You Sunk My Constitution: Using a Popular Off-the-Shelf Board Game to Simulate Political Concepts

Using an example, this article demonstrates how instructors can make use of popular off-the-shelf board games to model politics. I show how the rules of the popular board game Battleship can be manipulated to simulate centralization of power and, more specifically, the differences between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. Off-the-shelf board games like Battleship provide a powerful—and virtually unrecognized—tool to help simulate complex institutions and concepts by modifying well-known rules to fit pedagogical needs. Board games therefore constitute an untapped resource waiting to be exploited by creative educators.