Turning climate change into a big deal
KYOTO
Designer: Sabine Harrer & Johannes Krenner | Publisher: Pegasus Spiele
In Kyoto, you play as representatives of different countries meeting to discuss the thorny issue of climate change. Can you pass resolutions that will save the world from mass extinctions, soaring temperatures and deadly pollution?
But oh – you’re secretly in the pocket of a variety of corporate lobbying groups, representing everyone from the steel industry to big game hunters. Maybe some of those people care less about a habitable planet than making bank – if you want to stay in power, you might have to bend your principles slightly to please your funders.
Kyoto is a negotiation game where you take it in turns to present environmental studies drawn from a deck, which require funding to resolve. Countries then have 90 seconds to debate who is going to contribute what – if they fail to reach a resolution, the proposal does not get funded and the environmental impact of inaction hits the world. Some lobbyists might reward you for passing specific resolutions or letting them fail, and you can even bribe other countries to withdraw their support.