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• 1 2020-08-17T11:25:44-04:00 Not in the Cards 35 card game plain 2022-05-06T16:11:51-04:00

  
  Sometimes, it's just not in the cards.

  These playing cards are astonishing in many ways. They are informative and systematic and entertaining. They are also full of idiosyncrasies and little mysteries. Your job is to solve them (by going beyond the cards and doing some good old-fashioned research).

  Here is a trio of mysteries to get you started.

  Not in the Cards, Round 1

  According to the playing cards... ... Vilno Province has mountains. It is a bit of a curious claim, since the area around the city of Vilnius (it is now known by its Lithuanian name) is, eh hem, not known for its elevation profile. The city does have its own ski hill, however, so perhaps there is something to the claim.
  
  Here is your challenge: Find out to which mountains the card refers, as well as their maximum elevation.

  Not in the Cards, Round 2

  According to the playing cards...
  ...one of the claims to fame of Tiflis is that it is the burial place of someone named Griboedov.
  
  (Literally, the card says "Griboedov is buried here.")
  
  Here is your challenge:
  Determine the identity of this Griboedov character? What was his occupation?
  
  Hint: He is the only man of his occupation named in the deck.

  Not in the Cards, Round 3

  According to the playing cards... ...there were "eternal fires" burning in Shemakha Province.
  
  Here is your challenge:
  Find out what could possibly explain this strange phenomenon?
• 1 2022-05-06T15:50:49-04:00 History through Playing Cards 32 Explore ethnic, economic, and geographic variation on the cusp of the Great Reforms! plain 2024-03-01T11:03:27-05:00

  Explore ethnic, economic, and geographic variation on the cusp of the Great Reforms!

  The Source

  This dataset is sourced from an elegant deck of playing cards created in 1856 to teach members of Russia's elite families about the empire they inhabited. The cards—all 80 of them—provide us with a unique perspective on how the subjects of the tsar “saw” their country on the eve of the emancipation of the serfs.

  The Format

  9 cvs files (tabular data), 5 shapefiles (vector data), readme, table of contents, codebook, glossary

  Content

  The dataset contains hundreds of attributes describing the distribution of economic activities, ethnic groups, geographical features, and historical "particularities." If you have ever wondered where tobacco was grown or which provinces were home to volcanos, this is the dataset for you! 
  
  The shapefiles include high-quality custom historical boundary data for provinces and autonomous regions, as well as location data for all provincial and district towns.

  Temporal coverage

  Early 1850s. (The cards were published in 1856.)

  Geospatial coverage

  Russian Empire

  Spatial Units

  3 semi-autonomous regions (polygons); 77 provinces (polygons); 417 towns (points); 86 rivers (lines)

  Access the Data (via Dataverse)

  Publication Date: 5/13/2022
• 1 2020-08-17T02:53:13-04:00 Patience 19 plain 2022-05-06T16:12:41-04:00
  The game of patience has a history dating back to the 18th century. It became wildly popular in the 19th, with dozens - if not hundreds - of variations proliferating across Europe. 
  
  No matter when or where it is played, patience involves the sorting of cards from a shuffled deck - sometimes by suit, sometimes by value, and sometimes according to some other organizing principle.
  
  In other words, it is a game that challenges the player to create order from disorder. 

  Ready to play?

  The bad news is that in order to play, you need to read Russian. The good news is that if you win, you will have learned a crucial - and often overlooked - truth about how Russian space was understood.
  1. Go to the Patience Gameboard.
  2. In the upper right corner of the display, click "Remake" (be sure to copy both design and posts). Now you have your own copy of the Gameboard.
  3. Discover the key to sorting the cards into order. Look for clues. Think. You can do it.
  4. Arrange the cards in order by clicking and dragging them into place. (You can also do this by printing out the contents of the Gameboard - Padlet allows export into various formats.)
  5. Once they are in order, record the message hidden in the cards.
  6. In the spirit of sharing, we highly recommend that you translate the message into English and impress your friends with your hard-won knowledge.
  7. Let us know about your accomplishment! Reach out on Twitter @ImperiiaProject

  Ready for the solution?

• 1 2020-08-21T09:09:54-04:00 Wildcards 15 plain 2022-05-06T16:12:15-04:00

  
  Do you enjoy looking at pictures? Are you good at finding patterns? Have you been known to pick a needle out of a haystack from time to time? Then this is the game for you!
  
  In each round, you will be confronted with a question. And you will be presented with a number of cards that hold the answer. You can scroll through the cards, as if holding them in your hand, or scroll down the screen to see them all laid out on the page.

  FAQ

  Do I need to know anything about Russian history to play (and/or win)?
  No. Truly. All you need is the power of observation.
  
  Do I need to read Russian to play (and/or win)?
  No. Truly. This game draws on the pictorial content. Not the text.
  
  I decided to be brave and play a round. Where can I find the answer?
  You will find the solution lurking at the bottom of the page. (You will click on a link to get the answer - scrolling down will not spoil the fun.)

  Good luck, have fun, and check in again soon as more rounds will be posted throughout September and October!