Serious Games Information Center

The Fishing Game

The Fishing Game addresses the handling of scarce resources, economic behaviour and coordination processes with others, and deals with topics such as dealing with common goods, ethics and morals, handling scarce resources, the common goods vs. personal profit and much more. It thus joins a series of simulation games on the topic of overfishing (Fishbanks by Dennis Meadows, Fish Pond by iconomix/UCS Markus Ulrich), which focus on the topic of common goods with a similar game mechanism. The target user group comprises individuals aged 12 and over from all sectors, professions and social classes. The game deals with a severe problem of sustainability and can therefore be described as a serious game. Four companies are located at a pond from which they can take fish. Initially, they only have one fishing rod at their disposal. Over the course of the rounds, the revenue generated can be used to buy more boats with or without fishing conditions. Market and price developments as well as fish stocks must always be considered. The game was developed by Molleindustria for the Allied Media Conference 2013 and is freely available.

UBONGO Flow Game

The UBONGO Flow Game is based on the classic UBONGO Game, in which players quickly place geometric shapes on a board in a similar way to Tangrams. The first player to fit the correct pieces into the given space on the board wins. The UBONGO Flow Game is an analogue serious game with a learning focus that uses materials from the original game. The only adopted element is the mechanism of placing pieces on a mould. However, the participants work together in teams with distributed roles and have an extended task (work packages) to be completed. The game simulates the effects of process changes on results. Project work with several workstations is developed further over three rounds by gradually optimising processes to create a more agile and open system. It is for high school students aged 14 and over, university students and a corporate training context. The design is characterised by a clear definition of roles, with processes of continuous optimisation in each round. Participants recognise the significance of effective collaboration on outcomes. It is based on the LEGO® Flow Game, developed by Karl Scotland and Sallyann Freudenberg in 2014, refined by Jan Fischbach in 2016.

Transaction

“Transaction” is a web- and browser-based business simulation whose development began in 2014. It was designed to give students in bachelor’s programs in economics and industrial engineering the opportunity to actively participate as part of a value chain throughout the entire semester. Participants act as executives of a virtual company and improve their performance by applying the knowledge they have acquired during their studies in a practical setting. All actions within the simulation are automatically recorded and evaluated, providing students with continuous, personalized feedback on their learning progress.

Swiss Island®

Swiss Island® is a coach-supported, stochastic, and turn-based business game that simulates project implementation under uncertain conditions. Its thematic focus lies on project management and agile organizations, with the main objective of training participants to analyze, communicate, and make decisions situationally. Target groups are individuals in project management and Scrum-related roles, including project managers, team leads, consultants, and students with basic knowledge and first project experience. Unlike deterministic simulations, Swiss Island® introduces unpredictable situations that mirror real-world dynamics and apply the principles of Experiential Learning (Kolb, 1984). Participants assume roles such as sponsor, project manager, steering committee, or subcontractor and must collaborate to complete a project within the given framework. The game is available both physically, on a dedicated board, and digitally, in predictive (waterfall), hybrid, and agile versions. Swiss Island® was developed in 2017 by Rüdiger Geist and has since been used internationally in higher education and professional training.

carlowitz-simulation-game

Carlowitz Simulation Game – Growing with Trees The objective of the game is to manage wood resources skillfully and with a forward-looking approach—that is, to cultivate trees in a way that increases their value, to broker and trade wood in a tailored manner, and to use wood in ways that generate benefits. It is based on Carlowitz’s sustainability model and simulates economic decisions regarding the cultivation, trade, and use of wood. Learning objectives include understanding selected mechanisms of sustainable forestry and the timber industry, as well as acting independently from the perspectives of both forest managers and customers. In its design, market- and competition-based as well as transformative approaches to strong sustainability are guided through scenarios and events. Action-oriented and participant-focused principles lead to a combined didactic approach featuring tactile-analog and digital elements; this allows for shifting perspectives to foster self-awareness. A debriefing session for reflective critique rounds out the game phases. The carlowitz simulation game is designed to impart knowledge, foster practical skills, and bring about sustainable behavioral changes in real life. It combines turn-based game mechanics with transformative learning objectives, utilizes methodological approaches from simulation game pedagogy, and relies on real-life problems to enable direct transfer of learning.