【Board Game Miscellaneous】Antarctica and Arctic with melting glaciers-what can board games do for climate change?
2021-06-28

Since entering the 21st century, the melting rate of glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctica has continued to accelerate. According to research data, in the past 20 years, about 267 billion tons of glaciers have melted every year! The living environment of polar bears and Antarctic penguins, which people are familiar with, has been greatly affected. The picture of polar bears standing on ice floes is believed to be impressive to many people.

In addition, the melting of glaciers in the Antarctic and Antarctic will also cause sea level rise and the displacement of the Arctic and Antarctic. Perhaps it will have little impact on people's daily life in the short term, but in the long run, it will inevitably bring very serious consequences. The main reason for the melting of glaciers is the impact of global warming. Because of this, countries all over the world are paying more and more attention to the response to climate change and have adopted measures such as joint efforts to control carbon emissions.

Increasingly obvious climate change and extreme weather have aroused the attention of all sectors of society. In the field of board games, many designers also have in-depth thinking about this issue, and have designed many board game works based on this theme. I hope that players can really pay attention to climate issues from their favorite games.

1. Control carbon emissions-"CO2"
One of the major culprits of climate warming is excessive carbon dioxide emissions. In this board game named after "CO2", players will play the role of the boss of a large energy company, and they must build environmentally friendly power stations in accordance with government requirements to reduce carbon emission. However, while doing environmental protection work, you have to meet the energy needs of customers all over the world.

As a work of Vital Lacerda, the severity of "CO2" is naturally not low, but compared to his other works, it is still slightly simpler.

The main goal of the players is to build environmentally friendly power plants around the world to control carbon emissions. It takes money to build a power plant, because carbon dioxide emissions will be generated during the preparatory stage, so emission permits must be issued. The development of new energy requires the power of science and technology, so scientists and scientific and technological resources are indispensable.

After solving these problems, the goal can be achieved step by step in the order of signing the project, preparing the project, and building the power plant. If the environmentally friendly power plants built in each region are not enough and the energy provided is insufficient, fuel power plants will be opened, which will increase significantly. carbon emission. Fortunately, environmental protection is a major issue that all countries attach importance to. During the game, sponsorship cards will be used to get various help.

The game continues the author's consistent style of interlocking elements and mechanisms, and is very interesting and strategic. But this is not the most important thing, the most amazing is the deep combination and sublimation of game mechanics and themes.

At the beginning of the game, a corporate goal will be set, and scores will be obtained after completion. In addition, there is a large score track on the layout. Players will get a certain score for performing different operations, which prompts players to take action to get more for themselves. fraction. Once the players do this, the carbon emissions will soon be out of control. When a certain limit is exceeded, disasters will occur everywhere, affecting all players. When more than the limit is exceeded, all members will explode. failure.

Because the game seems to have elements of competition, but in essence it is a game where everyone works together to control carbon emissions. Just like the real society, although various companies compete with each other, they have the same interests in protecting the environment. Only when everyone works together, with the sponsorship and help of the national government and various institutions, can the problem of global climate change be truly solved.


2. Balance development and environmental protection problems-"Keep Cool"
The major powers in the world have made various efforts to deal with climate change, but at the same time they will also take into account their own interests. The board game "Keep Cool" simulates the process of mutual competition between countries in international climate negotiations. Players play the role of a consortium of major countries in different stages of development in the world and implement their own development strategies.

All players have their own secret goals, and each round is divided into four stages. First draw the greenhouse gas card, and roll the dice according to the content to determine the loss of the affected country; the second stage can obtain the benefits of the factory and exercise their respective privileges; the third stage will decide how to invest in the factory, this stage is the key to the negotiation, players can Choose to invest in carbon chips to build black factories that can cause pollution, green factories that produce clean energy, and environmental protection projects. You can also cooperate with other countries to research technologies; the fourth stage is to extract carbon chips for climate restoration. The conditions for victory are to build enough factories and achieve their secret goals.

This board game was designed by two experts from the German Institute of Climate Impact Research. Although the strategy is not high and the balance is average, the game's semi-cooperative and semi-confrontational mechanism is very relevant. Every player must find a balance between solving the global climate problem and the country's economic development. Once the environment collapses, all players will fail.

The game does not require everyone to do anything morally, but various choices close to reality, conflicts between interests and the environment, make the situation very strong, but it unconsciously triggers thinking about environmental protection.

3. Caring for bipolar animals-"Rescue Polar Bear"
At present, the impact of melting glaciers on the Arctic is more obvious, and the living environment of polar bears has become precarious, and news of them being forced to go south to find food is not uncommon.

In the board game "Rescue Polar Bear", players will act as search and rescue teams from different countries, collect climate change data through mutual assistance and cooperation, and use limited resources to rescue polar bears that are about to fall into the sea.

The game is generally mild. Players need to choose three of the four actions of sailing, loading from ice, placing polar bears into the base, and breaking ice each round. The goal is to collect 20 climate data. And save as many polar bears as possible. At the end of each round, polar bears will give birth and the temperature will rise. Although more polar bears will bring more points, it also increases the risk of falling into the water and brings new challenges to players to complete their goals.

The more interesting thing about the game is that the capabilities of search and rescue teams in different countries are different, and they can be upgraded. For example, Chinese ships are good at rescuing bear cubs, German ships have large capacity, and Japanese ships are fast. Therefore, players must clearly divide their work and complement each other. Goal to get more points.

Generally speaking, the game is relatively mild, with cute drawing style accessories. It can also increase the player's attention to environmental protection while playing easily.

