New SUM Game | a Prototype in the Works

MING Spring 2023

Statement:

Dear Regional Co-Community Members,

This is a reimagined version of a very popular game about settlement and resource management. This version of it has been created to this extent as part of a group show that’s been hatched in the Eco-Geo-Glyphic Observatory (EGG), cared for by Teal Gardener, at MING Studios in Boise, Idaho. The game board shows an aerial view of Ada and Canyon counties, bordered in part by the Payette River. Photos were taken from the window seat of a flight headed to Portland this past November. The Blues Mountain range and the mountains just outside of Portland are standing in for the portion of the Rockies that create the basin we are situated in. We are living in the arid-high desert. Our growable land area is rapidly being developed for housing. Our way of life here also depends on food, supplies, and stuff that arrives via truck, plane, and rail.

Players and viewers, I’m counting on a big dose of inspiration from the book A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster.

Rebecca Solnit’s excellent research and interpretation that humans have an incredible capacity for altruism in the face of emergency gives me hope.

In this game, we are facing the challenges of rapid development, displacement for many due to housing inaccessibility, rising food costs, and a monumental set of related impacts and tensions socially and economically. Grim as all that sounds, this game provides conversation-starting situations, that invite players to freely imagine a profoundly different trajectory than the one we have been on. Some of this game is directly inspired by Indigenous Peoples of these continents, who have lived in these regions for time immemorial, following a way of life that is holistic and regards plants, all creatures, the land, water, and air as family. There is a multitude of opportunities here to work from our inherent compassion for each other--with precious resources, possibilities, and respect for all non-human life who are a part of this region with us.

Sincerely,

Mary K

Contributed Work Includes:

Situation Cards & Challenges
Rules-in-Adaptation
Custom Game Pieces
Regional Game Board Draft

Collaborative Components:

Tally Sheet
Ideas & Innovations

Feedback from this showing will heavily influence the further development and shaping of this game!

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Special thanks to Jordon who built the board for me and introduced me to the original game!