The practical applications and educational potential of simulations and games were an early focus of Abt Associates. The potential for applications beyond the defense field was in fact a major reason why Clark Abt, Abt Associates' founder, decided to leave Raytheon in 1965 and to strike out on his own.
Clark Abt's book, Serious Games, was published in the United States in 1968; a German translation, Ernste Spiele, appeared in 1971, and a Portuguese translation, Jogos Simulados, appeared in Brazil three years later. In the book Clark Abt advocated the use of highly structured simulations and games for human players as effective devices for researchers to examine intricate social and economic problems, for policymakers to explore alternative resource-allocation strategies, and for adults and children to learn about complex social issues.
A typical simulation or game presented a scenario with a defined "game moment" (the specific time and place); the rules for the game action; a set of role profiles explaining the resources, objectives, and constraints of key actors; and an administration manual. Role players interacted with each other both within the parameters of the simulated situation (which could be affected by the interjection of "news bulletins" or other Game Control input) and in the real-world analog, reaching outcomes that were often unanticipated. Owing to the kaleidoscopic process, a game or simulation, when repeated, never yielded exactly the same result. Players invariably found the experience memorable and enriching.
Over the years, Abt Associates staff have developed many applications for simulations and games. Initial applications in the defense environment included the testing of counterinsurgency tactics in both rural hamlets and urban settings, while foreign-policy applications included the exploration of leadership succession in politically volatile Latin American nations. Our early defense work has found new currency in Homeland Defense considerations.
Applications
In 1966, Abt Associates conducted a planning simulation for the U.S. and Canadian Departments of Transportation, helping to inform developers of a long-range intermodal transportation network for the Northeast Corridor of the United States. In 1971, another simulation helped the town of Greece, New York, make land-use projections and planning decisions. In the same year, a forecasting simulation designed for Harvard University's Center for the Study of Public Policy explored the implications of education vouchers in the public school system.
Simulations and games have found wide application in education and training. Abt Associates was at the forefront of this movement, designing innovative curriculum materials for subjects ranging from home economics for high school students to collective bargaining for labor-union negotiators. In 1967, for example, Houghton Mifflin contracted with Abt Associates to develop the "Get-Set" Reading Readiness game series, which helps kindergartners and first-graders prepare to learn reading skills by exercising oral context, consonant sound discrimination, letter-sound and form-consonant associations, and punctuation concepts.
In 1969, Abt Associates obtained a proprietary registered trademark, Games Central, under which some 30 classroom titles — most with Abt Associates authors — were published and marketed directly to teachers and schools during the following decade. In 1972, as part of a project originally commissioned by the American Anthropological Association, we published a curriculum unit entitled "The Potlatch Package," named after and centering on the unique social and economic exchange institution of the Kwakiutl Indians of the Pacific Northwest.
In 1969, Abt Associates obtained a proprietary registered trademark, Games Central, under which some 30 classroom titles — most with Abt Associates authors — were published and marketed directly to teachers and schools during the following decade. In 1972, as part of a project originally commissioned by the American Anthropological Association, we published a curriculum unit entitled "The Potlatch Package," named after and centering on the unique social and economic exchange institution of the Kwakiutl Indians of the Pacific Northwest.
