Storm the Castle - a reading/spelling board game

Storm the Castle is a reading/spelling board game set in medieval times.
strategy . . . . . . . excitement . . . . . . . key skills .

For mid primary to early high school students (Years 3-7) or older students who are having difficulties.

Concentrates on vowel sounds, a very common, key area of difficulty.

Contains interesting information about medieval times. Learn the meaning of new words.

Line drawings based on authentic medieval art.

Published in a book with game board and cards ready to assemble or cut out.

Aim: To capture the the flag from the castle at the centre of the game board and return to any starting point without someone else capturing the flag from you.
Collect cards: Each time you land on a yellow (white, blue, ...) square pick up the top yellow (white, blue, ...) password card.
Each password card contains a missing sound, e.g. a_e/ay/ai: r_k = rake, medieval serf using rake

rake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . aim . . . . . . . . . . . . .. slay

Note, the "a" and the silent "e" together make the /A/ sound.

Obstacles: You must have the correct password card to go through any checkpoint on the game board (see section of game board below).
E.g., any of the yellow password cards rake, slay, or aim would allow you to go through the yellow a_e/ay/ai checkpoint.
You may not use a white a card such as candle, flag or map to get through a yellow checkpoint. A section of the game board.

Some examples of words on cards:
White cards: a: candle, dance, flag, hat, ladders, lance, map, ... e: bed, bells, chess, ... i: blacksmith, bridge, fish, ... o: chop, cross, ox, ..... u: drum, hunt, ...
Yellow cards: a_e/ay/ai: flames or stake, gate, hay, saint, ... ee/ea: bees, feast, keep, ... i_e/igh: knight, write or scribe, ... o_e/oa: boat, coat of arms, goat, moat, poach, roast, rope, stone, throne, yoke ... u_e: cube, fumes, fuse, lute, mule, .....
Blue cards: er/ir/ur: bird, church, churn, herd, murder, purse, serf, spur, stir, turn, urn ... ar: arch, archers, army, cards, ... or/aw/au: claws, dawn, fork, gauntlet, ...
Pink cards: oo: hood, tooth, ... oy/oi: boil, boys, cloister, coil, coin, destroy, hoist, noise, oil, toys ... ow/ou: cow, crowd, crown, flowers, ground, house, .....

Examples of information about words:
Gauntlet: Gauntlets were gloves made of heavy leather covered with overlapping metal plates. As well as being part of the armour, they could be used to issue a challenge.
When a knight thought that someone had insulted him or done something wrong to him he would throw his gauntlet down in front of the person. If the person picked up the gauntlet it meant that he accepted the challenge to fight a duel.
Nowadays, "to throw down the gauntlet" means to issue a challenge and "to take up the gauntlet" means to accept one.
Kick: Medieval football was played with a pig's bladder or a stuffed ball. It was more like a riot than a game. Any number of people could play and often people were injured or even killed.
A football game could last all day and be played over a large area of country or in the streets of a town. There were no rules. Football was often banned because it was so dangerous.
Cloister: Monks gave up all of their possessions and promised never to marry and to obey all of the rules of the order. They lived in monasteries which were self-contained with their own bakery, brewery, fish ponds, kitchen garden, herb garden, etc..
The cloister was the covered walkway next to the church. It usually ran around the side of an open court and was the centre of monastery life. The monks walked and read in the cloister. Manuscripts were slowly and carefully copied and beautifully illustrated and novices were taught there. On saints' days slow processions moved along the cloister.
Shoot: By the early part of the sixteenth century (1500's) guns had improved so much that they had largely replaced the longbow.

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