Creating a Game Simulation
One of the hottest trivia games to come along in recent years is "You Don't Know Jack." Its irreverance and in-your-face attitude captured the attention of many who like the idea of Trivial Pursuit, but found that with the board version they were just bored. Creating your own version of "Jack" is well beyond the scope of this simple tutorial- but there is an option- Jeopardy! I have played Jeopardy! in my own classroom for quite some time by taping categories and answers to the wall. Then, imitating Vanna White, I pull the cover off the answer and ask ask students for the question. I have found it to be a fun and useful review. Similar goals can be met by creating an on-line version of this popular game. Granted, some liberties have to be taken, and in its simplest form students don't even input their response- but they can still review if they are motivated.
If you can't imagine how an online version of Jeopardy might look: CLICK HERE. To start playing, click on the Indiana Map. Be sure and look at the category "Wildlife." Notice the slow-loading background image. Originally, all of the pages had these images, but the time to load was so long, that these backgrounds were removed. As well, the first page originally automatically loaded the Jeopardy! theme song. It works well when you are cerating it- but takes a long time to load so it was also removed. If you want to hear the song and see how long it takes click here.
This version is very simple. It was created by a 5th grade student who had never create an html page prior to this work. The project was completed in a weekend, including learning to use the HTML editor. The majority of the time was spent scanning images, not creating the pages. Little extras can mean a lot of work- so start simple.
So how do you create your own? Below are the steps you will need.
1) Create a cover page. This announces to students that they have found the starting point for your game. In this example, the cover page is named jep-open.htm. A good name is important, because you want to remember what your files are. Now, link this to the category page. This example uses a file called categories.htm.
2) Create a category page. Using your html editor, create text boxes on a page. THese text boxes can then be copied repeatedly so that all of the boxes are the same size. Use a color fill to create contrast, then add text to identify what each category is. Once complete, create a hyperlink between each box and the corresponding category page. Remember: names are important. In this example, category pages are named "identify.htm", "torf.htm", etc. so that they are easy to remember.
3) Create a page for individual categories. Notice that each individual category has an identical page except for the title at the top. Save your self work and use the same page over and over. Create a template that has everything except a title. Then you can add a title to the template and save it with a new name. Remember to save it with a new name or else the template will be replaced! Now, go back to the original template, add a new title, and save under a new name! It really is that simple.
4) Create question and answer pages. Note that the answer pages can easily be edited versions of the question page. The title remains the same, but the text is changed. Also, at the bottom of the page a hyperlink goes to a different place. To keep track of question and answer files, this example used the convention "catX_ amount.htm" for the answer page where X is replaced with a category number and amount is replaced with a dollar amount. Therefore, the first answer (remember in Jeopardy! you are given the answer and must respond with a question) in Identify it! is coded cat1_100. Then the corresponding question has the same structure except the underscore is removed. Therefore, the question that goes with the above example is cat1100.htm. You can create your own structure, but thinking through names in advance will be helpful.
5) Play your game!
Okay- its not quite that quick. But it is that simple. Dive in- give it a try. Once you get past the initial learning curve, you will find that you can modify your original game to create multiple versions very quickly.