non profit organization predecessor national academic games project founded 1991 website http agloa.org academic games is a competition in the u.s. in which players win by out thinking each other in mathematics language arts and social studies . formal tournaments are organized by local leagues and on a national level by the academic games leagues of america agloa . member leagues in eight states hold a national tournament every year in which players in four divisions compete in eight different logic based games but only six of these at the national level . some turn based games require a kit consisting of a board and playing cubes while other games have a central reader announcing questions or clues and each player answering individually . contents 1 history 2 divisions 3 games played 3.1 math games 3.1.1 equations 3.1.2 on sets 3.1.3 wff n proof 3.2 language games 3.2.1 linguishtik 3.2.2 propaganda 3.2.2.1 propaganda techniques 3.3 social studies games 3.3.1 presidents 3.3.2 world events 4 terminology 5 national tournaments 3 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit equations by layman e. allen circa 1969 before the existence of agloa tournaments were held by the national academic games project founded by the creator of many of the games . the earliest tournaments in the late 1960s were held on or near the campus of nova high school in davie florida . nova was the beta test site for the game propaganda and others . many agloa leaders were involved with nagp . the new league was created partially because of personal conflict with robert w. allen . allen later sued the agloa for copyright trademark and tradename infringement . 1 academic games leagues of america was founded in 1991 to encourage the use of academic games as an educational tool and as a scholar competition . many of the games used in tournaments however were created as early as in the 1960s and 1970s . most of the games played at tournaments are available from wff n proof learning games . brother neal golden of new orleans is the current board president of agloa ; larry liss of palm beach florida is the current executive director . other board members represent academic games leagues in florida georgia louisiana michigan pennsylvania and west virginia . divisions edit academic games players compete with other players in their own age group . these are the four age divisions in the league . elementary grades 6 or below middle grades 7 8 junior grades 9 10 senior grades 11 12 however there is no restriction against playing one of your players in a higher division . several teams have won national championships in the senior division even though half their players belonged agewise in the junior division . games become more challenging as a player progresses through the divisions . there are often two variations of the games basic and adventurous . basic games have no variations or special demands players can make on game solutions . adventurous gaves have a series of variation possibilities that may apply and increase in difficulty as players age . games played edit six games are played in official agloa tournaments . some local leagues also play other games such as on words a simplified version of linguishtik and wff n proof the so called game of modern logic which teaches symbolic logic and the use of well formed formulas . math games edit two math games equations and on sets are played at agloa tournaments . equations edit equations is a mathematics game created in 1965 for 2 3 players . the game uses a playing mat with forbidden permitted and required sections and 24 cubes each labeled with numbers and mathematical operations . at the beginning of each shake one player uses up to six cubes to set a goal . all players must use the remaining cubes to devise a solution that equals the goal or win by challenging an impossible board goal situation . gameplay can become more complicated through the use of variations called on the game . applicable variations differ by the player s age division . the game progresses with each player moving one cube on their turn or alternatively challenging that they can create a solution with the cubes in play that a solution was possible on the last turn and the player before had missed it or challenging that it is impossible to create a solution with the cubes available . when a player calls a challenge it is called against the player who most recently completed their move . in a three player game the indifferent player may choose who he sides with in the case of a challenge . a player who correctly challenges another player wins the game . the loser of a game gains two points the winner six and the sider if he sided with the winner gains four or two if he sided with the loser . equations games become more intricate with the use of factorials vulgar fractions and even logarithms in the senior division . on sets edit on sets is a board and cube game that teaches basic logic and set theory . this game also uses a deck of 16 cards that is used to make the universe . each card contains a different combination of colored dots . the cubes contain numbers colors and logic operators . players learn logic concepts such as union and intersection and learn to use restrictions such as subset . variations can be also be used in on sets games . a player wins by using the cubes in resources to create a logical statement which equals the goal set using the numeral cubes . challenges and multiplayer games work in a similar way to equations game . wff n proof edit wff n proof is a board and cube game that was created by professor layman allen in 1961 to teach the basics of symbolic logic . 