Cards Against Calamity
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Provided by: Games For Change|Published on: June 20, 2025
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Scientist Reviewed This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this game shared by Games for Change, students will learn about the complexities of making decisions that impact various stakeholders.
- Students will act as the mayor of a coastal city and work to deal with problems as they arise, making sure to protect the interests of public service, the fishing industry, the tourism industry, and small businesses, keep their town resilient against future scenarios, and retain a favorable public opinion.
- Students can play as a mayor in coastal New England, the Gulf of Mexico, and the West. There are also visible options for Alaska, Western Pacific, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Caribbean but they are locked.
Subjects: Economics, Civics
Authors: 1st Playable Productions , Environmental Law Institute
Region: USA - Northeast, USA - West, USA - South, Caribbean, Alaska, U.S. Pacific Islands
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This game does an excellent job of demonstrating the difficult balance of resources.
- Students will love this gamified look into the nuances of coastal resilience.
Prerequisites
- To play this game, players will need to click the "Learn More" button.
- Teachers may want to go over the meaning of each of the resources and their importance with students. Teachers should note that when resources run out the game is over, but community resilience can run out without ending the game.
- Students should have background knowledge about climate change, fishing practices, and the economy.
- Occasionally the game will freeze and players have to restart it, this seems to be triggered in some cases when the player depletes their resilience pool.
Differentiation & Implementation
- To assist with reflecting on this game, teachers can have students keep a log of their decisions for the round they play. If students fail a level, they can refer to their log and reflect on what may have gone wrong and why.
- Teachers can have students connect their decisions in this game to the Sustainable Development Goals. Students can explain how their decision for one or more of the scenarios reflects a commitment to the goals.
- Language arts teachers can have students play this game and then write narratives of the scenarios, decisions, and outcomes. Students can structure these like a short story or journal entries from the mayor's or a citizen's perspective.
- Teachers can have students play collaboratively, with students acting as a public relations consultant, resilience specialist, chief of police, and lobbyists for the tourism, small business, and fishing interest groups. Each stakeholder can practice argumentative and persuasive strategies to get the best outcome for their group.
- This game can follow a lesson or unit on coastal resilience. Teachers can use resources like this video or this unit to pair with this game.
This game allows students to learn about the impact of stakeholder engagement in coastal resources protection and how collective climate action could restore coastal livelihoods and build communities to respond to climate risk. This is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
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