to lethal anti-Jewish pogroms. I also note that some people also thought that the disease was sent by God as a punishment for their sins. The key point is that people at the time were unsure of what caused the disease, and this could lead to the targeting of minorities.

The turns for weeks three to five are simpler. In turn 3, I explain the concept and meaning of Lazarettos. These institutions were island quarantine centers for ships bringing in cargo. They are interesting in part because they represent a more scientific understanding of contagion mixed with religious views, as they were named after Lazarus from the Bible (passing quarantine was similar to dying and then returning to life) and the time of quarantine was 40 days, which is both effective medically and carries the symbolic Biblical meaning of representing a full length of time.

I also mention that there are rumors that the strange disease Mordechai spoke of has reached a nearby town. Mechanically, steps taken to quarantine and fears about it have led food prices to go from 1 soldo to 2 soldo per food counter. This continues in week 4, with cases occurring in the town and food prices increasing from 2 to 3 soldo, owing to further fears. Then, in week 5, students are told that the whole town is in quarantine—nothing can come in or go out, and those with sick family members are confined to their homes, so food prices increase to 4 soldo.

After that week, rather than moving to another week, students are informed that someone in their family has come down with the Black Death. Students are instructed to each roll a d20 and subtract the number of starvation cards they have (representing that people who are malnourished are more vulnerable to disease) and that whoever has the lowest adjusted number has come down with the Black Death (a Divine Providence card cannot be used to reroll). Later, they will roll a d20 to see if they survive (they will need a 14 or higher–a Divine Favor card can be used to reroll, but students should wait until they are informed of the following modifiers before proceeding).

However, before they do that, the family must make a decision which will grant a modifier to that roll—whether to abandon them, give them food and water but otherwise abandon them, or give them food and water while actively taking care of them (to save time in the case of a deadlock, I explain that this was a patriarchal society, giving Daddo the last word). The family must appoint one individual to do these things. If the family just abandons the sick individual, that person will subtract 10 from their own roll. If they were given food and water, they subtract 5. And if they were actively given care, they will add 3 to their roll.

I also ask students to remind me if they abandoned Mordechai or turned him over to the mob. If they did, I give them a Mordechai’s ghost card, which forces them to reroll their dice to see if they survive and to take the lowest result (this can be countered by a Divine Providence Card, meaning the d20 is rolled only one and that result is taken).

Once the fate of the sick individual is resolved, the rest of the family needs to see if they have become infected. They are told to each roll a d20, subtracting 5 if they brought food and water to the family member and 10 if they actively took care of the person (there are no modifiers for just abandoning the person). If they have a modified roll of a ten or greater, they have come down with the Black Death. Due to time constraints, rather than having people decide how to care for the sick person, I just have them make a straight roll, with a 14 or higher leading to survival (remaining Divine Providence cards can be used). It is up to the instructor whether they have Mordechai’s ghost continue to afflict the family or not in this second round of checks.    

GAME REFLECTION

To make sure that the game serves its teaching function, it is important to include a reflection. This can take place in the classroom, or as part of an assignment, or both. I typically have questions about the game on the study guide due the week after we play it while also leading a brief discussion in any time remaining. A key question to ask in class is how many people became ill and how many people died. A show of student hands provides a visible display of just how devastating the Black Death was. It’s also good to ask students how their group responded to Mordechai’s plight, how they cared for the first family member who became ill, and why they took these actions. This can be expanded by having students construct a narrative from their character’s point of view about what happened and why and what they think will happen to the survivors after the pandemic recedes. In addition, in terms of historical facts, students should be asked to identify the economic and social impact the Black Death had as reflected in the game and why they think that starvation cards impacted their dice rolls, helping them to better understand the pandemic’s various facets.

