March 25, 2021 – One of the biggest names in board gaming has something new. Pandemic designer Matt Leacock takes on climate crisis. The man who has designed the game about working together to solve an impending worldwide disaster has created other award-winning titles like the Forbidden Island Series and Roll Through The Ages.
There is no publisher or release date yet, but the New York Times did a great interview with Matt Leacock and that shows off the Medium site that was setup to share information on the game and design process. Here are a few of the posts with tons of information:
Climate Crisis: The Origins Story
Climate Crisis: The Game In A Nutshell
Climate Crisis: Design Choices
Pandemic has players working together to move around a map to eliminate viruses popping up in different cities. This type of game has become its own genre, whack-a-mole-race-against-time or WHAMRAT. Even though Pandemic originally came out in 2008, it is still a gold standard in this genre and an easy choice for the list of the best cooperative board games.
If even a little of that gold can be found in this new title, the world is in for a treat.
See the section from the New York Times Interview that describes the game:
As it stands, Climate Crisis (which is still in development) involves four players taking on the roles of the United States, Europe, China and the Global South, with the collective goal of lowering greenhouse gas emissions so that the Earth’s temperature stops increasing.
The game proceeds in rounds, representing four-year periods, from the present day to 2050. In each round, players lay down cards representing emissions-cutting policies, such as building solar power plants or increasing food waste recycling. Their carbon totals are represented by brown cubes that get piled up in the middle of the board, and red counters move along a cartoon thermometer as the Earth’s temperature goes up.
Leacock said he was trying to make the game scientifically accurate by seeking feedback from experts, such as the four Climate Center employees who played on Saturday. “I don’t want to be the climate dude who comes in and says, ‘Hey, I know the answer,’” he said.
