Two kilometers inland from Hawke\u2019s Bay on the North Island of New Zealand, a dark-red gate just off the highway marks the entrance to the Tangoio Marae. This marae (meeting place) is where a local M\u0101ori hap\u016b (community) holds regular gatherings and ceremonies. The location seems perfect: surrounded by lush green hills, close to the city of Napier, and just a stone\u2019s throw from the ocean. But there is one problem: the marae is at very high risk of flooding. The hap\u016b of Tangoio Marae have a serious decision to make about this place that is so central to their community, and one of their decision-making tools is unorthodox: a board game.<\/p>\n
Called Marae-opoly<\/a>, <\/em>the M\u0101ori community designed the game in partnership with researchers from New Zealand\u2019s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) with the explicit goal of helping the hap\u016b decide how to manage the flood risk to their marae. While the researchers from NIWA contributed scientific data about known flood risks and projected climate change effects, the hap\u016b brought their own experiences and values to the table during game development brainstorming sessions.<\/p>\n \u201cBrainstorming is really important,\u201d says Paula Blackett, a social scientist at NIWA who co-designed Marae-opoly. \u201cIt allows people to express their thoughts on what could be done [to address the flood risk], and why. It\u2019s quite an inclusive approach because you consider all of the different things that could be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n A turn in Marae-opoly plays out in several steps. First, teams debate how to address the flood risk and choose to either make the marae more flood resistant by waterproofing buildings, raising the flood banks, or improving drainage works; move its location; or wait and save money. In each round, a random \u201crainmaker\u201d event reflecting the real odds of extreme weather determines the rainfall for that decade. Sometimes the team is hit by a devastating flood, other times it is dry, but it is impossible to predict what will happen when. Turns go on like this until players have experienced 100 years of climate change, with the decisions they made early on compounding over time.<\/p>\n Once the game was ready to play, several dozen of the hap\u016b gathered at their marae to spend a Saturday playing. It was a lively event, with teams debating their choices each turn.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough it was a safe environment, it actually made people realize that whatever decision they made there will be consequences,\u201d says Tania Hopmans, chair of the Maungaharuru-Tangit\u016b Trust, which represents the hap\u016b of Tangoio Marae. For example, investing money early in the game to save for larger expenses could leave them at risk of higher costs due to flood damage, but spending a small amount could mean insufficient protection against bigger floods.<\/p>\n Games like Marae-opoly are what researchers refer to as serious games\u2014games designed for a specific educational purpose. NIWA has been using serious games for a few years<\/a> as a way for people to better understand the risks of climate change.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people struggle with being able to integrate all of the different streams of information that they need in order to make robust climate change adaptation decisions in an unknown future,\u201d says Blackett. Games make that kind of information more manageable and let people experience it at a small scale.<\/p>\n In the past few years, board games have been used around the world to teach a wide range of topics, from medical skills to cultural history and more<\/a>. Like Marae-opoly, games can be used to model real-world environmental scenarios. For example, Azteca Chess helped Mexican coffee farmers make decisions about pest control<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to Rebecca Bayeck, an expert on the educational value of games at Utah State University who was not involved in the Marae-opoly project, board games have inherent qualities that make them suitable learning environments. \u201cCollaboration, mathematical thinking, computational thinking\u2014all these skills that you will need in the 21st century\u2014are actually found in board gaming.\u201d<\/p>\n Even commercially designed games can be used educationally. For example, Pandemic, a board game in which players work together to stop the global outbreak of several infectious diseases, has been used to teach group decision-making<\/a>. Recently, the game received new interest during the COVID-19 pandemic<\/a> as a casual way to understand the complexity of what was happening in the world.<\/p>\n But why board games? Unlike video games, Bayeck sees board games as fostering a welcoming space because they facilitate in-person connections. Playing the game \u201cinvites personal interaction where you can see the face of the other [players], see their expression, ask a question,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n The casual setting of playing Marae-opoly allowed the hap\u016b to openly have difficult discussions about their options\u2014to either stay and defend the marae from oncoming floods, or move the cultural and spiritual hub of their community.<\/p>\n By playing the game, Hopmans says, \u201cpeople can have great arguments at the table about what to do or what not to do, and the consequences came five minutes later.\u201d<\/p>\n Besides facilitating debates, the game also clarified complex concepts. \u201cOne of the things that has really stood out for me is how people think about and process risks,\u201d says Blackett.<\/p>\n