This is a fun game that really gets people talking. I have used it both to teach English conversation classes and as a party game with a large group of friends. This is an original Cupid Zero activity and has always been a lot of fun. Typically it takes about an hour to play, though with talkative groups it can take longer. Feel free to modify the game in any way you see fit.

I. Set up

• Break group up into teams of 3-5 people.

• Each team needs a blank piece of paper and a writing utensil.

• Read the following to the group:

"Much to everyone's surprise, a large asteroid has been found heading towards Earth. Unfortunately, all efforts to stop the asteroid from destroying the Earth have failed. A planet where people can survive has been found nearby and a space shuttle (including an astronaut pilot) can save a small group of people.

A lottery has chosen your team to decide on a group of 10 people to send in order to restart human civilization, write down your decisions on a piece of paper. You cannot send yourselves. You can select either named individuals (e.g. Justin Bieber, Stephen Hawking, Vladimir Putin etc.) or general professions (e.g. doctor, teacher, engineer etc.). Each person must be labeled with their age and biological sex (e.g. Jay-Z M35 / Miley Cyrus F22 / lawyer F40 etc.).

Unfortunately, Bear Grylls and all other survival experts have already escaped, you cannot take a survival expert! The group you send will certainly face unexpected challenges on an alien world, choose wisely!

You have five minutes before your team must board the spaceship! 3....2...1... begin!"

II. Rules for the Game Leader:

1. When the groups are finished with the list of people they want restart civilization with, they have to be placed where all the lists can be seen at the same time by all players. In classrooms I have them write their lists on the board and give themselves team names. While a representative of each group writes, you can also show the following just for fun if you like: "High Quality - Apollo 8 Saturn V. rocket launch" and "Asteroid Hits Earth" . before reading 'Scenario Start' below. When all the lists can be seen by all players, begin with Scenario Start in Part III below.

2. Read out the scenarios under each year, in order (I couldn't get the formatting to number 1-25 here on Steemit, if anyone knows how and tells me in the comments, I will fix it before it goes on the blockchain).

3. Each scenario has conditions that must be met to "survive".

4. Groups are encouraged to argue for the success of their group to survive each scenario based on their list.

5. If a group "fails" a scenario, they must choose one person who dies and scratch them off their list.

6. The group that survives to the end with the most people wins.

7. The game leader has final say over the success or failure of each group in each scenario. I tend to be a bit generous if they can argue well. Alternatively you can have 2 students serve as co-judges with the game leader to increase debate.

8. Don't be surprised if none of the groups make it to the end. Try again!

III. Survive and Restart Human Civilization on An Alien World!

Scenario start: "Your group climbs on board the rocket and escapes into space just in time to watch the Earth be destroyed by a massive asteroid. Shocked and saddened, you fly through space for two full years. Just as your supplies are beginning to run out...

Year Three

1. "Crash landing! Your self-flying spacecraft crashes while landing on the alien planet. Almost all of your supplies are lost. To make things worse, everyone's clothes were completely ruined and torn to rags during the crash. Your entire group is naked! During the crash landing, all of the men were injured while trying to protect the women. For the first few weeks, the men are badly injured and the women have to step up. Your group needs to have a female doctor, a female nurse, a female hunter or a female botanist. If not, one of the men dies from his wounds. If you have Stephen Hawking with you, his battery runs out! :P"

2. "The men finally recover as the few remaining food rations are used up. You will need stone tools to start civilization over from scratch. Your group needs to have a geologist, archaeologist or engineer. If not, one of your group has a horrible accident while learning to make stone tools and falls from a cliff while looking for appropriate rocks..."

3. "After mastering the creation of stone tools, the local wildlife becomes hostile! It turns out the planet is still populated by vicious man-eating dinosaurs. Your group must protect itself! You group needs to have a soldier or hunter. If not, one of your group is eaten by a dinosaur!"

4. "It starts to get difficult to catch the small animals you have been hunting and all the plants are unfamiliar. You need food to survive! You need a botanist or a farmer to determine what is safe to eat! If you don't have one, someone dies from eating something poisonous. Their sacrifice lets the survivors know what is safe to eat."

Year Four

1. "The weather starts to change and it begins getting much colder. You need someone who can make clothes out of plant fibers or the skin of the animals you have killed or someone will freeze to death. You need a tailor or leatherworker (a fashion designer will work in a pinch!).

