Hate to break it to you, but Kim, you are a massive board game geek! You have beta-tested Terraforming Mars, played in a high stakes tournament and attended a protospiel event. That’s not for ”enthusiasts”!
We developed our game, Energetic, as a four player collaborative game in which you decarbonize NYC. Unlike Daybreak, Energetic is accurate to a single city's power grid, politics, and timeline, so players learn in a context that matches their own experience with tools they have access to in the real world.
Now used in dozens of universities, and in 20 high schools in NYC. Student feedback here:
Daybreak is also implemented as an online game for 1 - 4 players on boardgamearena.com - our group meets every Saturday night and we keep saving the world each time. Fun to see geoengineering work out well in a few games!
Thanks Jim, that’s good to know there’s an online option! We didn’t dare to try geoengineering, I wanted to decarbonize fair + square and honestly the mechanics sounded complicated 🤪 but now I’m a bit curious to see how it works though still afraid of it! In Covid I played online games to stay connected with friends, but I prefer IRL personally. Happy playing!
I'd really like to see which pieces have worked best - particularly the geoengineering approaches? There is an awful lot of CO2 that needs to go somewhere, and most discussed approaches don't deal with this sufficiently...
We're looking for more big hitters to put into Fairhaven
I played it 7-8 times with my daughter who is a hard core board games demon
And we didn't get close...
But I totally agree with your sentiment 'We Can Fix it!'
We wrote Fairhaven - A Novel of Climate Optimism, to address some of the challenges of climate anxiety and share a positive vision of a future we can aim for
Fairhaven follows the career of Grace Chan, a young Malaysian who has been personally impacted by the effects of climate disaster. In the late 2020s, she starts as a young engineer on a coastal protection project in Penang.
We've been making good progress with Fairhaven, a Novel of Climate Optimism, with the first sequel completed and ongoing efforts to make the 5 planned books into a TV series
If you're struggling with Daybreak, there are some optional cards that improve your odds - things like drawing one extra card a turn, or having one extra "slot" to put projects in. After my first few losses I tried playing with those for a while, which finally won me some victories! That then gave me the chance to hone my strategies well enough to finally win without the bonus cards.
Thanks for the tip, Heather, that’s good to know! I would have loved an extra slot. It’s great to calibrate games to the right level where they feel challenging but possible. I can imagine house rules where players choose their handicap level to make it fun for everyone. My husband is a much better chess player than me so we’ve figured out how many pieces he has to remove from the start to make it feel like a fair fight for me! :)
Hi Steve, oh yikes 8 losses in a row sounds so disheartening! 😔 We won both games we played so far, maybe we just got lucky! I was very aggressive about being laser focused on decarbonizing. It feels like there’s a lot of room to try out and learn different strategies. Good luck with Fairhaven and thanks for being here!
Our novel, Fairhaven contains a load of really big climate solutions, so we were keeping an eye out for approaches that were of the necessary scale.
On one hand it was reassuring that we'd already considered many of the things that were in the game - though I was hoping for a few big hitters that we could add to the sequels.
Subject: From "Board Games" to "Mass-Action Games": Moving the Climate Resilience Simulation to the Public Square
Hi Kim and everyone!
I loved the post about Daybreak. Board games are fantastic, but I often worry they risk becoming a "conscience-soother" in the safety of our living rooms. I’ve been working on a concept to take climate "play" into the streets—moving from Haha (the fun of gaming) to Aha! (the deep realization of our shared destiny).
With some creative help from Gemini, I've developed a "No-Equipment Mass Simulation" for 30 to 3,000 people. It’s designed for climate marches, schools, or city squares to help people move past climate fatigue and understand that collective insurance is our only real survival strategy.
I’d love for this community to test it, critique it, and help upgrade it!
🎲 The Game: "Collective Resilience" (Facilitator’s Guide)
Goal: Transform a passive crowd into an active community by simulating the transition from individual protection to collective insurance.
🛠 Setup
Participants: 30 – 3,000.
Equipment: One large die (or a phone app) and a megaphone.
Life Points: Each player starts with 5 lives (held up as 5 fingers on one hand). If you reach 0, you must sit down—you are a "climate casualty."
