During 4th grade, our performance task in Home Economics (HELE) is to make a board game.

All those days sitting inside the kitchen at our restaurant becomes pretty boring when there’s noone in there sitting with you. I invented a board game one day, with game pieces and everything. I even wrote out two pages of instructions and drawn out diagrams. It came out way better than I expected, to the point where my lame drawing on the back of a calendar page had to be re-drawn onto special bristolized paper, with all sorts of mini envelopes holding the mini game pieces. Basically, the objective of the game was to be the first player to reach the end of an obstacle course.

WARNING: LONG STORY AHEAD. SKIP TO THE END FOR THE QUICK VERSION.

Each player begins with the same budget. You start off on top of a snowy hill, where you get the choice of skiing downhill, snowboarding, or descending wearing snowshoes. Each option costs the players something - skis and snowboards brought you downhill faster than the snowshoes, and therefore they cost more. Next, the players would walk across a grassland, and further ahead, a beach. At this point, you are given a selection of beach wear and a chance to rent a locker in which you will later on store all of the objects and clothing that you purchase. Moving on further ahead is a lake. This is where you choose between buying a ship, a sailboat, a paddleboat (with oars sold separately), or a diver’s suit. The players must watch their budget and choose wisely. As the diver’s suit requires swimming which is much slower than the other choices, it is also a lot cheaper. Players are allowed to board others onto their ships by waiting for them at dock. They are allowed to charge for the ride across the lake and get some of their money back from buying the ship. At the end of the lake, follows up a great highway. Cars, buses, limos, and trucks are all choices for this part – buses require only a bus fair but travel much slower as they stop every now and then to let passengers off. Throughout the game is a variety of items that the players can claim along the way. They are to be scattered onto different places in the obstacle course before the game starts, and whoever comes across the object first gets to claim it. The highway offers two short paths that lead a thrift store and an antique shop. These are the places where you get to sell off your findings for cash, but risk losing your place in the game as it takes time to get there, and then back onto the path. Next up is a forest. You can purchase vines to swing across the treetops, or suction cup gloves and shoes to climb over them (don’t ask me why I ever thought that they would stick onto trees). The forest as well offers a path to the antiques shop. After getting through the trees, the players must somehow cross over a pool of quicksand. Either you buy a collapsible bridge to bring you there, boots that could walk you right over the sand without sinking, or you build a makeshift bridge out of wooden planks. Coming onto the last part of the course, is a bike trail. Bikes, skateboards, roller blades – all options. Along this path are stop signs, and if you are ever roll a number beyond a sign, you are only aloud to travel up to the space before it. Here you will also find a path to a specialty shop to sell your found items (if any). It is a much shorter path, as the players are almost at their destination and will not need the money as desperately as they did at the beginning of the course. Once again, travelling to a shop requires using your moves to get there rather than advancing to the finish line. And lastly, a narrow river leads the players straight to the winner’s circle. Here, you are given the choice of canoes, rafts, and plastic boards light enough to carry you along the river without even paddling. In the end, the winner gets to stand on a podium in the winner’s circle, sandwiched between the second place winner, and the third place. A trophy is also presented at this point. *Phew, long description.

And so…
I never expected that I would actually be able to play it with someone, but I did get to try it out with my sister and Paolo once. It didn’t turn out so great because they were both glued onto a basketball game on T.V. and had to leave before we finished it. Then Sarah came over one day, and I took my chance to bring it out and set it up. lol Fun times. We actually got through the entire thing. I don’t even remember who won in the end.