For teachers (and parents/etc) who want to teach about the gulf : (Drilling for oil game and more)

Drilling For Oil Game - Easy to follow instructions that show how to construct and conduct a classroom activity that allows students to "drill for oil." This activity can be adopted for use at any age level, and in conjunction with lessons on geology, geography, the environmental sciences, and math. It can also be used as a fun activity for younger children.

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This Poster depicts many of the forms of animal marine life that grow on and around the thousands of oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The poster demonstrates that marine life and Federal offshore production not only coexist, but that the manmade offshore structures provide an artificial reef system that fosters and intensifies marine life in areas where it might not otherwise proliferate.


The Teacher's Companion to the “Islands of Life” poster is for teachers wanting to introduce their students to a unique aspect of the Gulf of Mexico. While the Gulf is one of our Nation’s greatest fisheries resources, it is also an important source of the Nation’s energy. Several thousand oil and gas production facilities located on the U.S. continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico make up the largest artificial island and reef system in th

Chemosynthetic Communities in the Gulf of Mexico
This Poster brings students to the floor of the Gulf to discover remarkable deep-sea animals that literally live on dissolved gases. These recently discovered chemosynthetic communities consist of tube worms and mussels that live in areas of natural oil and gas seepage. Within these organisms live symbiotic bacteria that convert methane and hydrogen sulfide into food. In this way, the tube worms and mussels provide a home for the bacteria, while the bacteria provide these animals with an energy supply.

The Teacher's Companion introduces the concept of chemosynthetics to students at the middle and high school level. It contains a glossary of terms, examples of different chemosynthetic communities, and a crossword puzzle.



http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/lagniapp/lagniapp.html

While kids in other states played Monopoly we played a board game (in the 1940s, 50s and 60s) called GUSHER.

I wonder if anyone else remembers the game.

I found mine in the closet.

I read the rules and called my brother and asked him if he remembered that you pay the bank $10,000 to drill one well and the winner is the first player to accumulate a million dollars. We were surprised at the big numbers for a game created in the 40s.

Anyway - this summer my siblings and self will all be back in Kansas and Oklahoma for a family gathering. I have been instructed to bring the game home so that our generation can teach it to the next two generations. We have not yet decided if we are going to play the game by the original rules or play the cut-throat game we created back then. In the cut-throat version we formed alliances (sold leases, producing wells and made loans) to try and take down the front runner.

Your OP reminded me of a game I had not given a thought to for over 50 years and generated a phone call to both of my siblings.

funny how things happen

Might be cool to see it go online to play sometime :)

He has the door part wrong. The board has holes. Players lease the various parcels and pay the bank to drill a well. The oil derrick has a plunger and you push it down. If it does not go down you have a GUSHER and if it goes down you have wasted your money because it is a dry hole. Once you have a producing well you have to buy a tank (for oil storage) for $5,000. However, each time your turn comes up you are paid $20,000 for each producing well.