Can a Game Help Us Transform Culture?

Drawn from our experiences in our previous work around decolonisation processes, healing and ritual spaces for groups, that allow them to build trust and go deep together, the idea for the Cultural Transformation Game came in a flash during Eva Schonveld and Anahí Beatriz Pacheco’s road trip through the wild parts of Scotland. Both of them are part of the Cultural Transformation Circle (CTC), one of the working circles of the shared governance structure of the international scale of the Transition Movement, today TNi. Celebrating that the CT game is a collaboration with Grassroots to Global (G2G), one of many new collaborations between TNi and other aligned organisations. Since then, our team piloted the game through several iterations in events and spaces hosted by the CTC.

The game brings a flavour of how ‘inner transition’ is expressed in many places, and was inspired especially by the worldview of the south of the Abya Yala territory (America’s name before colonisation), which is closely related to what we call systemic thinking and collective wisdom today.

In the uncertain and challenging times we’re living through, we need creative tools to develop greater awareness to be able to transform and adapt to a changing world. This game is a tool intended to help understand the personal and social cultures we have grown up in, and to support us to sense and reflect about new ways of being human together. It helps individuals, communities and organisations to explore the new cultures that are being born from the ashes of our dying civilization, giving us the opportunity to think and feel deeply into some of the building blocks of human culture and helps to restore a collective field of love, trust, connection, respect and awareness of our interdependence with all Life. 

Although there are many ways to play, in brief, the game begins by choosing a cultural concept (see image below, in design the first card deck) and then exploring our connections and reflections on it together, taking turns in a circle, in deep listening with one another and with ourselves. Each round offers a different way of engaging with the concept, and every now and then we draw a magic moment card (from the second deck) to bring us back into the present moment and to invite the collective field of a new human culture to emerge through us.

Over the course of 2024 and 2025, we have been developing the infrastructure of the game, we received support and feedback from TNi team members and played pilot games in person and online with several of the international Hubs. We added more playful elements for it to feel more like a ‘game’ and tightened up the different ways the game can be played. The feedback we have had from groups has been overwhelmingly positive, with players reporting that they were struck by the depth, warmth and sense of meaning gained through the sharings it enabled.

“I really enjoyed it!! The game brought to the surface feelings that I hadn't been accessing and that are repetitive in various situations in my life. Without a doubt, a revealing and important game! Thank you!!”  - Thereza, Granja Viana initiative, Brazil hub. 

“I celebrate the opportunity to make space to have real discussions that matter. Our western culture is built on knowing and sharing what is informed/correct/true but we rarely get an explicit opportunity just to share what we think might be or how we have experienced a [cultural] concept. Above all connection and relationship is central to the human experience and this enables a space for that…  I was surprised how effective it was. For me though I believe that this would be even more powerful in a conducive, personal, face to face environment. I think that could feel very nurturing and liberating”. - Paul, Australia hub.

What's next

Due to our full schedules, the work has been fairly slow, but we are now ready to move on to the next phase of the idea, which is to engage a graphic designer and create a set of guides and materials which will enable groups to play the game for themselves.

In the coming year, we intend to continue playing the game to deepen and expand our understanding of the many ways it can be used, and of the different kinds of communities it could be introduced to. We also plan to develop a simple set of facilitation tips to support those who would like to play within their own communities.

Become part of the journey

If you'd like to play the game with us, please reach out, we'd be happy to share it with you: inner@transitionnetwork.org. To play we need between 6 to 8 participants, if you are part of a group, community or organization just contact us to organise a date. If you are reaching out just for yourself, send us your email and we will invite you to our next game cycle.

We welcome your support for our work of the Cultural Transformation Circle in the form of a one time donation or monthly support. Thanks!!