4. Protect the marine ecology-"Ocean Crisis"
The melting of glaciers has a greater impact on the sea level and the marine ecological environment. At the same time, human development has also caused a lot of pollution to the ocean. "Ocean Crisis" claims to be the first cooperative board game with the theme of marine environmental protection. Players must work together to tackle the problem of marine pollution.

The game uses worker placement and plate placement as the main gameplay. Each round first draws event cards to place garbage in a specific area. Next, players send workers to different locations. After all players are placed, they cooperate with the dice to perform the settlement location effect.

If someone places workers to the Central Environmental Protection Agency, they can draw a corresponding number of road cards. Players can place these road card plates of different shapes, connect them to other facilities, and perform corresponding effects. For example, connecting to a laboratory can speed up research and development. After all settlements are completed, the player rolls a six-sided dice to advance the changes in ocean currents. If the ocean rubbish is full of rubbish mountains, the player loses, and if the players can persist after six rounds, they all win.

The main strategy of the game is to allocate manpower reasonably, to find a balance between holding good things in the puzzle and disposing of garbage. It is easy to use but not weak in strategy. Various tasks and scripts enhance the playability of the game.

From a thematic point of view, the game rule book contains a lot of knowledge about marine environmental protection. The victory condition is set to adhere to six rounds of not letting too much garbage instead of completely solving the garbage problem, which also reflects the seriousness and seriousness of the marine environmental protection problem Urgency, as a light strategy family game, can be regarded as a model of entertaining and entertaining.

5. Building an energy-saving city-"Energetic"
The board game "Energetic" launched in 2019 is quite realistic. It allows players to manage New York City in the game for 15 years from 2021 to 2035. The ultimate goal is to replace high-carbon emissions by the end of 2035. Fuel, build clean electric energy, and overcome the impact of climate change on cities.

This is a standard cooperative game where players play roles with different abilities-engineers, entrepreneurs, and reporters to work together to achieve goals. To manage the city, you can’t just focus on tackling climate change. Players must balance the financial budget, the relationship between power supply and public opinion, how to make money and spend money, and how to ensure power supply when clean energy is not yet available.

Play cards carefully, connect lines on the layout, and deal with various emergencies, which is a bit similar to the gameplay of "Pandemic". Each year represents a round. At the end of the last round, 16 gigawatts of clean energy must be produced to win.

The game is developed by the non-profit organization City Atlas. The main purpose of the game is to let players quickly understand the physical and social significance of addressing climate change, and to appreciate the urgency that climate change brings to mankind. Although the popularity of this game is not high, the design and interest are not particularly strong, but it is indeed trying to use the game to spare no effort to attract people's attention to the climate issue.

6. Antarctic eco-tourism-"A pleasant journey to Neko"

With the development of science and technology and the trend of globalization, Antarctica, which was once out of reach, has become a popular tourist attraction. As a port on the Antarctic continent very close to South America, Neko harbour is the first choice for most tourists to land in Antarctica. The beautiful polar scenery, cute and silly penguins and other Antarctic creatures make all travelers feel lingering.

"A Pleasant Journey to Neko" is based on the theme of traveling to the Neko harbour in Antarctica. Players must plan their own itinerary to travel to see penguins everywhere, while avoiding damage to the ecological environment of Antarctica.

Each round of the game is divided into four stages. In the first stage, players sell fish in turn to obtain money and material income; the second stage is the dice drafting stage; the third stage is the action stage, where players use their remaining dice to get fish , Bidding for cards and activating the effects of a certain area until all the dice are used up; the final stage of the settlement of the bidding results, and prepare for the next round. After four rounds, the final score is based on various conditions, and the player with the highest score wins.

Generally speaking, the main thing to do in the game is to open more routes, move the boats around, use the cards obtained from the bid to get points, and compare the corresponding themes. Reasonable use of drafting dice is the key to victory. The acquisition and utilization of various resources, the bidding and abandonment of cards, the preemption and change of positions, and the progress of free actions all need to be carefully considered. The rules are slightly more complicated, and the strategy is also heavy. Not low, but strong playability.

Outside of the gameplay, the theme of the game's travel to the Antarctic can't help but remind players of this question: if the glacier continues to melt at a rapid rate and the environment deteriorates, can people still enjoy a comfortable trip to the Antarctic? Can you still see those cute penguins shaking?

The board game that pays attention to Antarctica also has an abstract chess "Zoollywood" with a cute style and low severity. In the game, two players play cute penguin actors and compete with each other in an important movie audition.

In each round, players only need to choose one of three actions: placing (putting eggs on the board), hatching (turning eggs into penguins), and exploring (making penguins move along the line). It can be won by being placed all on the ice, or if the opponent has nowhere to go.

Although this board game looks cute and easy to use, the actual strategy depth of the game is not low. The addition of event cards, the setting of obstacles, and interesting detailed rules make each step to consider your own benefits. To stop the opponent's routine, especially in the middle and late stages, it is necessary to plan from the overall situation.

Although the game is like visiting the "Neko harbour" in Antarctica, it does not directly involve climate and environmental issues. The cute painting style and accessories of the game, combined with the background of melting glaciers in the Antarctic and Arctic, can also allow players to be more concerned about the climate and ecology while having fun. A little attention.

Concluding remarks
Throughout the board games with the theme of climate change and ecological protection, they are basically based on cooperation mechanisms. Even if the elements of competition are added, players need to work together in the general direction to achieve a win-win goal.

After all, solving environmental problems requires the joint cooperation and efforts of the world. In addition to national environmental protection policies, for ordinary people, paying attention to saving energy in our lives and avoiding waste is a contribution to climate change.

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