Overview

The focus of this game is normally betting, but in this variation, no betting occurs. Furthermore, this is more a cooperative adventure rather than a competition. The basic mechanic of rolling dice one by one with the pyramid, stacking camels, and moving the camels toward the finish line are all the same.

There are three learning skills this variation focuses on:

• Identifying camel and die colors
• Identifying shapes of the numbers 1-3 and counting steps
• Stacking and moving camels

Setup

Prepare the board as normal using the five colored camels (excluding the white and black camels) and the colored dice (excluding the die that has black and white numbers). TIP: I will initially place the camels on their tent colors at the start to reinforce the association between the camel color and other components. That's it, time to play!

Gameplay

Play as normal using the following prompts to help the child learn while playing:

• What color die is it?
• Is that the number one, two, or three?
• Can you count the number of spaces we need to move the camel?
• Can you move all the camels to this space without them falling over?

It's important to play as well, by taking turns counting, saying the number on the die, or moving the camels. Otherwise, it can be overwhelming for the child and they can disengage before the race has ended. Speaking of endings, feel free to set the finish line closer based on your child's attention span!

Play Aids (optional)

Creating a reference sheet for the number shapes can be extremely helpful for early learners! This should include not only the number itself but also a countable representation of that number (e.g. dots).

Credits

Cover image by Tsmyther, cropped: CC BY-SA