The Great War (Race to the Sea edition)-

a card game for two to six adults

“Just by playing, you win glory…social acceptance…adventure…a violent rending of your relationship to god, class structure and anyone who wasn’t there…and vocational training”

— Servant One

While the one act play dealt with the large politics of the time, we were interested in exploring some of the more personal stories of the war. At the same time, we were envisioning the scope of the project as being performed outdoors under a tent, in order to more fully inhabit the garden party setting of the play. We turned to the idea of game play with the audience, games being both a a feature of a an afternoon gathering or party and also as a chance for the audience to identify with some of the tragic and horrific details from this time.

In the fall of 2014, we were fortunate enough to to be supported by Joseph Megel at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. As part of the Process Series, we were able to develop the game with actors from the school and the Chapel Hill area. What resulted was the framework for a resource based card game in the style of the adult oriented german style board and card games that have become popular in the past few years.

In performance, the card game is adapted as a two handed game between two halves of the audience.

Early Card Development at UNC Process Series

Establishing Rules for The Great War - A Card Game

With the help of the students that ranged from well versed in game play to adverse to gameplay, we outlined the rules and dynamics for a functional card game.

Messing with the Rules of the Game

After outlining how the game would be played if it were being played at home, we then set out to adapt the game for performance.

Making Game Cards

UNC - Chapel Hill photo by Vanessa Gilbert

Preparing the "recruitment packages"

Game cards were distributed to audience members in packages bearing recruitment posters from the era.

Audience member with cards

Servants assist with gameplay

Servants (to the Last Living Veteran, to the characters of the play, and to the audience) helped with mechanics and interpretation of the game.