Polynesian Explorers

This game teaches geography of Polynesia, and the technology that enabled Polynesian civilization to expand across the vast open Pacific Ocean centuries ahead of Europeans. The game employs social decision making and kinesthetic play to create “sticky” learning.

In Polynesian Explorers, players start from 3 different places; Hawaii in the North, New Caledonia in the West, and Rapanui (Easter Island) in the East. Single players, or groups of about 5 players start simultaneously from these islands and move across tiles towards the Society Islands in the middle. As they journey, players select natural resources, such as coconut or basalt, to build and provision a large ocean going waka (canoe). Once they have enough resources they can begin the journey South West towards Aotearoa.

Each island tile has different resources, and each natural resource provides different items e.g. a coconut tree provides food, water bottles and rope. On the blank “open sea” tiles players encounter weather and sea hazards which can be countered by collecting “karakia cards”. Players must decide which resources are likely to be useful to them. Players may trade with other players if they land on the same tile.

The tiles can be turned face up or face down to create different levels of play, for different age groups and different levels of interest. Very young players build their waka from 5 resources and follow the islands to Aotearoa. Older players must also provision their waka, selecting from 14 resources, and find their way to a hidden Aotearoa. For a more complex game players adopt roles within teams and only the starting islands are visible. They must use constellations, placed around the outside of the space, to navigate and find resources.

The game can be run competitively as a race to Aotearoa, or cooperatively with each group helping the others to gather resources to make the journey. About 15 players can play at once.

Tiles can be printed out at A3 size and placed on the floor for a large scale physical game, or the game can be printed smaller to play as a tabletop board game.

Digital files are supplied for the fabrication of the game. The game can be made inexpensively by printing on a home computer, sticking to cardboard boxes, and hand-cutting with knives, or you can choose files for commercial printing and laser cutting.

Pacific Explorers Progress

My intention is to create a suite of games telling of the exploration of the Pacific that eventually led to the discovery of Aotearoa/New Zealand by first the Polynesians, then the Dutch, and finally the British.

Fittingly, the story of the Polynesians is now likely to be the first to be produced, although I started with a game that compared Polynesian and European Navigation, hoping to have something available for the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s arrival. There is a need to provide the Polynesian Story for the new New Zealand School History Curriculum. There is also a need to celebrate the technology, science and cleverness of Polynesian Civilization, and not to assume that Pākehā ideas were or are “more advanced”. Our “advanced” Western Civilization has led us into a paradigm of environmental exploitation that threatens everyone’s existence. Māori values such as Kaitiakitanga and long term intergenerational planning show us another way of thinking.

Below is a description of the initial Pacific Explorer’s game. This was trialed by year 9-10 maths classes at an Otara School. It proved a bit complicated, and not enough class members could play it at once, but the kids loved that maths related to navigation and their own heritage.

Pacific Explorers Game: What is it?

Pacific Explorers is a spatial and kinaesthetic game that teaches the navigation methods of the early ocean explorers who found Aotearoa: First the Polynesians, then the Europeans; Tasman and Cook

Who is it for?

Pacific Explorers is particularly suitable for school groups, either visiting a museum, or at school. It teaches our history through a physical social experience, rather than by book or computer learning. The game can be adapted to different age groups and session times. It can be installed in a museum for visitors to play, or set up as a temporary activity by teachers or educators. It comes with instructions for its installation and use, or can be presented by it’s designer Juliet, who has a wealth of knowledge around the topic.

What is its Purpose?

Pacific Explorers aims to tell the story of people’s arrival in Aotearoa in a balanced way that is acceptable to all. It aims to quietly debunk the Eurocentric view that Tasman and Cook “discovered New Zealand”, whilst at the same time elevating understanding of the sophistication and expertise of Polynesian navigation and seafaring.

How does the Game Work?

Star constellations and cardinal directions (E, N, S, W, SW etc.) are set up around the perimeter of a space. Cards are then spread out face down across the space (or flip cards are placed within an exhibition). Most are blank, but a few are islands. Players then follow navigational directions to find the islands amongst a “sea” of cards. They can play as Polynesians, Europeans in the time of Tasman, or Europeans in the time of Cook. Players can collect and trade picture cards that depict natural resources and knowledge at each island. According to the items they select players can succeed in various aspects of being a Pacific Explorer: Sailor -a practical hard working team player, Scientist- an ingenious analyst of natural resources, Navigator-Captain- an ambitious brave and respected leader, or Diplomat - a highly cultured and intelligent broker of peace between different peoples. Through their play participants will discover the advantages and disadvantages of the different navigation methods, and will learn what was required to make the journey to Aotearoa. A few slides are also provided to help to introduce the game and briefly illustrate the navigation methods.

