Constantinople: A History of the Byzantine Empire, 330 to 1453

Constantinople is a solitaire game in which the player controls the Byzantine Empire from the 4th to the 15th century defending the empire against enemy forces and guiding the empire's social and economic development abstractly. In this game, designed by Steve Ashing, the empire is beset by enemies from all sides from the Goths to the Turks, but perhaps they could be pacified by marriage into the imperial family or by conversion to Christinianity.

Constantinople is now available in its full, public release form. The department has been granted permission from the designer/copyrightholder to release the game publically.

• Play the Game Here (new, full version released 6/16/2024)
• View the game's entry on BoardGameGeek.com
• Game Instructions (PDF)

Resources:

• Educational Materials for Integrating the Game into the Classroom

Educational Materials for the Classroom

Lesson 1: Background on

• Vocabulary Sheet

Lesson 2: Understanding the Events

Lesson 3: Understanding the Design Process for Historical Games

Lesson 4: Making Your Own Event Card

 

How to Have Students Play as a Group Online

One of the advantages of playing a boardgame in a classroom, even a solitaire game like Levee, is that students can collaborate in pairs or even small groups. This has the advantages of ensuring that even students who are unclear about the activity or the game rules can be guided by the other students, and the students can discuss and debate both the moves to make and the events of the game. The online environment makes this more difficult, but it is certainly not impossible. We'll use Zoom an example.

Imagine you are using Zoom to teach a class of a couple dozen students synchronously. You've been discussing the French Revolution and introduced students to the game, but you want them to work together on the game in pairs or groups of 3 or 4.  You can break students into groups on Zoom as you would normally, but before you do, identify those students who are going to be the Game Master (or GM, or Host). The Host student opens the game in their computer's browser and then shares their screen with the group. Everyone will be able to see the Host's screen with the game. (Don't forget to play fullscreen -- the "F11" key.) Students can then discuss moves and events with the Host taking the actions the group desires.