RiverLand
A serious game for cleaner waterways
About the Game
Riverlands is a serious game designed by Noria, under the Interreg North Sea project, TREASURE, co-funded by the European Commission, to spread awareness and educate about plastic pollution in the water. By taking on different roles, you will learn about diverse challenges in plastic pollution and discuss possible applications of solutions to the real world.
The Purpose
This Serious game turns the complexity of plastic pollution into an interactive learning experience. Players can take on different stakeholder roles, make investments, respond to real-world scenarios and experience how prevention, monitoring, clean-up and cooperation influence the health of a water system.
How to play Riverland
In Riverland, players take on different roles in a shared water system, such as water manager, city representative or regional authority. Each role has its own goals, budget and responsibilities.
The game is played over five rounds. In each round, new plastic enters the water, scenarios create unexpected challenges, and players take turns choosing actions. They can invest in infrastructure, draw cards, play action, research or prevention cards, and remove plastic from the system.
As the game progresses, plastic moves through the waterways and affects key values such as water quality, water level, shipping access and citizen satisfaction. Players win by keeping their own KPIs high while reducing plastic in their region and the sea. The game shows that no single player can solve the plastic problem alone: cooperation is essential.
Download the Game
Download the Instruction
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