Why would I need this game?

1. Because it’s a fun way to be educated.

   I initially ran already run a very brief trial with the Ngaio Union Church congregation. A mix of ages played, from young to elderly. The congregation is mostly Pākehā, and likely generous in their assessment. My feedback is only anecdotal, but they seemed to enjoy it, and to be surprised at the skills of the Polynesian navigators.

2. To cure Eurocentricity

When I started designing this game the Mosque killings in Christchurch were front of mind. I hope you will appreciate the urgency of teaching our own history in a way that not only values all our ethnicities, but also attempts to redress the Eurocentric view. This can be tricky territory, as some of the reactions to Tuia Encounters 250 have already shown, so this game is a very gentle start to reframing our history.

3. Because it’s “sticky learning” for all sorts of learners.

After being a student of Te Wananga O Aotearoa, and as a museum professional who is interested in maximising visitor engagement, I have come to appreciate the inherent Pākehā cultural bias in presenting information in static graphic and written form, as opposed to the much more interesting and memorable social and spatial interaction that Polynesian style teaching uses. Polynesians got here by memorising the entire night sky by this method- and it still works!

Other exhibit-activities

Before creating the game above I made a lot of activities designed to complement and enliven museum exhibitions that commemorate the 250th centenary of Captain Cook’s journey of discovery to New Zealand/Aotearoa and the East Coast of Australia. I made the emphasis on Captain Cook, because this was what I thought the audience would be most interested in. However, from an indigenous Pacific Islander’s point of view this didn’t provide a balanced point of view at all. These games and activities were also mostly far too complicated for playing in a short time in a museum setting. However you may find something useful in these designs so I am leaving them up here. They encompass Cook’s Endeavour voyage, Polynesian and European navigation methods, Dutch East India Company trading, the difficulties of exploring the vast unknown Pacific Ocean, and the tribulations of early communication between Polynesians and Europeans. They  incorporate science, maths, navigation, astronomy, global weather patterns, botany, social history, and geography.

Digital files for constructing can be supplied at two different levels: those for hand-making and computer printing the components will be less than files for laser-cutting, 3D printing, and professional printing and fabrication.  This allows you to select the level of production according to your resources and the expected use of the exhibit.

Master Navigator Game: Captain Cook

See the slide show below for an idea of how the game is played:

1. Globe Building Activity: European Navigation

This is an activity in which participants learn about European navigational parameters, and the journeys of Tasman and Cook, by building a globe. Participants will learn navigational datum’s, and that latitude consists of even slices of the globe, whilst longitude is like slices of an orange, getting smaller towards the poles. They will learn about Tasman and Cook's voyages by placing illustrated incidents from the voyages at grid references on the globe. An additional activity to explain the Transit of Venus involves marking out 1 astronomical unit (au) in the scale of the globe, on a local map. Includes infographics on; the history of finding latitude and longitude at sea, the geometry behind laying out the globe, and the transit of Venus.

2. Interactive: Polynesian Navigation

Polynesians developed a system of star-path navigation that allowed them to accurately find tiny islands in a vast open sea at a time when Europeans were still hugging the coast. This interactive demonstrates how a Polynesian navigator relates his changing position to the changing night sky: an inner circle shows the relationship between latitude and star elevation, while an outer circle revolves star paths east to west across the sky during the night. As the waka moves south the southern star orbits rise, while the northern stars disappear below the horizon. This comes with an additional simple model to show the concept of “etak” ( island triangulation) in traditional Pacific navigation, and infographics on; how our latitude affects our view of the stars and the sun, and how prevailing wind affected Polynesian Migration routes.

Recommended size: 750mm diameter

3. “Master Navigator” Games

A series of “Master Navigator” board and card games simulate the conditions of maritime exploration experienced by Kupe, Tasman and Cook. By playing a series of games along the historical routes of these explorers, visitors come to appreciate the parameters of navigating across vast areas of uncharted ocean: The interweaving challenges of; prevailing winds and currents, dwindling supplies, and trading with local inhabitants. Players learn the advantages and disadvantages of sailing different routes: becalmed in the doldrums, fast in the roaring forties, impossible to sail against the prevailing wind. On Cook’s Endeavour voyage they discover transgressions and reconciliations of early Polynesian-European relationships. In the Dutch East India Co game, the profitability of trading from one country to the next must be balanced with the length of time spent at sea. On Polynesian voyages route instructions must be memorised, and course adjustments may be needed.