🏃 The 3 Choices (10 Seconds to decide each round)
The Umbrella (Individual Defense): Hands over your head. (Costs 1 life to prepare).
The Hot Cocoa (Consumption/Business as Usual): Hands out in front. (Costs 0 lives).
Collective Insurance (The Social Net): Groups of 4+ lock arms tightly. (Costs 1 life from each member to build the "infrastructure").
🎲 The Climate Event (Roll the Die)
Roll 1-4 (Sunny/Normal): * Umbrellas/Insurance lose 1 life (investment cost).
Hot Cocoa players lose nothing (they enjoyed the sun).
Roll 5 (Heavy Rain): * Umbrellas/Insurance are safe.
Hot Cocoa players lose 2 lives.
Roll 6 (Extreme Flood / Black Swan): * Umbrella: Failed! You were alone. Lose 4 lives.
Hot Cocoa: Total loss. Lose 5 lives (out of the game).
Collective Insurance (Locked Arms): The community absorbs the shock! Each member loses only 1 life.
🎤 Facilitator’s "Aha!" Script (The Debrief)
Once the crowd has thinned and many are sitting on the ground, stop the game and ask:
The "Haha" Phase: "In the first round, when someone lost points for drinking cocoa, we all laughed. It felt like a game, right?"
The "Aha" Phase: "Look around at those sitting down. When the '6' hit, those who tried to save themselves with an 'umbrella' realized that individual wealth isn't a shield against systemic collapse. Only those who locked arms are still standing."
The Call to Action: "Tomorrow, don't ask what umbrella you should buy. Ask whose arms you are going to lock with in your neighborhood. That is your only real insurance."
How to Help Upgrade This Game:
I'd love your feedback!
How can we make the "Locked Arms" mechanic more challenging or rewarding?
Should we introduce a "Government" player who can change the die's odds?
Any ideas for a "Heatwave" mechanic?
Let’s turn our climate marches into living laboratories for survival!
I'm definitely a board game geek - and especially a climate board game geek! I've played some moderately well-known ones like Catan New Energies (https://www.catan.com/catan-new-energies), as well as some rather more obscure ones like Carbon City Zero (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/288179/carbon-city-zero - has both published version and print-and-play version), Tiny Footprint (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/253803/tiny-footprint), and Green House (https://www.greenhousegame.com/). But of all of them, Daybreak is definitely the hands-down winner in my book! It's a little on the complex side, but I've successfully taught it to family members who aren't quite as fond of complexity as I am :-), and it led to the absolute most nail-biting end of a game I think I've *ever* had! (We won!)
The reason I *had* to write a comment was in case you (and/or your other readers) aren't aware that you can play Daybreak completely free online! It's at Board Game Arena: https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=daybreak Most games there require a paid account, but Daybreak can be played free. I think there are a few restrictions, especially when it comes to multiplayer games, but I've played likely dozens of solo games with no issues being a free player. I like the physical version for playing with others, and because I can choose exactly which of the optional cards I want to play with, but I will admit the online version is *much* faster to set up and take down :-). (No issues running out of table space either :-).
Thanks for everything you do, and I hope you have many more fun evenings play Daybreak!
Hi Heather, haha good job engaging less geeky family members in board games, that’s a win already! Oooh I’m so curious about the nail-biting finish, sounds so fun! Thanks for the tips for other games, and great to know Daybreak is available free online! Table space was definitely a bit of an issue, I feel like the board could be smaller to make it fit better. Happy games nights to you too!
Subject: Beyond the Board: Why we need "Mass-Action" Climate Games in the public square
Dear Kim,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Daybreak. It’s a beautifully designed game, and I appreciate how it brings climate strategy to the living room. However, I’d like to offer a different perspective on the "action" part of climate games.
While board games are great for enthusiasts, they often risk becoming a "conscience-soother." We play, we feel like we’ve "solved" the crisis in a simulation, and then we return to our routines. To truly shift mindsets, I believe we need to move beyond the board and into the public square.
I am looking for—and trying to develop—climate games that can engage 30 to 3,000 people simultaneously in physical space. Instead of a traditional protest where people stand passively with signs, imagine a high-stakes, movement-based simulation in the city center.