2 it is played with cubes that contain various symbols . the game board contains a required section a rules section and a premises section . to win the game you have to write a proof using the cubes to create wff s and the rules . this game is now competed in at the agloa national tournament beginning in the 2013 tournament . language games edit linguishtik edit linguishtik is a technical game that teaches language arts and linguistics . the game has a playing mat and cubes which are imprinted with the 26 letters of the alphabet . a player has to create a word using the letters available and the word must be used in a sentence that matches the demands called . a demand specifies something about the sentence or word such as number of clauses part of speech number of letters etc. challenges in linguishtik work similarly as in the other cube games with the exception of a forceout which is called when moving any cube would result in a challenge win . some concepts taught in linguishtik include sentence patterns clauses grammar and verbs . the game has elements similar to the popular word game scrabble but adds a different element of play through grammatical demands and the shared letter pool . propaganda edit in propaganda clues are read to all players by a central reader . each player must decide from a list which persuasion technique that clue used . there are several different sections of propaganda techniques ; the reader also specifies which section the persuasion technique is listed in . different leagues have different scoring methods but the official agloa scoring involves a bold and cautious rating method . if you rate your answer bold then you receive four points for a correct answer or you lose two points for an incorrect answer . if you rate your answer cautious then you receive two points for a correct answer however you lose nothing for an incorrect answer . a round consists of nine questions so the highest score possible per round is 36 points while the lowest is 18 points . most propaganda clues involve statements that are likely to be heard in advertising or politics . there are six different propaganda sections but only four specific sections are used in each season . sections a b d and f are being used for the 2009 2010 season and b c d and e are used for the 2010 2011 season . for 2011 2012 the sections are a b c and f. for 2012 2013 the sections are a b d and e. for 2013 2014 the sections are a c d and f. here are all the propaganda techniques listed by section . propaganda techniques edit section a section b section c section d section e section f techniques of self deception techniques of language techniques of irrelevance techniques of exploitation techniques of form techniques of maneuver 1 prejudice emotional terms appearance appeal to pity concurrency diversion 2 academic detachment metaphor simile manner appeal to flattery post hoc disproving a minor point 3 drawing the line emphasis degrees and titles appeal to ridicule selected instances ad hominem 4 not drawing the line quotation out of context numbers appeal to prestige hasty generalization appeal to ignorance 5 conservatism radicalism moderatism abstract terms status appeal to prejudice faulty analogy leading question 6 rationalization vagueness repetition bargain appeal composition complex question 7 wishful thinking ambiguity solutions folksy appeal division inconsequent argument 8 tabloid thinking shift of meaning technical jargon join the bandwagon appeal non sequitur attacking a straw man 9 causal oversimplification sophistical formula appeal to practical consequences victory by definition 10 inconceivability passing from the acceptable to the dubious begging the question social studies games edit presidents edit a central reader announces three clues about a particular u.s. president . each player must individually write down which president the clue describes . players who answer correctly on the earliest clue get more points than players that answer after more clues are given . the first clue is worth 6 points the second is worth 4 points and the third is worth 2 points . in michigan and west virginia the point system is slightly different . the first clue is worth 3 points the second is worth 2 points and the third is worth 1 point . in the elementary and middle divisions only a portion of presidents are used per season . for those divisions ranges switch between presidents 1 24 and 25 43 every other year . in junior and senior divisions however all the presidents are used every season . during a tournament players are assisted by a gazetteer which has each presidents name birthdate birthplace and other basic information . world events edit this event consists of a current events round about events from the past year both foreign and domestic and a theme round which changes yearly . in the current events round players may wager two four or six points after being given a broad category such as international politics or arts and entertainment . the theme round is played out in an event called lightning round . in this wagers are already set for players with six questions being worth two six being worth four and six being worth 6 and also increasing in difficulty for a possible point total of 72 . past themes have included the american civil war the 1970s the history of nasa the mesoamerican civilizations aztecs incas mayas and world war i. this game was originally known as world card . the theme of the 10 11 is australia . theme round 11 12 consisted of question regarding different aspects of the supreme court of the united states . the theme for next year s tournament 2012 13 will be about the american revolutionary war . during the national tournament players vote on