The Closed-System Game:

An Urban Planning Simulation

Grade Level: 9 - 12

This simulation was developed by The American Forum for Global Education and its predecessor organizations, Global Perspectives in Educations and the Center for Peace Studies, with the aid of a federal grant and is, therefore, in the public domain. The activity appears in its complete form. We encourage you to download this information and use it in your classes.

Instructor Manual

This simulation involves students in the complexities and consequences of planning--both socioeconomic planning and environmental planning. The basic challenge is simple and provides a roughly valid image of the real world. Players strive to improve the quality of their lives without destroying the quality of their environment.

Some of the players will be "winners." As developers of resources, as producers, and as consumers, they will begin to pile up material advantages. Others will find their individual plans thwarted by such forces as inflation, stiff competition, and bad luck.

Some participants--in the roles of environmental planners--will try to take a system-wide view of the action. Their concern will be to alert others to danger signals relating to the overall quality of life. As production and consumption increases, they will measure the impact on environmental quality and try to persuade individuals to plan or to act with greater restraint in order to preserve the total system.

Read through the Instructor Manual and the Student Manual carefully; review all the tables mentioned in the Student Manual. Although the game does require some advance planning and some simple materials, the dynamics of play are easy and the students will quickly get caught up in them. Since those playing the roles of the various environmental planners will have much to do with managing the simulation, you may want to select particular students for some of these positions.

As with all simulations, the debriefing session following the game is an essential part of the experience.

Game Equipment

1. Student Manual and Tables--one set to each student passed out at least one day in advance.
2. Blank sheets/pads of paper for making work tokens.
3. Role cards for identification.
4. Safety pins for attaching role cards.
5. Raw materials cards--colored 3 x 5 note cards and paper clips. For a group of 25-35 people, the following amounts are needed: yellow 200; white 250; orange 200; paper clips 300; green 250.
6. Money units for paying income (units of 5, 20, 50, and 100). Make as many small "bills" as needed, or use any appropriate tokens. Money paid by resource developers for mining is recycled to the bank to pay consumers for work tokens.
7. Quality of Life tokens. (Use any tokens different from money units.)
8. Four magic markers of different colors for producers.
9. Magic marker to label players.
10. A pair of dice.
11. A stamp, "For Deposit Only," and stamp pad to invalidate consumption of market basket goods. (Not essential.)
12. Accounting sheets for environmental planners. (Reproduce Tables 7, 8, 9, 10 in Student Manual. Multiple copies of 7 and 9--one for each round--will be needed; one copy of 8 and 10 will probably be sufficient for the entire game.)
13. Room layout diagram.

Time Needed

Two separate playing sessions (Session I and Session 11), from one to five class periods. A day or more before play begins, take time to explain the game and assign roles to students. You can continue the game as long as it seems dynamic and moving. As a minimum, students should go through at least two trading periods.

Number of Players: 25 or more.

Materials Samples

(Please note: this graphics file is 65KB.)

To Play the Game:

STEP 1: At least one day before play, distribute a copy of the game manual to everyone. Assign roles and ask each player to circle his or her role in the manual. Roles at the beginning of the game are as follows:

Environmental Planners (6)

• Mine site operator
• Banker
• Resource reporter
• Recycling planner
• Product reporter
• Environmental monitor

Resource Developers (5)

• Mineral developer
• Farm developer
• Oil developer
• Water developer
• Forest developer

Producers (4)

• Food producer
• Fuel producer
• Shelter producer
• Clothing producer

Consumers

Divide the remainder of the players evenly into six groups which will be labeled a, b, c, d, e, and f.

STEP 2: Assemble the game equipment listed and arrange the room according to the diagram. Begin with a small amount of "scrap" as described in the game manual.

STEP 3: On game day, distribute role name tags to everyone. Start players in their roles in this order:

1. Environmental planners. Environmental planners will need most coaching. Go over their roles with them to make sure they understand what they should do.
2. Resource developers. Give them $40 each.
3. Producers. They also receive $40 each. Distribute different colored pens (magic markers), one color per product, to producers.
4. Consumers. Give them a few blank work tokens at a time, on which they should print "WORK" in block letters. Warn them that making large amounts of tokens works against them because a surplus increases demand and therefore drives up prices.

The resource developers and producers should have time for the development of products before the consumers begin, to avoid inflation early in the game.

STEP 4: The game, once under way, proceeds in 10-15 minute "trading periods" timed by the environmental monitor.

STEP 5: As the game progresses, you may notice supply inadequacies and monopolistic practices. These are caused in part by too few producers or resource developers. Once players are familiar with the game, you can transfer consumers to roles where shortages exist and/or allow producers and developers to diversify, working on more than one resource or product.

STEP 6: Stop the game at intervals to allow the environmental planners to complete their calculations and report on the "State of the System." Close raw materials sources while this is going on. Before reopening markets, planners should make whatever announcements they feel necessary. These should include changes in prices, amounts, and quality of life as measured by "Q."

STEP 7: At the end of Session I, allow time for discussion of the following questions:

1. Who thinks this game is fair? Why or why not?
2. What is happening to the quality of life? To prices? To supplies?
3. Is anyone listening to the environmental planners? Why or why not? Do they have good plans?
4. What new policies might help make things better? How can we make the new policies work?

Encourage players to begin the second session with some new policies in mind.

STEP 8: At the end of the game, direct the follow-up discussion toward what happened to the quality of life and how well the results reflect real life. Have each of the four groups (planners, developers, producers, consumers) meet separately to answer the following questions. Then bring everyone together for reports from each group and a general discussion.

1. What "successful" strategies were used by people in your group? Was individual success linked with improvement in the general quality of life, measured by "Q"? What would happen to the game if people went on playing it like this indefinitely?
2. Did the policies decided on after Session I work for your group? Why or why not? What problems did your group have with other parts of the system?
3. What were the main reasons for the decline in "Q" (inflation, shortage of resources, price squeezes)? How would you change the game to reduce these problems?
4. How do you think the quality of life would be influenced by a steady increase in population? Think about what factors would be affected, and why.
5. To what extent do you think the game reflects the real world? Make a simple chart with two columns--"Reflects Reality" and "Does Not Reflect Reality." Fill it in with as many items as you can. What is "salvageable" from the game? Did you learn anything that is helpful for understanding and improving our own system?

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