I’m inspired by the "Serious Games" approach, like the Red Cross Climate Centre’s Paying for Predictions. We need activities that:
Require no cards or boards: Using only the participants' bodies and the physical environment.
Scale effortlessly: Works for a small classroom or a massive crowd.
Mirror real-world feedback: Each participant acts based on their own understanding, but can immediately see how the collective movement of 2,999 others affects their shared survival.
The goal is that anyone returning from such an event won't just say "I protested," but rather: "I realized through my own actions that if I don't change my behavior tomorrow, my existence is at stake."
Have you encountered any large-scale, "pervasive" games that successfully bridge this gap between play and urgent, real-world realization? I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can turn "climate marches" into "climate simulations" that actually stick.
Great read! 🌍 I loved how this article makes the idea of climate action feel fun and engaging rather than overwhelming. Turning complex climate challenges into games — like the collaborative strategy game Daybreak — is such a smart way to help people learn, experiment, and think creatively about solutions. It’s inspiring to see how play and strategy can spark real insight into collaboration, system thinking, and the kind of collective action our world needs right now.
For anyone interested in more game-related content — including reviews, tips, and guides — check out https://www.thespikezgame.com/
Hate to break it to you, but Kim, you are a massive board game geek! You have beta-tested Terraforming Mars, played in a high stakes tournament and attended a protospiel event. That’s not for ”enthusiasts”!
Lolllll busted!!! I have imposter syndrome bc I haven’t been to GothCon but if you say so, I’ll embrace my full geek status!!! 🤓
We developed our game, Energetic, as a four player collaborative game in which you decarbonize NYC. Unlike Daybreak, Energetic is accurate to a single city's power grid, politics, and timeline, so players learn in a context that matches their own experience with tools they have access to in the real world.
Now used in dozens of universities, and in 20 high schools in NYC. Student feedback here:
https://youtu.be/xJIV4JJru48
If in NYC, come try it Saturday March 7, at the Brooklyn Public Library, hosted by 350Brooklyn:
https://www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/350brooklyn-presents-central-library-info-20260307-0200pm
Or in San Mateo, CA, Thursday March 12, at a conference hosted by The Nueva School:
https://nuevailc2026.sched.com/event/2EkSn/energy-literacy-is-environmental-justice
Energetic is used in courses at Carnegie Mellon, IIT Madras, and University College Dublin:
https://newyork.thecityatlas.org/energetic/
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/nyregion/earth-day-energetic-game.html
A Cornell grad student is building a 'matches to the real world' database for the game:
https://energetic-xi.vercel.app/
Next: we want to do this for more cities. Interested? Contact me at: richard@thecityatlas.org
So great to see Energetic being so widely played, congrats Richard!
Daybreak is also implemented as an online game for 1 - 4 players on boardgamearena.com - our group meets every Saturday night and we keep saving the world each time. Fun to see geoengineering work out well in a few games!
Thanks Jim, that’s good to know there’s an online option! We didn’t dare to try geoengineering, I wanted to decarbonize fair + square and honestly the mechanics sounded complicated 🤪 but now I’m a bit curious to see how it works though still afraid of it! In Covid I played online games to stay connected with friends, but I prefer IRL personally. Happy playing!
Also the online ed does all the bookkeeping for you - saves counting all those little black cubes…
Hi Jim
Is it possible to see your saved worlds?
I'd really like to see which pieces have worked best - particularly the geoengineering approaches? There is an awful lot of CO2 that needs to go somewhere, and most discussed approaches don't deal with this sufficiently...
We're looking for more big hitters to put into Fairhaven
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R1578DMIRT26ED/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8
And I'm still a few short...
Hi Kim
Did you manage to 'win' Daybreak?
I played it 7-8 times with my daughter who is a hard core board games demon
And we didn't get close...
But I totally agree with your sentiment 'We Can Fix it!'
We wrote Fairhaven - A Novel of Climate Optimism, to address some of the challenges of climate anxiety and share a positive vision of a future we can aim for
Fairhaven follows the career of Grace Chan, a young Malaysian who has been personally impacted by the effects of climate disaster. In the late 2020s, she starts as a young engineer on a coastal protection project in Penang.
