Sugar and Spice Game Instructions

Playing the Game

This game is loosely based upon Sugarscape, as described in Epstein and Axtell's Growing Artificial Societies. All players in this game new two types of commodities to survive - sugar and spice. If a player ever runs out of either one of these, then they perish. The catch is that players are either inherently sugar producers (they eat spice and turn it into sugar) or spice producers (they eat sugar and turn it into spice). When the game begins players must determine which type they are by observing their meters that indicate their current provisions.

To begin the game enter your name on the starting screen (see the general instructions page), and wait for the whole group to be ready to start. You will note on the main game screen that there are meters indicating the amount of sugar and spice that you have, along with numerical indications of your current quantities. Note which type of creature you are (a sugar producer or a spice producer) and trade for the resource that you need. Once you have found a trading partner, in order to trade with them you must follow these steps:

1. Use the slider and Sugar/Spice indicator in the trading center to display the amount of sugar or spice that you are willing to give away. At the same time your partner will indicate the amount that they are willing to give you in return.
2. Align your Palms and ONE and only one of you will hit the Offer button. At this point both people should get messages detailing that an offer has been made.
3. If the trade seems ok, you should accept the trade.
4. When both people have accepted the trade, again line up your Palms and ONE and only one person should hit the Trade button to complete the trade.
5. If both people refuse the initial offer of the trade, you don't need to take an extra steps. If one person accepts and the other person rejects, you can either beam to complete the trade (which resets both trading statuses) or just wait for the trade to expire. .

During the game you can always look at a graph of the amount of sugar and spice that you have over time by hitting the Graph button. This graph can be useful for uncovering patterns in your rates of sugar and spice consumption that might help you optimize your trades. You can also hit the data button to view a record of each individual trade that you have placed. The data screen lists the person that you traded with and the ratio of sugar to spice (or spice to sugar) that you traded. Again, tracking these ratios might help you better calculate the price that you should be paying for your required commodity.

Game Parameters

Like the other games, you can get to the parameters screen by entering the name ?!? at the start of the game. Here you have control over the rates of sugar and spice production and consumption. This screen also allows you to control the timing of the game, and the original setup.

A complete explanation of the parameters is given here:

• Metabolizing Rate Min & Max - determines the range of the number of sugar or spice that you eat each "tick". By default the range is from 1 to 3 meaning that each individual will eat between 1 and 3 units each tick of the game. This value is constant for a person's entire turn (i.e. at the beginning of the game the computer picks a metabolizing rate between 1 and 3 and for the rest of the game that is the number of units of sugar or spice that the person will eat each tick of the game). These values can be set independently for sugar and spice.
• # Sugar-Eater to # Spice-Eater - These numbers control the ratio of sugar and spice eaters (or spice and sugar producers) in the game. By default this is set to 1:1, but interesting things can happen when this ratio is skewed.
• 1.0 Sugar Converts to - Each time a player consumes some of their resources they also produce some more of the other resource. These values control the amounts that are create per unit of consumption. By default sugar converts 1:1 to spice, meaning that each unit of sugar turns into a unit of spice. However, each unit of spice eaten turns into 1.2 units of sugar, giving spice eaters an advantage.
• Game mode - which round the game is in
• Seconds to a Tick - controls how long each tick of the game is. Every time the game "ticks" each player automatically consumes some of one resource and produces some of the other according to the information specified above.

Information for Instructors

This game has some interesting applications in both math and economics and can be treated on several different levels depending on the experiences of the class. As is our typical practice, we usually don't give the players any of the quantitative information at the beginning, players usually need to experience the game to really understand the parameters.

In the first round of the game we typically give brief instructions that let people know the basics if the game (i.e. there are sugar and spice producers, you eat one commodity and produce the other, you need both to survive, and you can trade for the kind that you need). We also explain or demonstrate the trading mechanism, since the two stage process of making an offer and accepting an offer takes some practice. Without any strategies it is difficult for most players to survive in this first round, but they can collect some information about the rates at which things happen in the game. At the end of this round we collect successful (and unsuccessful) strategies, and examine some of the quantitative information

In a second round we ask players to brainstorm some strategies to increase survival. Players decide on such things as systems to feed those in need or trading partnerships that persist over time. After playing these strategies students can examine how well they worked and how they might be further modified in a third round. At this point we usually ask the more advanced students to dive into the quantitative information and discuss how they can use that information to inform their trading decisions.

Finally, you might ask the class to design some new scenarios with skewed ratios of individuals or skewed production ratios and predict what will happen. They might be challenged to balance different ratios or create strategies that will work well under a variety of conditions.

Discussion at the end can center on economics as well as mathematics.

(Note there is a known bug in the preferences screen of this version where the min and max don't display correctly. Either hit the "Default" button or adjust the values to see them displayed correctly.)