Game play at Scientifica

The China groundwater project participated in Scientifica 2019 (August 30 - September 1) with its groundwater game. In two session 3 teams of 4 participants each played the board game under guidance of a game master. The developers Livio Lunin from ZHdK and Yu Li from ETH Zurich assisted by Sumei Kinzelbach were the game masters. In the game, farmers have to grow crops under the constraints of a limited groundwater resource. They repeatedly go through the yearly cycle of buying fields, planting, irrigating, harvesting, maintenance and policy discussion. They irrigate with water from the same aquifer, the exploitable water contents of which is marked on the game board by water drops. These drops are withdrawn during irrigation. They are recharged by rain every year according to the amount of rainfall, which is drawn from randomly mixed precipitation cards. If the groundwater is depleted completely all 4 players lose. The goal is to prevent groundwater depletion while earning as much money as possible. Some special events may happen when event cards are drawn. The farmers also can buy water saving irrigation equipment as well as tractors and insurance.

The game is available from the group as pdf for assembly by oneself. Contact: