Welcome to COSI of Columbus, Ohio’s farming exhibition. In Bet the Farm, you make all the farming decisions for a year and then you get to see how well your farm did. Notice that yellow book and the tabs on the side? They are Welcome, How to Play, Sponsors and Credits.
Welcome – This area explains what the project is about, as well as, what your goals are for the game.
How to Play – These are the instructions for how to play the game. Every choice you make causes something to happen or not to happen, so try to make wise decisions. To get all the instructions, make sure to click the More button. This will tell you about the advice cards and how the end game play works.
Sponsors and Credits – In the sponsors section, you can see who sponsored this game, whereas the credits section tells you who made it.
Click Begin to start your year on the farm! You start with two million dollars. Spend it wisely, as it doesn’t go nearly as far as you would think. Remember, if you want to learn more about your decision, you can click the Info link underneath the choice on each card you draw.
Advice cards will pop up from time to time to offer you advice against doing something and they provide reasons why. You, of course, can continue on your path by choosing to ignore them.
It was interesting to see the influence that weather had on the farm, as well as, how quickly the money went. I ended up making only $133,166 for the year, with a two million dollar loan! That’s quite scary.
I think this is a fun learning game you could play with your children or even by yourself. I hope you enjoy it. I’m off to see if I can do better!
http://www.cosi.org/onlineExhibits/farm/farmFrame.htm
~ Amanda