One of the questions we get most often is, “how can I see the aurora?” The answer is surprisingly complicated and can be difficult to explain to students. In order to help explain, we made a collaborative, role-playing card game!
With a special deck of printable cards and a dash of imagination, players work together to tell stories that reveal geographic, space weather, community, and other factors aurora chasers need for their best chance at seeing the Northern and Southern Lights. The game spans multiple subjects: space science, language arts, geography, math, meteorology, and more! Gameplay is kept simple to spotlight educational content and keep games quick enough for classroom use. The recommended age is 11 and up; adults can enjoy playing too!
You’ll play with three friends as a group of intrepid, globetrotting aurora chasers working together on an aurora-viewing mission from our mascot, Rory Aurorasaurus. With eight opportunities to see the aurora, you’ll draw helpful and unhelpful cards from five categories that help you tell the stories of your chases. How did you prepare, what went to plan, and what turned out to be an adventure?
You’ll learn about some of the factors that cause the aurora, like the flow of magnetism and energy from the Sun, the presence of aurora-related phenomena, and the active solar maximum and quiet solar minimum. You’ll also find out about some of the things real-world aurora chasers have to think about, like how to pick a good location, ensure night sky safety, and count on other aurora chasers. Just like in real life, you can choose to help other players so that your group sees more aurora.
Finally, since Lady Aurora always dances with Lady Luck, you’ll roll dice to find out: did you see the aurora? If you do, you’ll score a beautiful card with a photo by a real-life aurora chaser. Complete the 8-story game to get feedback from Rory Aurorasaurus herself!
We are tremendously grateful to aurora chasers Vincent Ledvina, Rocky Raybell, Chandresh “CK” Kedhambadi, Donna Lach, Jeremy Kuzub, and Rebecca Robinson for generously allowing us to feature their photos in this educational game.
Grab your free, printable game kit:
Click here to download:
- Instructions
- Printable game pieces
- Prototype reflection worksheet
Variations for online play, solitaire, and classrooms are included. The game is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons noncommercial use with attribution).
As we continue to develop Aurora Chasers, we hope to inspire the next generation of aurora scientists and citizen scientists. If you play, we’d love feedback! Please fill out this short form. We like to work with teachers to help make our educational products better and easier to use. Feel free to get in touch with us at aurorasaurus.info@gmail.com if you are interested in collaborating. You can also find more of our educational products at our Infiniscope page.
Thanks for being part of Aurora Chasers and have fun!
