The Game Trail – Board Game & Quiz Question Packs

The Game Trail is a set of materials to test or enhance knowledge of every aspect of the wildlife, geography and people of Zimbabwe. The material can be used for social fun or for serious learning in a fun way in many different forms:

– Group or individual study for National Parks Learner Hunters and Guides examinations, -using the cards as flashcards. (Includes booklet on use of flashcards for studying)
– A board game
– Pub Quiz questions
– Classroom activities in Zimbabwean schools
– Improving Zimbabwean general knowledge in a family setting.

The material comes in a number of forms:
1. The Game Trail boxed game set with:
2000+ cards with a question on one side and the answer on the other, grouped in categories
Custom-made playing board
Playing pieces (6)

2. The Game Trail Book containing all the questions/answer for easy reference  

The questions also come in separate topic packs.

3. Zimbabwean Facts and Figures asks questions like “where?”, “how long?”, “how high?”, “who?” and “what?”. Sample questions are “Where is the lowest point in Zimbabwe?”, “Name the World Heritage sites in Zimbabwe”.

4. Zimbabwean Wildlife: Names, Habits & Habitats includes scientific and indigenous names and facts about wildlife, for example, “List back-fanged snakes found in Zimbabwe”, “How do you distinguish between male and female elephants (without looking at genitals)?”

5. Wildlife & Environmental Technical Terms is not specifically Zimbabwean. It asks questions about things like gait, dentition, diet, habitat, for example, “What does fossorial mean?”, “When would you expect to see a crepuscular animal?”, “Name the four stomachs of a ruminant”.

6. Wildlife Picture Questions require studying pictures to distinguish between types of spoor, between small carnivores or antelope or mongooses or identifying features that are not often seen (like the tongues of a pangolin or a chameleon). 

7. History Pack questions run from the earliest fossil record though to recent Zimbabwean history. Questions include “Where would you find a Stone Age engraving of a giraffe?” and “Which musician played at the Rufaro stadium Independence celebrations in 1980?”

8. Zimbabwean Places questions are attached to a map which shows all the National Parks Estate and major National Monuments around Zimbabwe with symbols but without names.  The questions include things like “Identify the Safari Areas along the Zambezi” or “Locate the Botanical Gardens in Zimbabwe” or “Which National Park Sanctuary is represented by this blue triangle in the north-east?”

9. Firearms is only likely to be of interest to candidates for National Parks Learner Hunters and Guides exams. The questions concern all aspects of ballistics, regulations governing firearms and firearm safety.

10. Law is again only likely to be of interest to Learner Hunters and Guides candidates. It concerns the laws governing the National Parks Estate, wildlife breeding, hunting, dealing with problem animals, managing safaris, tourism, etc.  

There are also two simplified versions of The Game Trail.
1. The Kids’ Pack contains approximately 300 questions suitable for upper primary into high school levels and divided into History, Geography and Wildlife sections.

2. The Zimbabwean Quiz pack is a miniature version of the Game Trail and contains 180 questions of mixed topics, to be used in a popular pub quiz context.  

Shortly other packs will become available, including picture  packs on identification of birds, vegetation, spoor and droppings & a pack supporting Level 1 FGASA exams. The components of can be purchased separately or as a complete pack, depending upon your budget or the intended uses of the material.

If you would like to play this game but not buy a full set please email via the contact address and either register your interest for when a group of players is set up or ask that you and a group of friends be accommodated to play the game. (A small fee will be charged for use of the game for a number of hours.)

The following video provides the above information with pictures of the material.