We've been making good progress with Fairhaven, a Novel of Climate Optimism, with the first sequel completed and ongoing efforts to make the 5 planned books into a TV series
It would be a pleasure to tell you more
Many thanks
Steve
Fairhaven - A Novel of Climate Optimism | Substack https://share.google/Ee0aDUE1qQJIa1Ajw
If you're struggling with Daybreak, there are some optional cards that improve your odds - things like drawing one extra card a turn, or having one extra "slot" to put projects in. After my first few losses I tried playing with those for a while, which finally won me some victories! That then gave me the chance to hone my strategies well enough to finally win without the bonus cards.
Thanks for the tip, Heather, that’s good to know! I would have loved an extra slot. It’s great to calibrate games to the right level where they feel challenging but possible. I can imagine house rules where players choose their handicap level to make it fun for everyone. My husband is a much better chess player than me so we’ve figured out how many pieces he has to remove from the start to make it feel like a fair fight for me! :)
Hi Steve, oh yikes 8 losses in a row sounds so disheartening! 😔 We won both games we played so far, maybe we just got lucky! I was very aggressive about being laser focused on decarbonizing. It feels like there’s a lot of room to try out and learn different strategies. Good luck with Fairhaven and thanks for being here!
Hi Kim
Our novel, Fairhaven contains a load of really big climate solutions, so we were keeping an eye out for approaches that were of the necessary scale.
On one hand it was reassuring that we'd already considered many of the things that were in the game - though I was hoping for a few big hitters that we could add to the sequels.
Do you have any favourites we could consider??
Post for Kim’s Community / Newsletter Comments
Subject: From "Board Games" to "Mass-Action Games": Moving the Climate Resilience Simulation to the Public Square
Hi Kim and everyone!
I loved the post about Daybreak. Board games are fantastic, but I often worry they risk becoming a "conscience-soother" in the safety of our living rooms. I’ve been working on a concept to take climate "play" into the streets—moving from Haha (the fun of gaming) to Aha! (the deep realization of our shared destiny).
With some creative help from Gemini, I've developed a "No-Equipment Mass Simulation" for 30 to 3,000 people. It’s designed for climate marches, schools, or city squares to help people move past climate fatigue and understand that collective insurance is our only real survival strategy.
I’d love for this community to test it, critique it, and help upgrade it!
🎲 The Game: "Collective Resilience" (Facilitator’s Guide)
Goal: Transform a passive crowd into an active community by simulating the transition from individual protection to collective insurance.
🛠 Setup
Participants: 30 – 3,000.
Equipment: One large die (or a phone app) and a megaphone.
Life Points: Each player starts with 5 lives (held up as 5 fingers on one hand). If you reach 0, you must sit down—you are a "climate casualty."
🏃 The 3 Choices (10 Seconds to decide each round)
The Umbrella (Individual Defense): Hands over your head. (Costs 1 life to prepare).
The Hot Cocoa (Consumption/Business as Usual): Hands out in front. (Costs 0 lives).
Collective Insurance (The Social Net): Groups of 4+ lock arms tightly. (Costs 1 life from each member to build the "infrastructure").
🎲 The Climate Event (Roll the Die)
Roll 1-4 (Sunny/Normal): * Umbrellas/Insurance lose 1 life (investment cost).
Hot Cocoa players lose nothing (they enjoyed the sun).
Roll 5 (Heavy Rain): * Umbrellas/Insurance are safe.
Hot Cocoa players lose 2 lives.
Roll 6 (Extreme Flood / Black Swan): * Umbrella: Failed! You were alone. Lose 4 lives.
Hot Cocoa: Total loss. Lose 5 lives (out of the game).
Collective Insurance (Locked Arms): The community absorbs the shock! Each member loses only 1 life.
🎤 Facilitator’s "Aha!" Script (The Debrief)
Once the crowd has thinned and many are sitting on the ground, stop the game and ask:
The "Haha" Phase: "In the first round, when someone lost points for drinking cocoa, we all laughed. It felt like a game, right?"
The "Aha" Phase: "Look around at those sitting down. When the '6' hit, those who tried to save themselves with an 'umbrella' realized that individual wealth isn't a shield against systemic collapse. Only those who locked arms are still standing."
The Call to Action: "Tomorrow, don't ask what umbrella you should buy. Ask whose arms you are going to lock with in your neighborhood. That is your only real insurance."