STUDENT FEEDBACK

In Fall of 2023, I gathered feedback from 21 students taking the first half of world history, asking them their agreement on a variety of statements about the game, assigning a 1 if they strongly disagreed or a 7 if they strongly agreed. Thus, numbers above 4 represent agreement, with a maximum of 7. The results were as follows:

1)    The game was engaging: 6.61

2)    The game was educational: 6.57

3)    The game was a good use of class time: 6.47

4)    The game helped review course material: 6.61

The average of these totals was 6.56. Together, these results indicate that students found the game enjoyable and educational. I ran the game again for my 2025 Gaming History class and asked the first two questions, receiving a 6.2 for both, which shows the importance of combining games with lectures (that class played the game without the online lectures). Students also made some suggestions, such as allowing students to decide who took a starvation card rather than assigning them randomly (this is logical but would take more time). Others found using two resources–food and soldo–to be confusing. While this is a key mechanic to my learning objectives, others could certainly modify it. In the end, different classrooms will have different needs, and instructors can tailor this game to fit student needs and their own talents.

The following reflections provide a student perspective on the simulation:

Student A:

The first time I played this game for class as I was learning the material for the first time, I found that I had to do far less studying than I expected to do after having done the review within the game. It makes review feel like learning trivia instead of having to study, and it helped the information to stick better. This was proved the next time I played the game, almost two years removed from learning the material for the first time, as I still remembered almost all of the answers.

Student B:

As an aspiring teacher, it is so interesting to see how to incorporate activities such as this game in the classroom setting. This game is both incredibly engaging and educational. Through the playing of this game, I was able to review material for my world history course and have fun with my peers. The game allows you to put yourself in the time period in a way that you cannot get from watching a lecture.

Student C:

I highly recommend this game to any educator looking to give their students an immersive and educational experience inside the classroom. It is an extremely effective way to put students inside the history they are learning about. The “Can You Survive the Black Death?” game was some of the most fun I have had in a single class period, all while adequately preparing me for the next exam. It will certainly be in my future classroom.

DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE

While students ranked the game highly, earlier iterations were marred by the rules being too complex. The game described above represents a process of streamlining and simplification resulting from playing it multiple times in different classes and with our university’s Experiencing History Lab, as well as at the NASAGA 2024 annual conference. The following describes some parts that were changed:

1. Individuals had health counters that they lost immediately if they did not have enough to eat and could, therefore, die at any time. I removed this as it added one more type of counter, and it’s not engaging for students to die early (I developed intricate rules for students to keep playing as ghosts but found them unwieldy). This was replaced with the starvation card system at the suggestion of the Experiencing History Lab.
2. There were Black Death cards in the event deck, meaning that any group could catch the Black Death at any time. This forced me to stop the class and focus on one group when they drew the card, meaning that other groups were not engaged. Moreover, not everyone experienced a family member catching the Black Death. This was meant to capture the sense of fear over possibly catching the disease and could be used for a single group, but it did not work well in a classroom with multiple groups.
3. I made individual students responsible for keeping track of their character’s contributions, and there were cards and events that could permanently impact that number. However, some students had difficulty doing this, which slowed down the game and caused student frustration. I, therefore, made it a group number that I provided at the beginning of the simulation as described above and limited times where this number was adjusted.
4. Rather than contributing a set amount of soldo and food counters each week, family members originally rolled a set number of six-sided dice that determined how much they contributed. Though more realistic, it added extra steps and math that took time and confused students, making it difficult to get through the entire simulation.
5. I initially had “Divine Favor” counters. Each student started with a certain number of them, and more were earned by answering multiple choice questions. Counters could then be spent to raise die rolls on a one-to-one ratio. This allowed another layer of strategy but involved more counters and math, which could confuse students and consume more time. This was replaced with the “Divine Providence” cards.
6. For the sake of time, I reduced mini-lectures, such as one on the Flagellant Movement. However, owing to its complexity and time constraints, I cut it. For those who have more time, more such mini-lectures could be included.

CONCLUSION

Though this game is complex and requires significant preparation, student feedback indicates that it is both engaging and educational. That, combined with my own experience in the classroom, provides evidence that it can be utilized successfully in the classroom for instructors who feel that it fits their teaching style and class. Moreover, the principles and mechanics behind it can also be applied to other simulations. I am in the beginning stages of creating a manual for how to develop “Can you survive?” games. I believe there is still ample room for improvement and I invite both suggestions for how to improve the game and requests by anyone who wants to run the game themselves for the files necessary to do so.

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