Teach the decision.
Then name the theory.

Students learn the logics of realism by making decisions, checking evidence, comparing alternatives, and explaining what the figures cannot establish.

Before students arrive

1. Open the game once on a classroom device. Check that students can access the link you plan to share; hosting access and the instructor code are separate.
2. Choose a session format on page 2. Tell students where to submit their learning record, such as your course LMS.
3. Leave Closing reflection on Core advisory note for the introductory route. Add realist debate only when you want an extra written reflection.
4. Use About & help → Evidence display → Tables first when that makes the quantities easier to read. Students can use hints and revise without a penalty.

Let students experience the first decisions before giving them a vocabulary lecture. The route reveals concepts after action and brings them back in later cases.

Choose a format that fits the clock

During play: four useful checks

• After the budget: Which number is spending, which is ready capability, and what did the other state gain?
• After the border: Did your observation change the force itself, your estimate, or the other side's scripted response?
• After the pact: Which units have arrived here, and which remain a conditional promise?
• At each fork: Point to the changed factor and the conditions that stayed fixed.

When someone asks, ‘Which option wins?’

Ask what they are protecting, what means they have, and what a choice might cost. A fortunate policy outcome is different from an accurate interpretation of evidence. Avoid steering everyone toward the same branch.

The six policy decisions, the comparisons, and the new-coast recommendation give repeated application. Short retrieval screens revisit earlier ideas. Students may revise checks; first and latest responses remain distinct.

The core teaches classical realism and structural neorealism. It offers an introductory comparison, not a complete survey of either tradition.

Keep these distinctions visible

• Anarchy means no central authority guarantees security; it does not mean constant chaos.
• Self-help can include building one's own means and forming alliances. An alliance is conditional external balancing, not a replacement for self-help.
• Classical realism is more than leader personality. Structural realism is more than a large military total. The forks illuminate different questions without proving either theory.
• The scenario has three significant regional powers: a toy multipolar arrangement. Brin becoming stronger changes relative distribution; it does not by itself demonstrate a change of polarity.

What this edition leaves for later

Liberal institutionalism, neoliberal institutionalism, constructivism, and bureaucratic foreign-policy analysis are outside the active core. Adviser voices present costs and positions; departments do not bargain through a separate causal engine. Communication can change a specified patrol response, but an institution, identity change, or service allocation cannot erase a material shortfall.

Suggested chapter times sum to 57 minutes. No instructor pause, new reading, or extra task is added to the game by this guide.

All state names, numbers, intelligence ranges, conversions, and response rules are fictional teaching devices. They are not observations, calibrated probabilities, or empirical tests of the theory.

Worked comparisons for the debrief

Budget example: 8 military credits take Aster from 40 to 48; Brin goes from 40 to 52. Aster grows by 8 units, or 20%, yet its Aster–Brin share falls from 40/80 = 50% to 48/100 = 48%. That pairwise share excludes Cyra.

New coast: Dune rises 30 → 36; Elm rises 45 → 60. Dune gains 6 units, or 20%, while its combined share falls from 30/75 = 40% to 36/96 = 37.5%. A falling relative share is not an absolute decline.

These branch notes contain instructor spoilers. They help you explain why reassuring language, an alliance signature, or restraint does not automatically remove a material constraint.

Regional rule: an authored constraint

Opposing local deployment = floor(Brin national stock / 2) + 4 if earlier unannounced works triggered the patrol. Effective defensive cover = Aster local × 1.2 + aid actually present. A limited position needs 2 emergency credits for supply, no continuing excluded strike, and cover at least as large as the opposing deployment.

With works plus observation, local 30 gives cover 36. Against Brin 52, deployment is 26 and margin 10; against Brin 72, deployment is 36 and margin 0. The opening can remain feasible with greater exposure. The fixed geography factor does not boost offensive demands; future pledges and notification do not enter this arithmetic.

Separate completion, policy outcomes, first/latest checks, and the student’s explanation. The app does not grade prose or establish mastery.

A three-question debrief

• What did you protect, and what cost did you accept? Point to a recorded decision.
• What changed in each fork? Compare both the outcome and the margin. How do prudence and structural pressure help explain them?
• What evidence would make you reconsider your advice to Dune?

A light, instructor-reviewed rubric

Use 0 = missing/incorrect; 1 = partly supported; 2 = clear application with an example. Review the chronicle, checks, and debrief together. The 2–4-sentence advisory note alone need not demonstrate all eight dimensions.

The game runs in a browser without a gameplay backend. Records and instructor controls belong to the current device; there is no classroom roster or automatic gradebook.

Optional application after completion

A fresh 5-minute case revisits evidence interpretation. After the pact is a separate 5–8-minute choice about internal investment, conditional external balancing, or keeping alignment open. Add realist debate offers an extra closing reflection. These are optional; they do not overwrite the core chronicle or activate another theoretical approach.

The homepage includes the new illustration, a short description, and a link to the guide. The same materials can introduce the activity in your course site.

Website blurb

Artwork and credit

Download the poster from the online guide. The PNG is 1536 × 1024; the WebP is the smaller web-ready version. Keep the whole 3:2 frame so the title, ferry, and creator credit remain visible.

Created by Yoav Duman

Suggested alternative text: Flags & Ferries, Created by Yoav Duman. A bold cut-paper maritime poster shows an orange passenger ferry navigating a winding blue channel between three fictional coastal states. The artwork evokes vulnerability and unequal power; it is not a quantitative map.

Primary readings behind the concepts

• [1] Hans J. Morgenthau. Politics Among Nations, chapter 1, Six Principles of Political Realism, especially principles 2 and 4. Open reading (new tab)
• [2] Kenneth N. Waltz. The Origins of War in Neorealist Theory. Journal of Interdisciplinary History 18(4), 1988, 615–628. System-level constraints, security, and the distinction from foreign-policy explanation. Open reading (new tab)
• [3] Robert Jervis. Cooperation under the Security Dilemma. World Politics 30(2), 1978, 167–214. Open reading (new tab)
• [4] Glenn H. Snyder. The Security Dilemma in Alliance Politics. World Politics 36(4), 1984, 461–495. Open reading (new tab)

These readings ground the concepts, not the game's numeric rules. All mechanics and pacing descriptions in this guide refer to core edition 1.2.0. Pilot the timing and students' explanations before drawing conclusions about learning effectiveness.