A Serious Game for Climate Resilience
Resilience
by Design
Building Community Climate Readiness
A collaborative tabletop game focused on climate change planning, adaptation, and building resilience in your community. Work together to complete projects, achieve goals, and prepare for climate-related hazards.
Watch How to Play
Learn the basics of Resilience by Design in this quick video tutorial
Work as a Team!
Resilience by Design is a collaborative workshop experience that brings people together through an interactive game and wrap-around activities designed to spark connection, critical thinking, and shared problem-solving. From preparation to reflection, teams work side by side to practice building disaster and climate resilience. All components of the game and workshop are available under a CC BY-4.0 attribution license.
1
Co-Create Your Challenge
Together, select hazards relevant to your region, discuss local vulnerabilities, and co-create community resilience goals that reflect your shared values.
2
Play Together
Collaborate during a timed 1-hour session. Take resources, reserve projects, and complete them for points. Communicate openly and trade strategically to achieve your goals.
3
Measure Success
Calculate your team’s total score from completed projects and achieved goals. Did you meet or exceed your community target? Celebrate wins or discuss what could be improved.
4
Reflect & Apply
Debrief as a group. What strategies worked? What didn’t? Use the Community Resilience Planning Canvas to translate game insights into real-world climate action plans.
Game & Workshop Overview:
Select Your Climate Hazards
First, choose hazards relevant to your community. Each hazard increases your target score.
☀️
Extreme Heat & Heat Waves
Minor +2 | Major +5
🔥
Wildfire & Smoke
Minor +2 | Major +5
🌊
Riverine & Urban Flooding
Minor +2 | Major +5
🌊
Coastal Flooding & Storm Surge
Minor +2 | Major +5
🏜️
Drought & Water Scarcity
Minor +2 | Major +5
🌀
Storm Events & High Winds
Minor +2 | Major +5
🌿
Ecosystem Disruption & Biodiversity Loss
Minor +2 | Major +5
Choose Your Roles
Then, select 4 of 7 available roles to sit at the table. Each has unique abilities and trade powers to contribute to the team.
Local Government
Reserve up to 4 projects. Convert Materials to Volunteers.
Local Authority
Reserve up to 4 projects. Convert Materials to Volunteers.
Business & Industry
Pay less Funding on Level 2-3 projects. Draw random tokens.
Infrastructure Owners
Pay less Materials on Level 2-3 projects. Draw random tokens.
First Nations
Treat Knowledge as Political Will. Bonus points on combined costs. No Wild Aid cap.
Province
Take 4 different tokens. Program Transfer ability.
Community
Treat Volunteers as Materials. Gain Knowledge on Volunteer projects.
Gather Your Resources
Throughout play, you’ll collect and trade these six types of resources to complete projects and build community resilience together.
Volunteers
Blue
Knowledge
Green
Funding
Red
Materials
Yellow
Political Will
Black
Wild Aid
Gold (Wild)
Complete Projects Together
Work as a team to complete projects that earn points and permanent bonuses. Higher levels cost more but give greater rewards.
Level 1 — Local Capacity
Low-cost foundational actions. 1–3 resources, 0–1 points, 1 permanent bonus.
Level 2 — Scaling Capacity
Coordinated multi-sector initiatives. 3–5 resources, 1–2 points, 1–2 permanent bonuses.
Level 3 — Resilient Systems
High-impact infrastructure and policy frameworks. 8–9 resources across 3 types, 3–4 points, 1 permanent bonus. 5 hazard-specific decks. Pick 2 for 24 cards in play.
In Action
See some examples of Resilience by Design in action.
Selecting project cards during play
Province player mat mid-game
Four-player workshop table
Workshop session in progress
Host a Workshop
Interested in running Resilience by Design with your community, organization, or local government? The RBD Lab can help you facilitate a successful workshop experience.
Ready to Build Resilience?
Learn the rules and start playing with your community today.