We used this game in one of high school classes a few years ago, but this was much harder than I remember it being. The first couple rounds I was really just trying to figure out how I could best divide up the family work hours to produce enough crops/food and collect enough firewood and water. I think eventually I found a good balance, but it took a little while. When the firewood was low in the town, I limited the amount that each family in the village could collect. I also tried to invest in a small business every game so the family could earn more income. Honestly, some parts of the game were very frustrating and I am not sure if it was because I didn’t know how to play that well or if the game was just really challenging to begin with. Every game my maize production was too low, no matter how hard I tried to increase our farming and resources. Also, every single time that I grew any cotton, it wouldn’t sell at the market and I would lose hundreds if not thousands of dollars on the crop going bad or not selling and loss of transportation money. Towards the end of the game, I just decided never to grow cotton again. I also struggled with keeping Kodjo and Fatou alive at times. They would get a sickness or disease, and health would be around 60%, so I would take them to the doctor and make sure they had enough food and water, and then they died. This happened many times and I didn’t know what to do or how to fix that. By the last game I played, Kodjo and Fatou were able to have a child. When Fatou was pregnant, I significantly decreased her work hours and gave her more calories to eat, but unfortunately the child died pretty quickly. Overall, the game was a good learning experience to show how difficult it is to get out of poverty and even just to survive within poverty, and I can’t imagine experiencing these burdens in real life, because this is not just a game.