Non-Stop Cap Zap – 10 to 50 Players

What You Should Know Before You Play

The object of the game is for your students to be on the team that plays all of its GeoPlunge cards first (i.e., is the first team to run out of GeoPlunge cards) by using what they learn about U.S. state capitals. Throughout the game, each team tries to “Zap” cards that the other team plays. You Zap another team’s card when you play a card that either

o       Has a state capital that has the same first letter as the state capital of the card you are trying to Zap, OR

o       Has a state capital that’s first letter is immediately next to (in the alphabet) the first letter of the state capital of the card you are trying to Zap.

Therefore, for example, if the first letter of the state capital of the card that you are trying to Zap is a “C”, you can Zap that card by playing a card whose state capital begins with either “B”, “C” or “D”.

Divide the students into two teams with an equal number of players on both teams (if you have an extra student, let that student be the referee). Use the GeoPlunge cards only, and do not shuffle the deck after the game begins.

How to Play

¨         Deal each player on each team 1 GeoPlunge card.

¨         The teacher decides which team will begin the game. The game begins with a player from that team going to the front of the room and playing (i.e., showing) his or her card.

¨         If the other team has one or more players who can Zap that card, the other team chooses one of those players to go to the front of the room and play his or her card. In that event, the first team then tries to find a player that can Zap the second team’s player’s card.

¨         The game continues in this fashion, except that when one team plays a card and the other team does not have a player who can Zap that team’s card, the second team does not get to play a card at that time, and the first team gets to have two turns in a row (with another player from its team then playing a card). If the second team can’t Zap that card either, the first team would then get to have a third turn in a row, and so on.

¨         Once a player plays his or her card, that card cannot be used again and that player is out of the game, except that player can still help other players on his or her team decide which cards to play.

¨         The first team to play all of its cards wins the game.