Games economists play: A survey of non-computerized classroom-games for college economics

The bulk of this unusual paper consists of an extensive online annotated compilation of 113 non-computerized classroom-games, most of which can be played within one class period, to assist in the teaching of college-level basic micro and macroeconomic concepts (see http://www.aug.edu/^-shajmb or http://www.marietta.edu/^-delemeeg). The paper itself consists of three major sections. The first catalogues, summarizes, and provides sample annotations of the games we collected. Section two makes a number of observations about the games. For instance, we notice an imbalance between games for microeconomics (many) and games for macroeconomics (few). We also detail which standard introductory economics topics are covered well and which are not covered well or missing altogether. For example, we observe that few games exist to present the proper economic role of government in economic affairs. The third section surveys the available literature on the costs and benefits of playing games in the classroom. In particular, our survey reveals that existing studies consider costs and benefits to students and instructors only partially, and we lay out a matrix that should help in the design of improved studies on the efficacy of gaming in the classroom.