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AP Human Geography

AP Human Geography Games for All Seven Units.

Pick a unit. Build a population pyramid, site a factory, bid for city land or run a state.

22 Games16 PrintablesNo Login

Jump to Unit 1 · Thinking Geographically Unit 2 · Population & Migration Unit 3 · Cultural Patterns Unit 4 · Political Patterns Unit 5 · Agriculture & Rural Land Use Unit 6 · Cities & Urban Land Use Unit 7 · Development & Globalization

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Pick one of these three games.

Unit 1: Introduction to Human Geography

How people read the land, and what it costs the land when they change it.

Unit 1

Footprint

Twelve tiles and thirty-six cards on public-domain photographs, three dealt each turn.

Practices Human-environment interaction: what every building, farm and road costs the land, and how a sustainable place is balanced.

How it plays

Every building spends a leaf, so count what you can still see. Your score is your weakest total.

Human–EnvironmentSpatial Puzzle12 TurnsPrintable Deck
Unit 1

Witty: Thinking Geographically

Two players. Match one of your three definitions to a term on the board to claim the square.

Practices Vocabulary: site and situation, map projections, distance decay, and formal vs functional regions.

How it plays

Four in a row wins.

PrintableVocabulary2 Players
Play now Print the Kits

Unit 2: Population & Migration

Birth rates, death rates, and what happens to a country's population as it industrializes.

Unit 2

Pyramid Scheme

Set the birth, death and migration rates and build the pyramid.

Practices Population pyramids and the demographic transition: how birth rates, death rates and migration build each shape.

How it plays

Each country starts with its real 1945 pyramid; run it to 2025 on sliders named in words, not numbers. Thirteen countries: five teach the shapes, four test them, four break the rules. Three optional practice rounds.

13 Countries1945–2025No NumbersOptional TutorialSolo or Projector
Play or project
Unit 2

Wits: The Demographic Transition

Each card shows a scene. Players name the stage.

Practices Comparing four stages of the demographic transition. Is there a factory yet? Are deaths falling faster than births? Would this family expect to bury a child?

How it plays

Match the stage, or Outwit: play another stage's card on the same issue.

PrintableComparison3–6 Players
Deal a hand Print the Decks
Unit 2

Witty: Population & Migration

Two players. Match one of your three definitions to a term on the board to claim the square.

Practices Vocabulary: physiological density, the demographic transition, push and pull factors and intervening obstacles.

How it plays

Four in a row wins.

PrintableVocabulary2 Players
Play now Print the Kits

Unit 3: Cultural Patterns & Processes

Where a culture starts, how it travels, and what it leaves on the land.

Unit 3

Wits: World Religions

Each card shows a fact and a period image. Players name the faith.

Practices Comparing four religions: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. Five issues: founders, hearths, beliefs, diffusion and geography. Did it spread by missionary, merchant or army?

How it plays

Match the faith, or Outwit: play another faith's card on the same issue.

PrintableComparison3–6 Players
Deal a hand Print the Decks
Unit 3

Witty: Cultural Patterns & Processes

Two players. Match one of your three definitions to a term on the board to claim the square.

Practices Vocabulary: cultural hearths, the four kinds of diffusion, acculturation and assimilation, and sequent occupance.

How it plays

Four in a row wins.

PrintableVocabulary2 Players
Play now Print the Kits

Unit 4: Political Patterns & Processes

Where the lines on the map come from, who drew them, and what holds a state together or pulls it apart.

Unit 4

Borderline

Class simulation. You run a state whose borders someone else drew.

Practices Political geography, 1945 to 2001: colonial boundaries, centripetal forces, territorial claims and supranationalism.

How it plays

Spend on unity, press a claim on a neighbor, or join a bloc. At the end each student learns which real state they played.

DiplomacyClass SimulationHidden Identity
Run it in class Slides Teacher Guide
Unit 4

Witty: Political Patterns & Processes

Two players. Match one of your three definitions to a term on the board to claim the square.

Practices Vocabulary: stateless nations, centrifugal and centripetal forces, gerrymandering and the four kinds of boundary.

How it plays

Four in a row wins.

PrintableVocabulary2 Players
Play now Print the Kits

Unit 5: Agriculture & Rural Land Use

What gets grown, where, how crops crossed the oceans, and why the ring of land around a market is worth more than the one beyond it.

Unit 5

Wits: Agriculture

Each card shows a scene. Players name the farming system.

Practices Comparing farming systems: intensive or extensive, subsistence or commercial. How much land does it take? Who does the work? Who eats what comes off it?

How it plays

Match the system, or Outwit: play another system's card on the same issue.

PrintableComparison3–6 Players
Deal a hand Print the Decks
Unit 5

Cartage

Finish half-planted farm maps so every field pays.

Practices Von Thünen model: land-use rings set by market price and transport cost.

