Outmatched™ Card Games: Playing and Teaching Helps

Outmatched: Ancient History

Introducing Outmatched, Dr. James B. Webster's card game for learning history. Enter the world of the ancients from the stately halls of Rome to the mysterious pyramids of Egypt with Outmatched: Ancient History! Players choose what cards to play to test their opponents' knowledge to gain points. Outwit, outlearn, and outmatch your adversaries to win and become a master of ancient history! Memorization has been the primary method of education for millennia, until only very recently. Reclaim this effective, underused method of education in your history instruction with Outmatched.

Outmatched: Medieval History

Introducing Outmatched, Dr. James B. Webster's card game for learning history. Castles and kings await you in Outmatched™: Medieval History. Choose cards that test your opponents’ knowledge and play them to gain points. Employ the power of memorization as you learn about the past. Outwit, outlearn, and outmatch your adversaries and become a master of medieval history! Memorization has been the primary method of education for millennia, until only very recently. Reclaim this effective, underused method of education in your history instruction with Outmatched.

A Sampling of Educational Tips by Dr. Webster from Outmatched:

• “Say to Play”: Reading each card as it is played becomes vital in learning and retention of what is learned. The oral component of any game rapidly increases vocabulary. If Oedipus Rex by Sophocles slips off the tongue as easily as Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, students are improving their memory and their vocabulary.
• Be Ready! A homeschool mom can keep a couple of decks in her handbag. Around the pool, play a set, swim for ten minutes, play a set, and swim again. Play, swim, play, swim. When a flight is late at the airport, pull out a deck. When camping in a tent and it is raining, bring out the cards.
• Review: At present, teachers and parents might be shocked by the results of a test about history taught in September and given in June. Teachers can be discouraged because in the spring—or so it seems—nothing is left of what was taught in the fall. Outmatched can go a long way to change this. The content of decks introduced in September and played again a couple of times in December, February, and April will be retained. The month of June can be spent playing all of the decks of Outmatched. This is the ideal way to review! Remember, for lifetime retention, a fact or association requires fifty-five repetitions. The best method of getting those repetitions is through games. It is best to “Learn Through Play.”
• Your School Calendar with Outmatched: Dr. Webster developed this game over the course of forty years in the classroom. When Dr. Webster used this game in his classroom, he’d introduce new decks throughout the year as they studied more and more content. However, at the end of the school year in June, he did nothing but play review games with his students. Winners of the day would receive chocolate bars. Dr. Webster would make crowns for the “king and queen of history” for the top performers of the week. These sorts of activities increased the enjoyment of and motivation for the games, and as the class increased exposure to the material on the cards, retention also increased.

Read a review by Cathy Duffy here.