The document outlines the rules and scoring system for YsUp, a classroom gamification system designed to increase student participation, collaboration, and learning through a game-like structure where students and teachers earn points by asking and answering questions correctly, assisting peers, and achieving certain goals and levels. The system aims to motivate students through competition, immediate feedback, and rewards while reinforcing classroom rules and academic standards.

1. ¥$Up®
Game Manual
2020 Edition
The Original Classroom Game
Copyright © 2020. YsUp, Inc.
All Rights Reserved

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

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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. Goals
• Increase classroom participation
• Increase state assessment grades
• Increase overall quarterly student
grades
• Removing schools from the state failing
list

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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

12. Scoring: Assisting &
Answering Questions
• 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 50 ¥ Bucks for answering a teachers
question with a direct answer
• The Teacher can only choose 3 students to answer the
question who raise their hand or not. (The Teacher is
incentivised to choose students who don’t know the
answer, thus encouraging students to assist.)
• 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

13. 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 if the teacher
knows the correct answer

14. 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

15. 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

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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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.
• 0-100+ experience points for Tests/Quizzes
• Up to 25 experience points for homework
• 10 experience points for attendance

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

21. 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

22. Gamification
• Gamifying a classroom means
implementing game components by
simply trading out the typical parlance
of pedagogy for that of gaming culture.

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

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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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 assignment

28. Gamification: Rapid
Feedback
• Visual cues (Leaderboards)
• Frequent question and answer activities
• Self-paced exercises
• Progress bar

29. Gamification:
Progression
Students retake tests as homework if
they receive an 89% or lower until they
receive a 90% or better. Their initial
score will be used as their grade but
they recieve homework credit for
retaking their test.

30. 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.