How it plays

Set the rings by dragging dividers and swapping bands. Six levels build the model, then four challenges hide the bar and ask you to submit blind. No math.

Von Thünen Model6 Levels + 4 Challenges + 3 ExpertNo Math RequiredSolo or Projected
Play now
Unit 5

Witty: Agriculture & Rural Land Use

Two players. Match one of your three definitions to a term on the board to claim the square.

Practices Vocabulary: von Thünen's rings, shifting cultivation, the Green Revolution and the survey systems that cut American land into squares and strips.

How it plays

Four in a row wins.

PrintableVocabulary2 Players
Play now Print the Kits
Unit 5.3

The Columbian Exchange

Plant ingredients across 14 regions and watch them spread until regional dishes light up.

Practices Diffusion of crops and dishes between the Old World and the New World: trade routes, climate zones and the Manila Galleon.

How it plays

Two difficulty modes.

14 RegionsAtlantic & Pacific Routes2 Difficulty Modes
Play now Lesson Plan

Unit 6: Cities & Urban Land Use

How zoning, redevelopment, and gentrification reshape a neighborhood — and who gets a say.

Unit 6

Boomtown

You are on the city council and a neighborhood is up for redevelopment.

Practices Urban land use: stakeholders, zoning ordinances and the city budget.

How it plays

Toggle ordinances, watch seven stakeholder groups react, and balance the budget. Day 4 of a four-day simulation, or a stand-alone activity.

7 Stakeholders8 Ordinances4-Day Sim
Unit 6

Hinterland

Place gas stations, groceries, schools and a hospital until every village is served and nothing closes.

Practices Central Place Theory: the range and threshold of services, and the market areas they create.

How it plays

Eight tutorial levels, then six puzzles on a fixed budget. Solving one reveals your market areas.

Central Place Theory8 Levels + 6 Puzzles + 4 ExpertSolo or Projected
Play now
Unit 6

Outbid

Finish half-built cities so every block sells to its highest bidder.

Practices Bid-rent theory: Burgess's concentric zones, Hoyt's sectors and multiple nuclei.

How it plays

Five levels add one bidder at a time. Three challenges change who can pay: the automobile, the factory's move to the interstate, and online shopping.

Bid-Rent TheoryBurgess · Hoyt · Multiple NucleiHousing Density5 Levels + 3 Challenges + 3 Expert
Play now
Unit 6

Witty: Cities & Urban Land Use

Two players. Match one of your three definitions to a term on the board to claim the square.

Practices Vocabulary: concentric zones, sectors, multiple nuclei, range and threshold, redlining and blockbusting.

How it plays

Four in a row wins.

PrintableVocabulary2 Players
Play now Print the Kits

Unit 7: Industrial & Economic Development

How wealth, technology and opportunity spread unevenly across a connected world — and who gets reached last.

Unit 7

Tonnage

Drag the works across the district and watch the pull lines thicken and thin.

Practices Weber's least cost theory: bulk-reducing and bulk-gaining industries, break of bulk and agglomeration.

How it plays

Six levels teach the rules, then four challenges hide the bar and ask you to commit.

Weber’s Least CostBulk-Reducing & GainingBreak of Bulk6 Levels + 4 Challenges + 3 Expert
Play now
Unit 7

Leapfrog

Launch innovations into the world city network and watch them move down the four ranks.

Practices Hierarchical diffusion through the world city network, and which innovations never reach the countryside.

How it plays

A mirror of The Columbian Exchange: same board, opposite rule.

14 Cities4 Ranks2 Difficulty Modes
Play now Worksheet
Unit 7

The World Bank Game

Printable card game. You are the World Bank: find a developed state to fund you, then push a developing state toward health, education or income.

Practices Human Development Index: health, education and income, and how developed states fund developing ones.

How it plays

No card names its category. Name it out loud; anyone can challenge.

Printable Deck63 Cards15 Minutes2–4 Players
Unit 7

$tat$

Mini-games on real World Bank data: test tubes, seesaw, liar ducks, kart races, pinball, a claw machine, scatter plots and more. Bet play money on how close you call it.

Practices Development indicators and how they move together: fertility, income, urban growth, population structure, farm employment, emissions, internet and mobile access, child mortality, life expectancy, and women in the labor force.

How it plays

Four, six or eight rounds, 109 countries, 27 World Bank statistics. Trophies to unlock.

Real World Bank Data109 Countries22 Mini-GamesTrophies
Play now
Unit 7

Witty: Industrial & Economic Development

Two players. Match one of your three definitions to a term on the board to claim the square.

Practices Vocabulary: the five economic sectors, least cost theory, Rostow's stages and the indices that rank a country's development.

How it plays

Four in a row wins.

PrintableVocabulary2 Players
Play now Print the Kits