DoomsdaysCWGames for #Degrowth and a Viable Future
Posted on 20 September, 2025 by The #SteadyStateManchester team
by Carolyn Kagan
"Naomi Klein1 asks the question How do you change a world-view, an unquestioned ideology? Much of what we do in Steady State Manchester is to endeavour to change world-views, unquestioned ideologies about economic growth and the exploitation of environmental resources. We seek to enable people to discuss, challenge and develop their ideas and thinking; to help others see that their interests coincide with tackling climate change and securing a viable economic future; to offer hope and possibilities for living better within planetary boundaries; to share practical ways of doing things differently; to provide critiques of current practices but at the same time offer alternatives.
"Games and simulations have been used in training and development arenas for some time and across many different places and groups. They include table top games; video games, educational games, small or large scale role play or simulation games.
"In September 2025 we explored the role that games might play in helping to change world-views. We invited people attending our AGM to:
"Bring along a game, almost any game will do. The idea is that most games could be adapted around the ideas of Degrowth. So there’s the challenge: bring a game and ideas about how it might be adapted or used to inspire a new game that explores or promotes Degrowth.
Ideas for games
The ideas we came up with were mostly small in scale, table top games.
Adaptations of existing games:
- Degrowth Pictionary: Aim: to understand and explore concepts underpinning Degrowth. Following the format of the well known game of #Pictionary, cards are prepared with Degrowth concepts written on them – anything will do for example, anti-capitalism; climate change; collapse; cooperation; commons; fair shares; Limits to Growth; planetary boundaries; tipping points, overshoot; carbon emissions, simplicity. Participants take a card and without speaking draw the concept related to Degrowth, while others guess what it might be. No words are allowed during the drawing, but discussion after each concept is revealed, or after two or three concepts, will help to clarify understanding of the concepts and may identify strategies for change. The challenge is for the sketcher to capture the essence of the concept and for the guessers to articulate what that concept might be.
- Versions of #Monopoly, products of mind games. The aim would be to develop a deep understanding and help move toward collective intelligence and wisdom. Proposed versions of Monopoly included Civil-opoly; Techn-opoly; Polit-opoly; Plent-opoly; Co-opoly – each version emphasises a theme relevant to Degrowth and build on the idea of telling different stories (each shown via clever and captivating graphics in the text).
- Degrowth #SnakesAndLadders: Aim: particularly for younger players, to understand the hazards and actions that can be taken in achieving a viable economy or the green transition. Snakes and ladders boards can be prepared, with short messages on the squares rather than just numbers. Ladders represent actions towards a viable economy and snakes the hazards that detract from a viable economy. The Board could be labelled in terms of general Degrowth (e.g. ladders: waste is recycled; government funds adaptations to homes for insulation and electric heating; a neighbourhood has all it needs for local people; public transport is good; e.g. snakes: you fly several times a year to go on holiday; you buy new shoes and chuck out the old ones which are still good etc.). Alternatively boards could reflect a Degrowth theme: for example inequality; climate change; biodiversity. Discussion takes place throughout so all players explore why the ladders make progress and the snakes do not.
- #Patience: the well known card game, known in the USA as #Solitaire, embodies in and of itself many features of a Degrowth future. The aim of playing Patience is to help players appreciate a move towards a slower, way of life, with intrinsic satisfaction in playing the game itself. Patience is slow, with no particular end point. There is no element of competition and players have to accept they cannot win, but just call an end to the game whenever they like.
- Degrowth draughts: in conventional #draughts (North America, ‘#chequers / #checkers’) the aim is to eliminate all your opponent’s pieces. In Degrowth draughts, the aim could be to jointly reach a pre-defined, right-size complement of pieces. However, each player has to move in turn and if an opponent’s pieces can be taken, they must be, as in the original game, or you will be ‘huffed’. The game would introduce the ideas of degrowth to a steady state and of co-operative action to correct the bloated economy.
Existing games that feature (some) aspects of Degrowth
#CarbonCityZero: a board game to get people talking (and learning) about the choices our towns and cities needed to make in order to take action on climate change. Available to buy.
#Daybreak: Daybreak is a cooperative boardgame about stopping climate change. It presents a hopeful vision of the near future, where you get to build the mind-blowing technologies and resilient societies we need to save the planet. The game requires players to work collaboratively.
#ClassStruggle: The Workers move around a board while trying to survive against the Capitalist player who controls everything. As the Workers unite they take power from the Capitalist player but if they do not succeed in uniting the Capitalist will win. Out of production but it might be possible to find second hand copies."
Read more [includes ideas for computer games and links to some of the games mentioned above]:
https://steadystatemanchester.net/2025/09/20/games-for-degrowth-and-a-viable-future/
