Dynasty Death Match: a game of controversy

When asked about his memories of the Dynasty Death Match back in eighth-grade history class, Tony Chang (10B) ranted vehemently for two whole minutes about how their team, the Song Dynasty, should’ve won first but came in second instead. Despite all the bitterness, even after two years, Tony admitted that he greatly enjoyed playing the game and wished he could play it again sometime.

Dynasty Death Match has been a consistent highlight in eighth grade’s history class since 2010. With five teams each representing a different dynasty in China, the team members must argue why their dynasty is the best and then attack other teams on their dynasties’ weaknesses.

At first, Mr. Scott Muenzler used more conventional methods of teaching the Chinese dynasties, such as student presentations. However, he wasn’t satisfied with this particular teaching method. Then, late one night, an idea suddenly struck Mr. Muenzler. Inspired by the TV show “Celebrity Death Match,” Mr. Muenzler decided to apply the show’s concept to his own teaching of Chinese dynasties.

The outcome, according to him, was simply stunning. “They [the students] learn a lot more than just the dynasties, which was the original goal––now they learn argumentation skills, [how to determine the] quality of sources, and why sources matter,” Mr. Muenzler shared. It was also more engaging for students to debate in classes. Sally Park (8B) found it especially satisfying when the dynasty she attacked couldn’t come up with a response. In fact, Mr. Muenzler said he decided to make “attacking other dynasties” a requirement because “one year, maybe two or three years ago, I had a class where all five dynasties were absolutely reluctant to attack each other in the match…which wasn’t fun for them…and it got to a point on the fourth or fifth day where I stepped in and made it a rule to attack.”

Throughout the years, this activity evolved into a more student-centered activity. Not only are the judges of the game students themselves, but Mr. Muenzler also intentionally avoided correcting the mistakes of the judges and team members. “I find that most of the times when I resist the urge to say ‘you know you should be doing this’ or ‘this isn’t correct,’ [the students] will eventually self-correct,” Mr. Muenzler said. This self-ruling aspect became increasingly fun for the student judges, who enjoy deciding the points and ringing the bell. However, the dynasty teams sometimes found it unfair since, according to Rayyan Rasheed (8B), “judges sometimes make mistakes…[and] they don’t give the right amount of points.”

All in all, Dynasty Death Match has stirred up a variety of strong reviews and opinions. “Under normal circumstances [though], I would continue using and developing this game,” Mr. Muenzler said.

Featured Image – 8th graders debate in the Dynasty Death Match Courtesy of Mr. Muenzler