Empowering the future, one adventure at a time.
Trade Trap
Can your family survive an unfair trading system?
Recommended for:​
Guides
Rangers
Estimated Time:
90
Minutes
Materials:
Extra Resources Required
Celebration:
Fairtrade Week
Activity Description
Step into the shoes of farming families as you battle rising living costs, changing market prices and unexpected global events in this immersive Fairtrade simulation. Working together, players must grow crops, trade with the market, pay essential bills and make difficult decisions as the rules of the economy constantly change. Will your family escape the Trade Trap... or be left behind?
How to Play
1. Set Up - Split everyone into family groups of 3–5 players. Give each family a starting pack containing an orange template, paper, 1 pair of scissors, 1 orange pencil, 1 green pencil and starting money.
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2. Assign Volunteers - Assign volunteers to the roles of Game Leader, Market Trader, Cost of Living Collector and Money Lender. They can be as brutal as they like!
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3. Explain the Story - Read the introduction to the group and explain that each family represents orange farmers trying to earn enough money to survive. Their goal is to pay for everyday living costs while dealing with an unpredictable trading system.
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4. Grow Oranges - Families work together to cut out, colour and prepare oranges using only the equipment they have available. They may need to buy extra tools or resources from the marketplace if they run out. Once a family has produced four good-quality oranges, they can sell them to the Market Trader for the current market price. Poor-quality oranges can be rejected.
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5. Buy Supplies - Families can spend their earnings on extra equipment, school fees, medicine or other resources from the marketplace. Prices may increase or decrease throughout the game.
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6. End the Week - Every five minutes, the Game Leader ends the current week with a whistle. Read the next Weekly Chaos Card, update marketplace prices and collect each family's Cost of Living payment.
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7. Escape the Trade Trap - At the end of the final week, see which families successfully paid their living costs, kept their children in school and managed to survive. Finish with a discussion about Fairtrade, inequality and why hard work alone isn't always enough.
Keeping the Adventure Alive
At Hummingbird HQ, the goal is to keep resources free, accessible and available to leaders nationwide after a challenging period for my own unit, when rising costs and uncertainty around meeting spaces made it clear how fragile access to guiding activities can be. That experience shaped a commitment to sharing resources openly so that more leaders can be supported without added cost or barriers. Every donation, big or small, helps keep Hummingbird HQ running and enables the creation and sharing of new, free resources with leaders everywhere.
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