¥$Up is a pedagogical game for young minds to challenge their teachers in a sort of academic sport for points based on who can assist their fellow classmate in a creative method.

1. ¥$Up®
Game Manual
2017 Edition
Copyright © 2017. YsUp Education
All Rights Reserved

2. for Dana
" star students aren't nearly
enough appreciated at the
middle school level as they
should be"
-N.J.

3. Unless otherwise indicated, all
materials on these pages are owned by
YsUp Education.
All rights reserved. No part of these
pages, either text or image may be
used for any purpose other than
personal use.

4. Pronounced wise-up.
Designed to be a model for the
successful gamification of a
classroom.

5. Purpose
Increase collaborative learning during the class
period
Give the opportunity for students to teach their
peers
Make learning and teaching more fun for the
teacher and student
Give teachers a behavioral management system
that motivates students to be cooperative.

6. Background
Built on the Four Pillars of Success: Integrity,
Relationships, Existence and Enrollment
Integrity in your will to be successful
Relationships that can help you reach your goal
Existence that reaching your goals is like a
game
Enrollment of others into playing the game with
you

7. Goals
Maximize enjoyment and engagement through
capturing the interest of learners and inspiring them
to continue learning
Increase state assessment grades
99% proficiency in Math and English Language Arts
Increase attendance to 99% amongst all students
Increase overall quarterly student grades than the
other non-gamified classes.
Removing schools from the state failing list

8. How to Play: Objective
Work as a team of students to score more
points than your teacher before the bell rings.
Win rewards and avoid all risks that come
when your teacher gains too many points.

9. How to Play: Ask
There are three main rules to playing YsUp:
Ask, Assist and No Cheating
Ask ~ Ask any question you would like. There
is no such thing as a stupid question and all
questions should be respected.

10. How to Play: Assist
Assist ~ As soon as any question is asked
that student asking the question must choose
a classmate to help them with their question.
If two students can't assist a student to arrive
to the answer the teacher has a chance to
steal.

11. How to Play: No Cheating
No Cheating ~ When students assist their
classmates they must not give away any
answers or else they lose points. They must
help their classmates arrive to their own
answers or figure out how to complete their
own work using peer guidance.
Students can use guided questioning, similes,
give examples or use any other creative
method.

12. How to Play: Other Rules
YsUp must be played everyday except when testing
Score should be kept everyday and the scores from the
previous day should be added to the current day scores
Students must be well behaved when playing YsUp.
Teachers may take away and award points based on
behavior
All students and teachers must be on time for class.
All school wide rules are also implied when playing
YsUp

13. How to Play: Procedure
Students asks the question 'Who's birthday
was it on January 15th?'
His/her classmate responses with the guided
question 'Who married Coretta Scott?'
If the student arrives to the answer they class
would gain 100 ¥ Bucks.

14. Scoring: Assisting &
Answering
One Assist equals 100 ¥ Bucks. If a student gives away the
answer the class loses 100 ¥ Bucks
Students also gain 100 ¥ Bucks for giving definitions when
they can't give examples or other creative methods while
assisting students
Students gain 100 ¥ Bucks for answering a teachers question
correctly
Students can earn 250 ¥ Bucks if a student asks a teacher a
question that they do not know and the student knows the
correct answer

15. Scoring: Stealing Points
If two students cannot successfully assist a student
the teacher gets the opportunity to steal 100 ¥ Bucks
from the class of students if the teacher can assist the
student
If a student or teacher breaks any of the class rules
they lose 100 ¥ Bucks and the opposition gains 100 ¥
Bucks.
Students gain 100 ¥ Bucks for answering a teachers
question correctly. When 3 students can't answer the
question the teacher can steal 100 ¥ Bucks from the
students. The teacher chooses who can answer the
question.

16. Scoring: Behavior
If a student or teacher breaks any of the rules
they lose 100 ¥ Bucks
If a student misbehaves like cursing or leaves
their seat the most points a teacher can
deduct is 250 ¥ Bucks. They may also reward
up to 250 ¥ bucks for good behavior

17. Scoring: Homework
10 ¥ Bucks awarded to the class per
completed homework assignment per student
10 ¥ Bucks awarded to the teacher per
uncompleted homework assignment per
student

18. Scoring: Attendance
200 ¥ Bucks for perfect attendance and being
on time for class.

19. Scoring: Tests & Quizzes
For every quiz or test that earns 65 to 100+
the class will earn 65 to 100+ ¥ Bucks
For every quiz or test that earns 65 or less
the teacher earns 65 or less ¥ Bucks

20. Scoring: Levels
For every 1,000 ¥ Bucks students will grow to Lv. 1 and
beyond
Every level a class grows the more difficult the teachers
questions will become. The higher in academic rigor the
students reach the better they will perform on state
assessments.
A progress bar must be drawn on the board along with
the amount of ¥ Bucks the class and teacher has earned
with a percentage of how many ¥ Bucks earned from
reaching the next level

21. Scoring: Badges
Students will be given badges based on their
amount of experience points (calculated
based on ¥Bucks, tests scores, homework,
attendance and behavior)
Badges include Newbie (<1K XP), Novice
(>2K XP), Scholar (>3K XP), Prodigy (>4K
XP), Genius (>5K XP) and Master (>6K XP)

22. Scoring: Student
Leaderboard
It will be one students job to manage the
Leaderboard.
Students will receive a total of points from
experience points (test/quiz grades), completing
training stages (homework) and attendance.
0-1,000+ experience points for Tests/Quizzes
Up to 100 experience points for homework
10 experience points for attendance

23. Scoring: Class
Leaderboard
Students will be able to see how many total
¥Bucks they have earned in competition to
other classes.

24. Rewards & Risks
For reaching new levels and attaining vast
amounts of ¥ Bucks students should be
rewarded.
Rewards can be a pizza party, a movie day, a
field trip, etc.
A risk would be getting a pop quiz if the
teacher gains a certain amount of ¥ Bucks

25. What is Gamification ?
The gamification of learning is
an educational approach to
motivate students to learn by
using video game design and
game elements in learning
environments

26. Gamification
Accomplishing Game Stages - Taking Tests
Gaining Experience Points - Receiving Letter
Grades
Checkpoints - Class lessons
Boss Battles - State Assessments/Midterms/Finals
Training stages - Homework / Classwork
Team Quests - Group work / Projects / Group
Quizzes

27. “The best way to create
the right environment for
good teachers is to
improve student behavior
and motivation.”
-Harvard Business Review

28. "Gamification can help enrich
educational experiences in a way that
students will recognize and respond to" -
Elizabeth Lawley

29. However, [Lawley] warns that reducing the
complexity of well designed games to their
surface elements (i.e. badges and experience
points) falls short of engaging students

30. Gamification
Certain underlying dynamics and concepts
are shown to be more consistently successful
than others when applied to learning
environments these are: Freedom to Fail,
Rapid Feedback, Progression and
Storytelling

31. Gamification: Freedom to
Fail
Leveling of assignments - a higher level
assignment is not available to the student
until it has been 'unlocked' by completing a
lower level assignments
Students are given group quests more
frequently.

32. Gamification: Rapid
Feedback
Self-paced excercises
Visual cues (Leaderboards)
Frequent question and answer activities

33. Gamification: Progression
Progress bar
Badges

34. Gamification: Storytelling
For example a teacher may reach a new
checkpoint (lesson) on the Pythagorean
Theorem, the teacher can tell a story about
its inventor Pythagoras.