Description

"Empire was designed to demonstrate the place of the American colonists in the British Empire, and how their membership in it affected the way they made their living. Teams representing London merchants, New England merchants, colonial farmers, European merchants, southern planters, and British West Indian planters compete for profits from trade in the 18th-century Empire. In dealing with mercantilism and trade regulations players experience London monopoly, arbitrary trade laws, risks of smuggling and piracy, protection and enforcement threats of the Royal Navy."

Age or grade: 8th grade, junior high school, high school.

Materials: Instructor's manual, team manuals, map board, playing pieces, cards.

Part of the From Subject to Citizen curriculum game series, Unit 3, "The Emergence of the American."

The teams are the six groups listed above plus a team representing the Royal Navy. Each team has goods available to sell or trade and a set of goods they wish to acquire. They negotiate sales and barters and then have to ship the goods to the receivers. Only a few teams have ships, the other teams must arrange to rent or buy them from the owners.

Many possible trades are illegal according to British law of the time. The Royal Navy team can board ships for inspection and seize illegal goods.

The object is to acquire the greatest percentage of your team's desired goods.