Appoint one Samurai
Select 2 Merchants
Select 2 Artisans
The rest are Peasants and their job is to grow the rice.
Peasants are to print the word RICE on a piece of paper in block letters and draw a rice stalk on each paper. The Samurai will be around to collect it. When asked, they must surrender all rice that the Samurai can see or knows about. The Peasants must also try to hide rice from the Samurai so that they will have enough to eat and to trade. They can grow (draw) the rice any way that works for them.
ROUND ONE: For the first (trial) round, the peasants draw as much rice as they can in 5 minutes. At the end of this short period, subtract 1 rice for each peasant from this number. This will be their base. Each time the Samurai comes along, the group must have at least this much rice to give to the Samurai. If they do not have the required amount, the Samurai then selects one student peasant and takes them out of the group. This signified that they have been executed and can no longer work. The group must still grow the original amount of rice for the next round, but the executed peasant no longer participates.
EXECUTED PEASANTS: One a peasant is "executed" (removed from the group), they are assigned a new role, that of "child". All executed peasants must sit out one round before returning to their original group in their new role as "child", provided their group is still in existence. Babies cannot work. Children can, and did.
ARTISANS: Artisans are to create (draw) goods that the Samurai would want. (Swords, Armor, Musical Instruments, etc.)
MERCHANTS:
Crop Quality: If the rice drawn after the first round is drawn poorly, the Samurai will not accept it. The Samurai is the only judge of what is acceptable quality.
Stealing Rice: Peasants caught stealing rice by the Samurai are "executed" and their rice confiscated. This does not change the quota for the group. Quotas of rice remain the same per group throughout the activity irrespective of the number of people in each group during any one round.
Food for the Peasants: At the end of each round, the teacher checks to see if the group has created and successfully hid enough rice so that each member of the group has at least one rice. If they do not, remove from the group each member that does not have rice. (They have starved, and are now dead.) The quote of rice for the group remains unchanged.
Angel of Death: During the third round, and each subsequent round, the teacher selects a group at random and representing "the angel of death" (fire, flood, epidemic, insects, etc.) takes away 1/2 of the rice they have created.
Select 2 Merchants
Select 2 Artisans
The rest are Peasants and their job is to grow the rice.
Peasants are to print the word RICE on a piece of paper in block letters and draw a rice stalk on each paper. The Samurai will be around to collect it. When asked, they must surrender all rice that the Samurai can see or knows about. The Peasants must also try to hide rice from the Samurai so that they will have enough to eat and to trade. They can grow (draw) the rice any way that works for them.
ROUND ONE: For the first (trial) round, the peasants draw as much rice as they can in 5 minutes. At the end of this short period, subtract 1 rice for each peasant from this number. This will be their base. Each time the Samurai comes along, the group must have at least this much rice to give to the Samurai. If they do not have the required amount, the Samurai then selects one student peasant and takes them out of the group. This signified that they have been executed and can no longer work. The group must still grow the original amount of rice for the next round, but the executed peasant no longer participates.
EXECUTED PEASANTS: One a peasant is "executed" (removed from the group), they are assigned a new role, that of "child". All executed peasants must sit out one round before returning to their original group in their new role as "child", provided their group is still in existence. Babies cannot work. Children can, and did.
ARTISANS: Artisans are to create (draw) goods that the Samurai would want. (Swords, Armor, Musical Instruments, etc.)
MERCHANTS:
- During each round, the merchants take the goods the Artisans have created and trade with the Samurai for rice.
- The Samurai sets the price and only gives as much rice as they want to.
- The merchants then return to the Artisans and share the rice they have traded for.
- Between rounds, if the peasants have managed to successfully hide some rice, they may trade for goods with the merchants.
SUBSEQUENT ROUNDS:
Crop Quality: If the rice drawn after the first round is drawn poorly, the Samurai will not accept it. The Samurai is the only judge of what is acceptable quality.
Stealing Rice: Peasants caught stealing rice by the Samurai are "executed" and their rice confiscated. This does not change the quota for the group. Quotas of rice remain the same per group throughout the activity irrespective of the number of people in each group during any one round.
Food for the Peasants: At the end of each round, the teacher checks to see if the group has created and successfully hid enough rice so that each member of the group has at least one rice. If they do not, remove from the group each member that does not have rice. (They have starved, and are now dead.) The quote of rice for the group remains unchanged.
Angel of Death: During the third round, and each subsequent round, the teacher selects a group at random and representing "the angel of death" (fire, flood, epidemic, insects, etc.) takes away 1/2 of the rice they have created.