Lemonade… when life gives you lemons

A Board Game to facilitate conversations amongst young people about plausible futures and inequalities

Coastal youth often find themselves devoid of local prospects, presenting challenges in envisioning and strategizing for their upcoming years. In response, we embarked on the development of an earnestly designed game, 'Lemonade... when life gives you lemons,' fostering dialogues with the youth concerning their futures within a dynamic, playful, and supportive framework. The game aims to encourage unconventional and playful contemplation of the future for young individuals.

Crafted to aid young people in contemplating plausible life paths, our game operates by sparking discussions about their potential futures. It takes into account social, economic, and health disparities, all within an entertaining setting. Reflecting reality, players endeavor to reach the board's center symbolizing their ideal future. Progress entails collaborative efforts to collect resources (health and wellness tokens) to surmount increasingly challenging obstacle cards. At the start of each turn, players receive tokens based on unique character cards, establishing individual token 'entitlements' reflecting the unequal starting points in real life.

Distinctively lacking a pre-set narrative, the game empowers young participants to construct their narratives based on cards, drawing from personal experiences to explore future opportunities and challenges. As a byproduct, researchers gain insights into the aspirations and hurdles faced by young individuals. The game's engagement not only enriches the researchers' understanding but also provides them with more profound qualitative data.

The team has recently showcased the game at the GALA conference in November 2023 and published a paper with the background research.

You can read the conference paper here: “Balancing Inequalities: A Board Game for Young People from Coastal Communities to Discuss Plausible Futures“