Briefing
Volcanoes are one of nature's most powerful forces. In this activity, the pressure's on as you try to set off a grand-slam eruption!
Activity
What You'll Need:
A set of Volcano Baseball playing cards
Four chairs for bases
Station cards for the bases
How to Play:
In this game, you and your friends are all powerful volcanoes. The object is to be the first to erupt. You do that by rounding four bases, just like in baseball.
Here's the path you?ll take:
HOME PLATE: This is where pressure builds up in the hot, liquid rock called magma, found deep inside the Earth.
FIRST BASE: Once the pressure's high enough, carbon dioxide dissolves into the magma.
SECOND BASE: The magma rises to the surface. As it rises, the pressure drops.
THIRD BASE: Because the pressure drops, the carbon dioxide escapes from the magma as a gas and forms bubbles.
Once enough of these gas bubbles form, the volcano blows its top and you?re headed for home!
To play, everyone starts off at home plate. Leave the cards in the center of the bases, where the pitcher's mound would be.
Choose an order for people to take turns. You'll take turns in this order throughout the game, no matter what base you?re on.
On each turn, a player picks one card from the center deck. Usually it will have between zero and 5 points on it. Those points represent pressure building, gas dissolving, magma rising, or bubbles forming, depending on what base you're on. Save the card and don?t show it to anyone else.
Once you get a total of 10 points in your hand, you're ready for the next phase of the eruption! Show your cards, discard them face up in the center, and move up to the next base!
Nobody can pick from the discard pile. If the center deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile and turn it face down.
Sometimes you'll get a card that says "SWITCH!" When you draw this card, you can use it right away, or say nothing and save it for a future turn. When you use it, you can make anyone ON THE SAME BASE AS YOU switch cards with you -- even if you don't have the same number of cards!
Two tricky things about the Switch card:
1. You can't know what another player actually has in their hand before you switch, and you can't switch back, so guess wisely!
2. Once you move up to the next base, you have to throw away your Switch card with the rest of your cards.
The first one to make it back to home plate (and ERUPT) is the winner!
Debriefing
The eruption of a volcano is a chain reaction: heat underground creates pressure, which dissolves the carbon dioxide gas in the magma, which means the gas escapes when the magma rises to the surface, which creates bubbles, which causes the eruption. Why do you think the game made you collect 10 points before moving to the next level?
If you've got your Case Journals, answer the questions in it now!