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World Health Champion Game

The World Health Champion Game tests general knowledge of public and international health. It has been developed in KIT’s training courses to raise awareness and exchange knowledge about public health issues in developing countries.

Introduction

This page introduces the World Health Champion Game and it presents downloadable files of the playing board, the game instructions and rules, and questions and answers of the game.

The World Health Champion Game is made available through this page with the primary target group being participants of master’s programmes in Public or International/Global Health. Others who might be interested are master’s and bachelors’ students in health sciences, and other health workers from low- and middle-income countries.

Content

During the KIT health training courses students follow various basic and advanced modules on public health with a focus on developing countries. The World Health Champion Game builds on the knowledge obtained in the courses and allows participants to rehearse, recapitulate and learn together. The game is a pleasant and effective method of learning. During the game, students can solve questions related to various public health issues in developing countries while discussing with their colleagues. This allows students to get involved in a learning process by (re)visiting the (studied/new) subject matter in an entertaining way.

Specific educational objectives

Content of the World Health Champion Game

Game instructions and rules

World Health Champion Game

This game tests general knowledge of public and international Health. Some questions are basic content of master’s courses in Public or International Health; others are more ‘trivial’ and require quite specific knowledge. The objective is also to create discussions amongst the students on the topics in the game. World Health Champion is a board game in which giving the right answers brings you closer to victory. The question cards are organised into themes:

HPM Health planning and management – Yellow
DOH Determinants of health – Green
HP Health problems/disease management – Orange
BRM Basic research methods – Brown
SRH Sexual and reproductive health – Pink
PHH Public health history – Blue

Getting started

The game includes a board, six playing pieces, question cards with answers and plastic wedges in six colours. During the game, players move their playing pieces around a track with six crossroads. The rectangular track is divided into spaces of different colours. On the ‘crossroads’ there is a sign with a medical logo, one for each colour (figure 1). These spaces are called ‘research centres’. The centre of the board has a picture illustrating a winner lifting a trophy. This is where the playing pieces start and end the game.

How to play the game

The group members decide amongst themselves who starts the game by throwing a dice. Players can take as many steps with their playing piece as the number on the dice. When a player lands their piece on a square, the player next to them reads a question according to the colour of the square, which corresponds to one of the six question categories. If the player answers this question correctly their turn continues; if a player lands on a white space they can roll the dice again without answering a question. There is an element of choice, since the player can decide in which direction to move and this way he/she can try to land on his/her ‘Favourite’ colour. Any number of playing pieces may occupy the same space at the same time.

The player should try to land on one of the ‘research centres.’ If the player answers a question correctly on one of the research centres, they win/collects a wedge of the same colour. The small plastic wedge which fits into their playing pieces can be placed in front of the player to signify that a question from a certain category has been correctly answered.

Once a player has collected one plastic wedge of each colour, they make their way toward the centre of the board with the picture illustrating a winner lifting a trophy and answer a question in a question category of their choice. If this question is answered correctly then that player has won the game. Otherwise, the player throws the dice again to decide how many steps from the centre they will move. From that spot they land on, they again start advancing towards the centre.

Questions are written on cards in the colour of their category. There is one question on each card. The answers to the questions are on the same side of the card. Some questions ask for a specific number or a specific date. If no margin is indicated, the group can decide whether they think the answer is close enough.

Number of players and playing time

There can be six players per game, or six teams. To play the full game can take >2 hrs depending on the level of the players and the discussions. An alternative is to set a fixed time: e.g. 1 hr and to look at the end of the game who has won most wedges. This player is the winner.

Another quicker version of the game is that the players receive a wedge for each correct question not only for those questions that are answered correctly on the research centre. The players can still only win one wedge of each colour. This is particularly suitable for students in the early phases of their training, or if time is limited.

Download game

Here you can access and download:
•    A soft copy of the playing board and pieces
•    The instructions & rules of the game
•    The questions & answers by category.

Please read the following instructions before printing the PDF files (listed under documents on this page).

How to print the playing board

There are 2 options to print the playing board:

  1. If you have access to a plotter or a printer that prints on large sheets, you can use the PDF called playing board. Print the board as a whole, using the scaling options in your printer configuration to set the maximum size that will fit on the sheet.
  2. If you have access to an A4-size sheet printer only, you can use the second PDF called playing board 2×3. In this file the board is divided into six different pages. Print this file single-sided! using landscape orientation. You can then cut the blank margins with a cutting machine or a pair of scissors and then glue the pages together on a piece of cardboard.

For both options you are advised to use a colour printer. If this is not available, you may want to add the appropriate colours to the board by hand with a pencil.

How to print the question & answer cards

  1. Each file is supposed to be printed on paper with a specific colour. Use the following colours:
    • HPM Health planning and management – Yellow
    • DOH Determinants of health – Green
    • HP Health problems/disease management – Orange
    • BRM Basic research methods – Brown
    • SRH Sexual and reproductive health – Pink
    • PHH Public health history – Blue
    • If you do not have coloured paper, you may use blank paper. The relevant colour is indicated in text on every card.
  2. The files should be printed on an A4 printer. Otherwise the cards will not all be of the same size.
  3. The files should be printed without using any scaling options. Deselect any scaling options that may be activated in your printer configuration. Otherwise the cards will not all be of the same size.
  4. The files are expected to be printed on a duplex (two-sided) printer. If you do not have a duplex printer, you may be able to select manual duplex in your printer configuration. You may also have an option to print odd and even pages separately. You can then feed back the printed pages into the printer after the first print-run.
  5. The printed pages can be cut using a cutting machine or a pair of scissors.

Wedges

  1. To play the game you will also need wedges in different colours. For this you may use fiches from existing games or simply pieces of plastic, or even coloured paper. For every player of the game you will need six wedges of the following colours: yellow, green, orange, brown, pink and blue. In addition, you will also need playing pieces (a different colour for every player) and one dice.
  2. If you want to use paper wedges, you can print the Wedges PDF on a colour printer, and cut out the wedges using a pair of scissors.

PDF Files