Kampala Yénkya is a collaborative storytelling game exploring climate futures in a Ugandan context. It is a game of mapmaking and worldbuilding, which invites players to use their imagination to imagine the future of Kampala, while learning about climate change along the way. Get it here.
It was created by game designer Jo Lindsay Walton in collaboration with science fiction writer Dilman Dila, environmental scientists Polina Levontin and Maurice Ssebisubi, and graphic designer Jana Kleineberg. The worldbuilding is based on the five stories by Dilman Dila developed for the project. You can read, listen and watch Dilman Dila narrate the stories here:
- First Day At Work
- The Return of the Migrant Stork
- The Nsenene Farm
- The Fisherman
- The Mystery of the Swamp
In the Global North, games and science fiction have longstanding links with futures research, and more recently have developed a strong connection with climate futures, education and behaviour change. By contrast, African speculative cultures are underutilised and under-theorised in the context of adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. Children in Kampala who became involved with this project have encountered such games for the first time.
Kampala Yénkya evolved through several rounds of playtesting in four of Kampala’s secondary schools. Maurice Ssebisubi, an environmental scientist, an educator and a founder of the Uganda Youth for the Environment clubs, coordinated the games that involved nearly two hundred students. His invaluable insights helped ensure that the game is responsive to local climate information needs while being fun and enjoyable to play.
The game is illustrated by graphic artist Jana Kleineberg. The design envisions that the text will be translated into local languages and adapted for other cities and rural settings. We invite the participants to play the game and to consider how it might be rewritten for different African contexts.
Which version is for me?
Kampala Yénkya: Oracle Edition. Download and print it out. You can play the game with an ordinary deck of playing cards.
Kampala Yénkya: Deluxe Edition. Specially printed cards. A copy can be made freely available to any educator based in Uganda (while stocks last) upon request. Please contact j.c.walton@sussex.ac.uk.
Kampala Yénkya: Deluxe Edition (buy the cards). Purchase the cards from Printer Studio, and print the rulebook here.
Kampala Yénkya, the book edition.
Out now! Includes stories by Dilman Dila, activities, puzzles and games co-created with the Uganda Youth for the Environment. Read the introduction by Wole Talabi here. Download the whole book as a PDF below.
Imagine Alternatives gratefully acknowledges the support of:
PASTRES (Pastoralism, Uncertainty, Resilience: Global Lessons from the Margins), funded by the European Research Council (ERC) (Grant No. 70432), co-hosted by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and the European University Institute (EUI); The Sussex Sustainability Research Programme; The Sussex Digital Humanities Lab and Sad Press Games.