The games are played by moving a ship or waka across a “base map” of hexagonal tiles. The aim of each game is to arrive at the given destination the fastest, with the least loss of life, and/or with the most items traded or collected.

Each tile has a wind speed and direction which determines the distance and direction that the players can move for each turn. Wind direction, sea currents, land areas and items of trade or revictualling are shown on the base map. A separate cardboard frame defining the game area for each explorer is then placed over the base map.

At each anchorage or port, players can trade for items, or resupply their vessels for further voyaging. Cards showing sailors, provisions and items for trade or collection, are taken on and off a "cargo board" as the game is played.  

Master Navigator: Abel Tasman & The Dutch East India Co.

Abel Tasman found Aotearoa whilst searching for profitable goods for the Dutch East India Co. The Abel Tasman component includes 2 games: The first encompasses trading along the main Dutch East India Co routes east of Cape Town whilst the second is about the voyage on which Tasman discovered New Zealand.

The aim of the Dutch East India Co game is to make a profit. The winners are the ship to reach Batavia, within a given number of turns, with the greatest wealth in trade items. Players will find the early Dutch East India Co route around the east of Africa through the doldrums to be slow, with much loss of life due to scurvy, whilst the later Brouwer route through the roaring forties is much faster.

The second game is about Tasman’s circumnavigation of Australia from Batavia, via Mauritius, with the discovery of NZ on the way. The winners are the ship to return to Batavia with the least number of turns, with and the greatest amount of coastline discovered. If a player ends up in the middle of the land they are shipwrecked, so they must start again!Comes with infographics on; The Dutch East India Co and trade routes, and an early incorrect European map of the Pacific.

Recommended size 1.5 x 1.3m

Master Navigator: Kupe

For the Kupe game a star compass will be placed over the base map: a circle with the setting and rising of constellations marked on the perimeter. Blue tiles will then be placed over the map within, leaving the islands uncovered. Team 1 will be randomly given an island of departure and arrival. They must then make up a set of instructions for getting from the start to the finish island via the islands in between. They will need to describe the number of moves to make and the stars to follow. They then cover all the islands but the starting one. Team 2 comes into the room to receive instructions from team 1.

No pens, paper or electronic devices will be allowed. Players can making up a story or song, and/or arrange sticks and stones as memory aids. Signs such as birds, seaweed, phosphorescence and swell patterns point towards land. The waka will need to replenish their water frequently, so they will lose sailors if they miss small islands along their path. If you want to run this as a competitive game, the winning teams will be the first to get to their destination with the least penalties for losing crew, and extra points for finding signs that indicate land.

Comes with infographics on; contemporary voyages to rediscover traditional Pacific navigation methods and routes, signs used to find land in traditional Pacific navigation, and the use of swell patterns for navigation.

Recommended size 1.5m x 1.5m

Different age groups

The games and activities can be played at different levels of difficulty for different age groups. Younger age groups could be helped to build the globe. To locate the incidents from Cook's and Tasman’s journeys, the names of places and countries can be written on the cards, as well as the coordinates. To play the board-games younger players can make the journeys with the routes already mapped out, and without trading. Very young players may simply enjoy placing the correct coloured tiles in each wind area or pushing their ship along a marked route.

Delivery

Pacific Explorers will be sold as a set of digital files including graphics, construction drawings, and game instructions that can be used to fabricate and utilise the components. Its components can be bought individually or as a set.

The cost of materials for construction will vary , depending on whether the game is made by hand using recycled materials and in-house computer printers, or by professional fabricators, printers, and laser cutters.

Digital files will be supplied at two different levels: those for hand-making and cutting and computer printing the components being less than files for laser-cutting and professional printing and fabrication. You can choose components according to your interests. A science museum may like to choose 1 & 2 (Globe building & Polynesian navigation), a social history museum may like to choose 3, 3.1, 3.2 & 3.2 to play games about Kupe, Tasman, and Cook, and a Wananga may wish to choose 2, 3, and 3.3 to focus on Polynesian navigation.

Conditions of Use: Copyright, License and Updates

The copyright and intellectual property for all files and information for Pacific Explorers will remain the property of Intouch Design Ltd. Buyers will be purchasing a licence to make and use one copy for one year. For the following 2 years, license holders must pay an annual renewal fee, at 15% of the initial purchase price. All current license holders will receive updated files, which may be made periodically in response to user feedback.