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triangles. Starting on turn two (the first turn in which players are assigned to groups), the red squares players draw from a bag with higher scoring chips, while the green triangles draw from a bag with lower scoring chips. As a result, movement between groups becomes uncommon. Starting on the third round, the red squares are free to change the rules however they like.
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One commentator writing for the
Sustainability Institute claimed that square players typically rigged the game to benefit squares, circles strove to become squares at which point they began to act like squares, and that triangles became angry and then apathetic, only becoming interested at the
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Players randomly draw lots of colored chips. These chips have different number value based on their color. Players are given the opportunity to trade these chips to increase their point total. Players are told to not share information about their chips. While players are told that the group
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Each round, players draw random colored chips and trade them for sets of points. At the end of each round players are assigned one of three groups and given an associated badge based on their score. The top scorers are red squares, the middle are blue circles, and the low scorers are green
404:"The members of the lower groups responded to the hopelessness of their fate in a variety of ways; some hid their cards or themselves; others ran away; still others directly refused to follow the rules, and some of them even seemed to dare the top group members to make them." (Feld 1997)
286:"Although the original distribution of the chips largely determined the individual point totals and resulting group assignments, the participants were told that they were being placed in groups according to their levels of achievement." (Feld 1997)
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Key to the game's educational effectiveness is for those running the game to withhold details about the true nature and implementation. That the red squares can change the rules is only revealed to players when the ability is added to the game.
395:"This particular play of the game was typical. After a very short time, the top group made increasingly oppressive rules, reducing or even eliminating any changes for the others to succeed and move up the hierarchy." (Feld 1997)
295:"Variations in wealth are ostensibly based on '“merit' but most members of each 'strata' unknowingly receive different resources at the beginning of the game and at each subsequent 'trading session." (Mukhopadhyay 2004)
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Another commentator notes similar results. The squares create oppressive rules that make it difficult for lower groups to advance. Lower groups turn to cheating. The commentator also noted the lower groups becoming
413:"As participants came to feel that there was essentially nothing that they could do that would lead to 'acceptable' levels of rewards, they increasingly tended to withdraw and/or act in hostile ways." (Feld 1997)
97:. Players are assigned categories based upon their relative scores, with the highest scoring category being able to change the rules. The game is designed to illustrate the
344:"Much of the impact of the experience on players depends on the deliberate misinforming of participants as to the nature and outcomes of the game."
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1. In service to the educational goal of the game, chance and skill have a smaller impact on the game than players are initially led to believe.
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The official site for the game lists eight lessons that StarPower teaches, mostly focused on the results of inequal distribution of power.
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for 12 to 35 players, designed by R. Garry Shirts for
Simulation Training Systems in 1969. The game combines chance and skill at
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they engaged in while the circles are viewed as sell-outs by the triangles and as incompetent by the squares.
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assignment is based on "achievement" or "merit", the initial distribution dominates the resulting scores.
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23:. For the gameplay mechanic called "Star Power" in the Guitar Hero video game series, see
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226:"Tribute to R. Garry Shirts On the Occasion of Receiving the Ifill-Raynolds Award"
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than a game and as a result does not view replayability as an important goal.
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in a system that naturally stratifies them economically or politically.
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Feld, Scott L. (March 1997). "Simulation Games in Theory
Development".
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430:. Vol. 12, no. 1. Springer Netherlands. pp. 103–115.
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323:(Date is date of first publication, not release to the web.)
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Starpower is by design a very unbalanced game. Game designer
19:"StarPower" redirects here. For the song by Sonic Youth, see
348:"Loading the Dice: The Challenge of Serious Videogames"
154:. At the end of the game, the squares seldom see the
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Guitar Hero (series) § Common gameplay elements
181:- cross cultural competence game by R. Garry Shirts
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464:"Starpower: Experiencing a Stratified Society"
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371:Shirts, Garry; Bernie DeKoven (2006-10-20).
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313:"Why Would Anyone Want to Play Starpower?"
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259:COPE: James Wallis Levels With You
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373:"Guest Wisdom from Garry Shirts"
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504:Board games introduced in 1969
468:What's Race Got to Do With It?
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442:Feld, Scott L. (March 1997).
206:. Simulation Training Systems
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16:Multiplayer educational game
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377:Bernie DeKoven, funsmith
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173:See also
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