Crafted by two public works engineers, new board game wins awards for fun, education
What’s a flood-wracked New Orleans to do when cars are submerged and the streets are under three or more feet of water? Why not stay inside and play a board game premised on how the kind of flooding the city faced over the weekend will only get worse in the coming decades?
« Game of Floods » is an adventure in flood risk mitigation. It was invented by a couple of engineers who wanted a fun way to educate people on a very un-fun subject: sea level rise.
« We face difficult and complex decisions in responding to increased threats of sea level rise, and playing the game helps people become our partners in the process, » said Roger Leventhal, a Marin County, Calif., public works engineer who came up with the idea.
« Game of Floods » is available for a free download on Marin County’s website. You may also order a copy.
The six-player game explores the effects of several flood protection measures, including levees and seawalls, wetland restoration and policy changes.
Despite the title’s nod to the wildly popular « Game of Thrones » television series, there are no kingdoms of Westeros to defend from rising seas in « Game of Floods. » Instead, players prepare a hypothetical Marin Island for impending watery doom.
« Sea levels are rising world-wide as warming oceans expand and melt glaciers and ice sheets, » the game says, setting the scene for players. « Stronger storms coupled with rising seas can significantly damage — even destroy– property, infrastructure, public facilities, natural habitats and other resources we depend on. »
« Game of Floods » players work cooperatively to protect various assets, from schools and sewage stations to farms and wildlife habitat. Every choice comes with a cost, however. Building a levee can do wonders for flood control, but it takes a big toll on the budget and the environment. A dune restoration, on the other hand, costs much less, but its flood-protecting prowess erodes with each passing storm.
Launched in 2015, the game has racked up several honors, most recently a 2017 achievement award for public outreach from the American Planning Association. The association praised the game for « thoroughly engaging » people in the tough give and take associated with flood risk planning.
It certainly beats a gloomy PowerPoint presentation at a public meeting.
« We’ve played the game in a wide variety of settings, » Marin County planner Alix Westhoff said. « And consistently the energy and enthusiasm that participants show gives us hope that we can make real progress. »
