Hero of Weehawken: The Arron Burr Conspiracy, 1805-1807

Hero of Weehawken is a solitaire game in which the player takes the role of President Thomas Jefferson at a dangerous moment in the history of the United States. Former Vice President Aaron Burr is somewhere out west, and rumors abound that he is threatening the nation with plans for some sort of ill-advised military adventure that could bring America to war with Spain, or even a direct act of treason against the United States!

To forestall this disaster, you must first determine Burr’s real plans, then find and arrest him before he executes his plan; and, finally, present sufficient evidence to convict Burr at trial. If your agents arrest him too soon, you will not have gathered enough evidence or figured out what to charge him with. If you wait too long, however, you may be too late to stop his nefarious plans.

• Preview the Game (alpha play testing)

Resources:

• Hero of Weehawken: Boardgame playthrough (YouTube.com)
• Here of Weehawken: Boardgame details (Boardgamegeek.com)
• Educational Materials for Integrating the Game into the Classroom

Educational Materials to Integrate Israeli into the Classroom

Lesson 1: Background on Jefferson's Presidency

• Vocabulary Sheet

Lesson 2: Understanding the Events of the Aaron Burr's Conspiracy

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 Israeli, 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 end of World War II and the postwar world 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.