What about the futures?
An educational game about the futures mindset
What about the futures?
The futures are ahead of us. Do you ever think about the futures, about what might happen in a few years or what your personal futures could look like? In our futures game we want you to think, discuss and argue about future scenarios. You might know it already, but you have influence on your own personal futures as well as the futures of the entire world.
When downloading the game you’ll find a version in english and dutch, both containing
a set of playing cards
a rule book
a guide to the educational goals of the game
dice to print and cut out (optional)
Explore the Themes
Explore different themes throughout the game and figure out what future scenarios could lie ahead. Will it be all sunshine and rainbows? Or are we destined to crumble as society keeps growing?
In this edition of What about the Futures? we cover a variety of different themes. Click on them to learn what they’re all about.
Achievements to unlock
The main goal of the game is to engage more people in futures thinking and adopting a more futures-oriented mindset. To help achieve this, we have defined a number of pedagogical goals for players of the game.
Teach students the right skills that they will need in their futures, by having them answer questions that require them to use these skills.
Make students resilient for our ever-changing society by teaching the skills above and by teaching them how to anticipate different future possibilities.
Teach students to think about all the possible futures of our society, by using questions that stimulate them to look at different perspectives.
Show students that there is no single fixed future, but rather multiple possible futures, by asking open-ended questions that have endless answers and that reveal multiple possible futures.
Teach students how to anticipate possible futures by presenting different scenarios where students can actively think about and then attempt to form an answer.
Teach students how they could have an impact on possible futures by making them think about preferable and preventable futures and how they can influence them.
Encourage students to think about current and future challenges that affect their lives by asking questions about 5 modern themes: technology, climate, education, privacy and societal challenges.
How To Play
Roll the dice!
Roll the dice to decide which theme you will explore next.
Read your card.
Each card can contain a different method of exploration. Which one did you get?
Play in the dirt.
Explore a possible future. Go as deep as you can and put your mind to the test!
What you’ll be facing…
Meet the team
Céline Delaere
Simon Tanghe
Jens Vandenputte
Thijs Geerts
Thomas Juvyns
Charlotte Van Maele
We are six students in the field of social agogic work, studying at Vives University College in the city of Kortrijk. Our team consists of experts in applied psychology (Jens & Simon), orthopedagogy (Céline) and societal safety (Charlotte, Thijs & Thomas).
The development of this game has been the core business of our bachelor thesis where we aimed to better integrate a futures mindset into the current education system. When downloading the game, feel free to check out our “research” folder for a closer look at our findings.
Special thanks to our bachelor thesis coach Thomas D’hooge.
Play for yourself an find out what else could lie ahead!
A word from our target audience
“Original and very fun game!”
— Babette, 15 years old
“I gained a new perspective on my possible futures.”
— Amandine, 14 years old