Tomorrow in my HIST3812 I want to get students thinking about the kinds of history that might be appropriate to embody in a game or simulation, and the experience of such games. Inspired by something we did at THATCamp Great Lakes, I’ve taken a deck of cards and divided it into ‘historiography (hearts)’, ‘genre (spades)’, and ‘aesthetic (clubs)’. Here’s the prompt for the exercise:

“I will give you cards from three different decks:

• historiography (Hearts)

• genre (Spades)

• aesthetic (Clubs)

Look at your cards. In your groups, brainstorm a quick idea for a game using those cards. If, after five minutes, you’ve hit a blank, you may exchange one card, and one card only. Note that nothing is being said about mechanics…

(what you come up with today is not necessarily what you have to go with for the term. This is just meant to get you thinking.)

Historiography (Hearts)	Genre (Spades)	Aesthetics (Clubs)
1 – Comparative	1 – ARG	1 or A – sensation
2 – Cultural	2 – Platformer	2 or K – fantasy
3 – Oral	3 – Shooter	3 or Q – narrative
4 – Economic	4 – Action-adventure	4 or J – challenge
5 – Environmental	5 or 10 – Adventure	5 or 10 – fellowship
6 – World	6 or J – RPG	6 or 9 – discovery
7 – Family	7 or Q – Simulation	7 – submission
8 – Gender	8 or K – Strategy	8 – expression
9 – Religious	9 – Casual
10 – Intellectual	A – Serious
J – Labour
Q – Marxist
K – Microhistory
A – Public