Boardgame InterconAction

Aims of the tool

“InterconAction” aims to raise awareness of the global challenges and necessity of collaborative actions in order to build a sustainable society. Its objectives are:
- To get more familiar with the global challenges
- To become aware of seriousness of treats to the human population
- To explore possibilities of building sustainable society
- To develop team spirit and collaborative planning among players involved

Description of the tool

“InterconAction” is a boardgame aimed at raising awareness of the global challenges and necessity of collaborative actions to build a sustainable society. Its unique trait is that it requires team work of the players in order to defeat the board.

Number of players:
Minimum of players required for the game is 2, while the maximum is recommendable to be 5 (or a multiple of 5, grouped to work together in each “country”).

Aim of the game
The payers win when all of them collect 1 card from each category (5 cards in total) before the stock of any of the “Global problematic” reaches the number of 12 cubes.

Components
- 1 board representing 5 main “Countries”, with 4 spaces with global problematic: Pollution, Social exclusion and Discrimination, Economic inequality, Misbalance in access to food and water (Board design can be downloaded separately).
- 1 set of “Extra cards” (Scenarios for the beginning of the game), which define the amount of cubes in “Global Problematic” at the beginning of the game. (Examples of different scenarios can be downloaded separately)
- 5 sets of “ACTION CARDS” in five different colours representing 5 categories: Health, Food, Employment, Energy, Education. Each of these cards contains two possible actions to promote Human Rights related to its category. The costs of these actions are in points and vary according to their nature and have a specific impact in increasing and/or decreasing the amount of cubes in the “Global problematic” stock. (Card designs and content can be downloaded separately).
-1 set of “External cards”: These cards represent external factor that have a specific impact in increasing and/or decreasing the amount of cubes in the “Global problematic” stock. But unlike Action cards, players have no influence over them. (Card designs and content can be downloaded separately).
- 1 die
- 4 sets of 12 cubes in four different colours correspondent to the “Global problematic”

Rules
A) Setting the game
1- Divide the action cards in piles according to their category and place them facing up in the centre of the board.
2- Shuffle the “External factors” cards and place them in the appointed place on the board.
4- Select one of the “Extra” cards, read it out loud to all the players and allocate the pointed amount of cubes in each “Global problematic” space. The amount of cubes in the four “Global Problematic” at the beginning of the game has to add up a total of 12 cubes.
B) Playing the game
5- One player starts randomly and the rest proceed in clockwise direction.
6- The first player throws the dice and the number indicates the points that this player can use to acquire one of the “Action” cards. The player can acquire as many “Action” cards as possible according to the points s/he has.
7- When acquiring the “Action” cards, player has to allocate or take out a number of cubes in the indicated “Global problematic” space according to what is written in the card. Once the player has acquired a certain card, the same actions (allocating or taking out cubes) are repeated in each round.
8- In each round, a player can also help other players by sending any of the cards to them. If they send a card to the “country” to their immediate right or the immediate “left”, they are using 2 points. And if they send it to any of the further “countries”, then they are using 4 points. In both cases, they are adding 1 cube to “Pollution” space in “Global problematic.
8- After using their point to acquiring “Action cards” and/or sending a card to some other player, the player must take one card from the “External Factors” pile, read it out loud and proceed as indicated in this card. If the number of cubes in any of the “Global Problematic” spaces reaches or exceeds the number of 5, the players must take 2 cards from the “External Factors” pile. If the amount of cubes decreases again below 5, then the players only have to take 1 card from “External Factors” pile.
9- After that, the next player takes its turn.
C) Ending the game
10- The players win when all of them collect 1 card from each category (5 cards in total per player) before the stock of any of the “Global problematic” reaches the number of 12 cubes. That said, players either win as a team or lose as a team.

Please note: This is an educational game and its main purpose is to raise awareness among young people you are introducing it to. Content of its cards, therefore, can and should be adjusted to your particular target group and the topic(s) you decide to focus on. We are just providing some examples that will hopefully inspire you to create your own.