Medieval Medicine Board Game: Saving Ancient Studies

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Digitizing Archaeological Practice: Education and Outreach in the Archaeogaming Subdiscipline" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Archaeogaming Team at SASA turns games into the backdrop of history; this project loops full circle, turning history into a game. Born as support material to an AEM that explores the history of medieval medicine, this game is meant to familiarize the players with relevant vocabulary and techniques. It further aims to help students see the method to the madness of medieval doctors—this being, try with the available knowledge until something works and transmit it. Through travel, healing, and bartering, the players attempt to get into one of the main universities of medieval Europe; meanwhile, they memorize symptoms and illnesses. This poster aims to present research and sources that went into developing the elements of the game—e.g., “herb cards” illustrated with miniatures, infamous illnesses, and four playing avatars inspired by real-life figures, with custom-made illustrations. It also showcases how applying the information learned during the module in scenarios of the game cements it: vocabulary is reinforced, interesting facts turn up in different forms, and as a bonus some European geography is reawakened. In short, it proposes to be a portrait of the balance between pedagogy, accuracy, and fun that the game tries to strike.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Digitizing Archaeological Practice: Education and Outreach in the Archaeogaming Subdiscipline   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37077.0