Players of Catan may think they have enough to worry about when trying to rapidly develop their settlements and cities in order to achieve victory over their friends and family. But now players of Catan: New Energies have to worry about a very real-world problem: environmental destruction.A new version of Catan is taking on climate change
"It feels to us as if how we fuel our homes, cars, how we make electricity, it's something which we all need to be aware of," Benjamin Teuber, who developed the new game with his late father, Klaus Teuber, told"Of course, there is a story in the game, and it's about which energy do you want to use in the end. But you're free to choose."
In the new game, there's a catch. Players can choose to build with fossil fuels, which is easier but comes with risks. Or they can choose to build with clean energy, which takes more resources, but won't harm their production of resources down the road."The game is, of course, simplified. That has to be the case for games. They always break down reality into a manageable system because reality is hyper-complex," said Teuber.
And it's not just climate change — board games have tackled other social issues, too. In 2019, Hasbro released a gameSteven Edmonds, far right, plans on getting a copy of Catan: New Energies for his board game café, The Bard and Bear in Hamilton. Edmonds says while a game's theme can be what gets people to pull a game off the shelf, at the end of the day, it's a game's mechanics and enjoyableness that keep people coming back to play.
Edmonds saw Catan: New Energies demoed at a trade show recently. He says he plans on buying a copy so people can give it a try at The Bard and Bear.