Rice Up centres on a community of rice farmers who must make all sorts of choices that affect the sustainable future of their village. Everyday choices, such as: do I send my children to school or let them work on the land, do I use pesticides, do I take out a loan from the bank? And less everyday choices, when unexpected events occur, such as a flood.
All these choices are linked to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which are about creating a fairer, more sustainable world. You’d think everyone would want that, but the path to that world is fraught with dilemmas, as Rice Up demonstrates.
From a university project to a business
Marieke van Hoof and Willem Bennenbroek were second-year bachelor’s students when they began working as student assistants on the development of the game. Recently, they have completed their master’s degrees and have set up a company to take Rice Up to market, starting with secondary schools. This summer, the young entrepreneurs signed a licence agreement with Radboud University: as the game was developed at the university’s expense, it receives 2 per cent of Rice Up’s gross revenue.
‘We offer a workshop in which we always play the game with pupils. Depending on their prior knowledge, this workshop can be expanded to include an introduction to the Sustainable Development Goals. And there’s also time for reflection after the game. So it’s a flexible package, for a workshop lasting between 1.5 and 4 hours.’
Complexity calls for cooperation
What Marieke observes in practice is that, in the first round of the game, pupils are often primarily motivated to make money and, to that end, make decisions that are beneficial in the short term. In subsequent rounds, it gradually becomes clearer that long-term goals and long-term profits require more patience and, above all, more cooperation. ‘It’s wonderful to see how, whilst playing, the pupils gain a better understanding of the interconnections and complexity of the SDGs, and that, at the same time, their willingness to work together increases.’
