State IQ™ Level 3-4
Cards Used: GeoPlunge cards, Clue cards, Power cards, Cut-out card. Shuffle the GeoPlunge, Clue, and Power cards before the game begins and after each contest.
Players: Two teams with 1, 2, or 3 players per team
Objective: This game is a series of state trivia contests. For each contest, each team has up to three guesses to guess the state held by its opponent. Each team gets one new clue before each guess. A team receives 2 points for winning a contest and it also has an opportunity to receive a bonus point (i.e. a third point) as described below. If a contest ends in a tie, each team receives one point. Play state trivia contests one at a time until one team wins the game. A team needs 15 points to win the game.
Determining who guesses first: Each team picks a GeoPlunge card without looking at that card in advance. Whichever team’s card has a statehood ranking closer to 1 will be the first guessing team for the first contest in this game. Alternate which team is the first guessing team for each contest.
For each state trivia contest:
Step 1: Deal each team 1 GeoPlunge card face-down. Each team looks at its card but should NOT show its card to its opponent.
Step 2: The dealer then turns the top Power card in the deck face-up. Teams use the order of the letters A, B, and C in the upper right corner of that Power card to give clues from the Clue cards before each guess.
For example, if the Power card turned face-up has BAC in the upper right corner (see example) each guessing team will receive one Type B clue before its first guess, one Type A clue before its second guess, if necessary, and one Type C clue before its third guess, if necessary.
For Type A and B clues, there usually will be options for which clue is provided as described by the Clue card. If the clue-giving team is required to show its opponent the state flag, use the cut-out card to hide all of the information with the exception of the state flag.
The dealer turns over one new clue card before each guess. Used Clue cards are placed at the bottom of the deck. The only difference between Level 2 and Level 3 is that in Level 2, two Clue cards are turned over before each guess, and in Level 3, only one Clue card is turned over before each guess.
Step 3: The first guessing team has up to 3 guesses to try to guess the state of the GeoPlunge card in the other team’s hand.
Step 4: After the first guessing team correctly guesses the name of the state held by its opponent or has made 3 incorrect guesses, the teams switch roles with the first guessing team then providing clues regarding its state. Use the same Power card for both teams. The second guessing team does not continue to guess once it has won or lost, even if it has not made all three guesses.
Determining Who Wins a State Trivia Contest and Whether that Team Receives the Bonus Point: Whichever team guesses the state of the GeoPlunge card in the other team’s hand in fewer guesses wins the state trivia contest and earns 2 points. That team receives a bonus point (i.e. three points total) if it guessed correctly on its first guess. If neither team guesses correctly or each team guesses correctly using the same number of guesses, the contest ends in a tie and each team receives 1 point.
Level 4:
In Level 4, each team tries to guess as many states as possible from the other team’s hand. The only other ways in which Level 4 differs from Level 3 are as follows:
For the first and second guess:
- If the guessing team guesses incorrectly, it will try to guess the state of the same GeoPlunge card of the other team on its next guess.
- If the guessing team guesses correctly, deal the other team the next GeoPlunge card in the deck, and the guessing team will then try to guess the state of that card.
Whichever team correctly guesses more states from the other team’s hand wins the state trivia contest and earns 2 points. The winning team receives the bonus point (i.e. three points total) if it correctly guesses three different states from the other team’s hand (i.e., it it did not make any incorrect guesses). If neither team guesses any states correctly or each team guesses the same number of states, the contest ends in a tie and each team receives 1 point. In addition, if the second team to guess has already won before it has made all three of its guesses it should continue guessing if it still has the opportunity to receive the bonus point.
Other variations to the game you may want to try:
- Play for a different point total
- Play for a period of time rather than for a point total, and whoever is winning at the end of that period of time wins
- Allow fewer or additional clues and/or guesses
- Provide additional information about the state card not on the clue cards: (landmark located in that state, sports team in that state, “Home of _____ University, etc.)
- Only use cards of specific regions (e.g., only states that are primarily in the eastern or central time zone.)
- Only use cards of states that begin with certain letters (e.g., only use cards where the state names begin with letters A through L)
- See “Other Learning Activities with GeoPlunge” for additional ways to use the GeoPlunge cards