How to Help Upgrade This Game:
I'd love your feedback!
How can we make the "Locked Arms" mechanic more challenging or rewarding?
Should we introduce a "Government" player who can change the die's odds?
Any ideas for a "Heatwave" mechanic?
Let’s turn our climate marches into living laboratories for survival!
Hi Ofer, what a cool idea. I’ll see if I can find a way to play soon!
Appreciate the book rec! Have you read Ministry for the Future?
Hi Morgan, yes it’s a classic! But I loved New York 2140 by KSR even more, have you read that one?
Great board game recommendation. Will try that immediately.
Nice! Let me know what you think, and see the comments on this post for some great tips about playing online and adjusting the difficulty level!
I'm definitely a board game geek - and especially a climate board game geek! I've played some moderately well-known ones like Catan New Energies (https://www.catan.com/catan-new-energies), as well as some rather more obscure ones like Carbon City Zero (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/288179/carbon-city-zero - has both published version and print-and-play version), Tiny Footprint (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/253803/tiny-footprint), and Green House (https://www.greenhousegame.com/). But of all of them, Daybreak is definitely the hands-down winner in my book! It's a little on the complex side, but I've successfully taught it to family members who aren't quite as fond of complexity as I am :-), and it led to the absolute most nail-biting end of a game I think I've *ever* had! (We won!)
The reason I *had* to write a comment was in case you (and/or your other readers) aren't aware that you can play Daybreak completely free online! It's at Board Game Arena: https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=daybreak Most games there require a paid account, but Daybreak can be played free. I think there are a few restrictions, especially when it comes to multiplayer games, but I've played likely dozens of solo games with no issues being a free player. I like the physical version for playing with others, and because I can choose exactly which of the optional cards I want to play with, but I will admit the online version is *much* faster to set up and take down :-). (No issues running out of table space either :-).
Thanks for everything you do, and I hope you have many more fun evenings play Daybreak!
Hi Heather, haha good job engaging less geeky family members in board games, that’s a win already! Oooh I’m so curious about the nail-biting finish, sounds so fun! Thanks for the tips for other games, and great to know Daybreak is available free online! Table space was definitely a bit of an issue, I feel like the board could be smaller to make it fit better. Happy games nights to you too!
Subject: Beyond the Board: Why we need "Mass-Action" Climate Games in the public square
Dear Kim,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Daybreak. It’s a beautifully designed game, and I appreciate how it brings climate strategy to the living room. However, I’d like to offer a different perspective on the "action" part of climate games.
While board games are great for enthusiasts, they often risk becoming a "conscience-soother." We play, we feel like we’ve "solved" the crisis in a simulation, and then we return to our routines. To truly shift mindsets, I believe we need to move beyond the board and into the public square.
I am looking for—and trying to develop—climate games that can engage 30 to 3,000 people simultaneously in physical space. Instead of a traditional protest where people stand passively with signs, imagine a high-stakes, movement-based simulation in the city center.
I’m inspired by the "Serious Games" approach, like the Red Cross Climate Centre’s Paying for Predictions. We need activities that:
Require no cards or boards: Using only the participants' bodies and the physical environment.
Scale effortlessly: Works for a small classroom or a massive crowd.
Mirror real-world feedback: Each participant acts based on their own understanding, but can immediately see how the collective movement of 2,999 others affects their shared survival.
The goal is that anyone returning from such an event won't just say "I protested," but rather: "I realized through my own actions that if I don't change my behavior tomorrow, my existence is at stake."
Have you encountered any large-scale, "pervasive" games that successfully bridge this gap between play and urgent, real-world realization? I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can turn "climate marches" into "climate simulations" that actually stick.
Best regards,
ofer Keren -
if you have any idea please let me know -->> ofer@kerenrg.com
Great read! 🌍 I loved how this article makes the idea of climate action feel fun and engaging rather than overwhelming. Turning complex climate challenges into games — like the collaborative strategy game Daybreak — is such a smart way to help people learn, experiment, and think creatively about solutions. It’s inspiring to see how play and strategy can spark real insight into collaboration, system thinking, and the kind of collective action our world needs right now.
For anyone interested in more game-related content — including reviews, tips, and guides — check out https://www.thespikezgame.com/