Playful Pandemic: Corona in Bleibhausen
Playing through the corona pandemic: Six scientists have developed a board game together with the Institute of Science and Technology in Klosterneuburg (IST Austria). It is available free of charge and shows how viruses spread.
It is a beautiful spring day when two residents of the small town of Bleibhausen return from a skiing holiday. What they don’t know: they have been infected with the new NOSO virus (NOch-SO-ein-Virus) during their holiday. Only after three days do they feel ill and stay at home. This is how the instructions for the game “Virusalarm in Bleibhausen” begin. In it, players either analyse the course of a virus outbreak as scientists (Simulation game variant). Or they contain the outbreak as politicians without bringing public life to a standstill (Challenge game variant). Every day, they must decide which buildings to close and which to keep open. Closed buildings result in penalty points, while healthy residents earn victory points. In both variants, players work with tables, data sheets and diagrams. In the Simulation variant, they must also discuss specific topics using question cards.
“The game allows you to follow the spread of a virus in fast motion. This makes it easier for children to understand what is happening and why we need to act. It also provides an opportunity for discussion with friends, teachers and their own parents. This way, children may feel a little less alone and overwhelmed by the situation,” says Hildegard Uecker from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology.
Making the corona lockdown understandable for young people
The game emerged from a spontaneous collaboration. During the first corona lockdown, the friendly scientists thought about how to make the situation understandable for children or young people. At the same time, a scientific approach such as data analysis was to be conveyed. From initial sketches with paper scraps, the idea of a board game was developed at IST Austria, which was repeatedly tested and revised. Funding from the Robert Bosch Foundation made the production of the game possible.
The authors got involved in the development for different reasons. “In a time when various ‘expert’ opinions are circulating unfiltered, I believe it is crucial to give the general public tools to understand data and think critically about it. The game shows how scientific simulations can support political decisions. Above all, it trains critical and quantitative thinking about the real world, which is incredibly important for processing daily news,” says Florence Bansept from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology.
Magdalena Steinrück, IST Austria, adds: “Corona has once again made it clear that as a society we cannot afford to inspire only the few highly interested young people for science. We need a broad, informed public that can understand basic scientific connections and evaluate arguments based on them. When the others approached us with the idea of the game, we were excited to help develop it.”
Use in the classroom
The game is aimed at young people aged twelve and over and is also intended for use in the classroom, for example in biology, mathematics, philosophy or social learning. According to Steinrück, children often quickly noticed that some aspects of the game were unrealistic or immediately made suggestions on how to make the game more realistic with additional rules. For this reason, the game is suitable for discussing the current situation in class and raising awareness of certain measures. At the same time, the limitations of simulations and models become visible.
“Virusalarm in Bleibhausen” is available free of charge as a game-in-an-envelope for private individuals, school classes and other groups in a limited edition. It can also be downloaded at ist.ac.at/de/ausbildung/ist-fuer-kinder/virusalarm/ .