2. "After a few months of hard living in the cold, the weather improves. Then it gets hot. Where you crash landed turns out to be an island and the water is rising. As the island slowly sinks beneath the waves, you need a boat to survive and find more land. You need a woodworker, a wainwright, or an architect! If you don't have one, someone dies while you float on a makeshift raft in stormy seas."

3. "Adrift on an alien ocean, you need to eat. Without a fisherman or a hunter to improvise a way to catch fish, someone becomes dinner!"

4. "A month later, you group sights land and paddles to shore. The landmass is both plagued by killer dinosaurs and earthquakes and you need safe shelter. You need an architect or a structural engineer, if not, your makeshift shelter collapses during an earthquake and someone gets eaten by a dinosaur during the confusion."

Year 5

1. "Seeking a safer area to stay, your group finally encounters an intelligent alien civilization with a musical language. Unfortunately they are hostile! You need a linguist, language specialist or musician to communicate your peaceful intentions. If you don't have one, your first contact results in conflict and someone is killed!"

2. "After much misunderstanding, the aliens direct your group to a region suitable to settle down. Once you get there though, there are no edible plants, just the local equivalent of chickens. You need to start planting crops to get the nutrition you need to survive. You need a farmer or a botanist, otherwise someone perishes from malnutrition."

Year 6

1. "Once your food supply stabilizes, romantic relationships start to form. Jealousy erupts! You need a psychologist! If you don't have one and there are more men than women, violence breaks out until there are an equal number of men and women. If there are only men left, nothing happens. If there are more women than men, nothing happens."

Year 7

1. "Now the real rebuilding begins. Uh oh, all of the women get pregnant at the same time! After nine months, something about the planet causes them to all give birth at the same time and the gravity is causing difficulties. You need a male doctor or one of the women will die in childbirth! --- Add one child per woman that survives to your group, note if they are boys or girls - this is the 2nd generation."

2. "With so many mouths to feed, it becomes time to start storing food for the coming winter. You need to find clay and make some storage pots. You need a potter or geologist or someone will die from not enough food being preserved during the winter!"

Year 8

1. "In the spring it is time to leave the stone age! You need to find metal to keep your civilization going. You need a geologist, metallurgist or blacksmith! Otherwise while trying to smelt some metal there is a horrible accident and someone perishes!"

Year 11

1. "Years pass and things are going well. The kids are growing up and you need someone to teach them the basics to ensure they can survive. You need a teacher of any kind or a hunter or a farmer, otherwise one of the children is lost in the wilderness never to return!"

Year 18

1. "You need to invent paper or papyrus to preserve a record of your struggle to survive and the knowledge of the elders. You need a botanist, a woodworker or a language specialist. Success means you can assign a profession of your choice to each of the children. Failure means they can only become a hunter or farmer."

2. "Your civilization must grow or perish. You need to develop steam power and for that you need a blacksmith, chemist, engineer, mechanic or hydrologist. Otherwise during experimentation, one of your group perishes in a steam explosion!"

Year 22

1. "Finally, you are ready to invent electricity! You need an engineer or an electrician, otherwise there is a horrible accident while developing it!"

2. "The 3rd generation arrives! For each couple in each generation add one child (unless a woman is over 45). Any men over the age of 65 die, arrr!"

Year 24

1. "People start to argue over resource distribution and you need to develop a common belief system! Your group needs a psychologist or a priest! Otherwise a man, a woman and a child leave the group, never to be seen again!"

Year 29

1. Steam power is no longer enough! You need to develop the internal combustion engine. You need an engineer or a mechanic or there is yet another horrible accident! Unbelievable!"

2. "It is time to learn to fly again. You need a structural engineer, a physicist, a blacksmith, a tailor or a pilot. Otherwise there is another horrible accident while trying develop an airplane or hot air balloon. Can it get any worse? Yes it can, men and women over the age of 65 die!"

Year 35

1. "The aliens do not like humans flying around. They go to war! You need a soldier, a diplomat or a politician to survive! Otherwise two of your people are lost in an attack before you can negotiate a peace treaty."

Year 40

1. "Finally, you need to invent a spaceship, there is another asteroid on the way! You need an engineer, a physicist or somebody that can make a rocket! If not, you escaped the asteroid that hit Earth only to delay the inevitable!"

Year 41

1. "Congratulations, your civilization has survived to start again on a new planet! Whichever group has the most surviving members is the most successful and has won the contest of civilizations!"