Institute For The Future

2010 Map of the Decade: Connect Four Game Master Guide

 

Do you remember the game from the 1970s, Connect Four? Originally published by Milton Bradley (now owned by Hasbro), the game was played on a vertical board of sorts, with black and red checker-like pieces. To win the original game of Connect Four, you needed to connect four of the same color pieces in a row, a column, or diagonally. Once one “Connect Four” is made, the game is over.

 

 

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For IFTF’s version, the Game Board is the 2010 Map of the Decade. The game pieces are called Goal Cards, and are customized by the individual players during each turn. There are three main types of Goal Cards: 1) Resilience, 2) Happiness, and 3) Legacy. Within Legacy, there are two variations, both of which must be played every time you play a Legacy Goal Card: A) What can I do today? B) What will the kids say?

You and your fellow players can create as many “Connect Fours” within one game as you can manage—challenge yourself and others! 

Goal: Increase Resilience, Happiness, and Legacy. Period. 

To Win the Game: Make the most “Connect Fours”—in any direction: vertical, horizontal, diagonal, 3D—using the same Goal Card (whether Resilience, Happiness, or Legacy). 

 

 

What you need to play…

• One (1) 2010 Map of the Decade Game Board
• Three (3) main types of Goal Cards to write on. These can be Post-it notes, 3”x5” index cards plus tape, or anything else about that size that you can stick to the Game Board. You could use a different color Post-it or index card for each type of Goal Card. Or indicate goal type with initials/text, such as: R, H, L: today, L: tomorrow. One set each of:
  • Resilience
  • Happiness
  • Legacy (must include both “What can I do today?” + “What will the kids say?”)
• Pens
• People!

 

 

 

 

How to play…

 

Work as a group for a collective win with your friends, family, coworkers. Or work individually in competition with them—either way works!

 

1. Familiarize yourself with the 2010 Map of the Decade Game Board (five forecasts and four scenarios create a grid matrix—see Forecasts and Scenarios in the Terms section below for a brief introduction).

2. Choose a Goal Card and write a strategy for that goal that addresses the dilemma of a particular square on the Game Board. Goal Card types are:

 

• Resilience  
• Happiness
• Legacy (“What can I do today” + “What the kids will say”)

NOTE: Whenever you play a Legacy Goal Card, you MUST play both parts: “What can I do today” + “What the kids will say.”

3. Once you have written a strategy for your selected square on the Game Board, write and connect more Goal Card strategies using the same goal (whether Resilience, Happiness, or Legacy). You may connect them by moving up, down, diagonally, or even in 3D.

• Remember, each Goal Card within a specific “Connect Four” must repeatedly use the same goal.

4. Upon making your first Connect Four, yell out “Connect Four!”

5. Now chose another square from Game Board and begin a new Connect Four.

6. Repeat!

7. Make as many Connect Fours as possible. 

NOTE: Additional game instructions can be found on the back of the 2010 Map of the Decade, including suggestions on crafting strategies to write on your Goal Cards. 

 

Terms

Strategies: For building Resilience, Happiness, or Legacy within a specific Forecast plus Scenario combination. Strategies are the “how-to” ideas you write onto each Goal Card. Strategies usually start with a verb, as in: “Create low-cost diets that enhance bio-chemical happiness.” 

 

Goal Cards: Resilience, Happiness, and Legacy Post-it notes (or 3"x5" index cards, etc.) used for actual game play. Our goal is to increase Resilience, Happiness, and Legacy within all of the different scenarios.

 

Square: Scenario square on the actual 2010 Map of the Decade Game Board.

 

Game Board: A copy of the 2010 Map of the Decade—a 4x5 grid, with the five forecasts displayed as vertical columns and the four scenarios displayed as horizontal rows, creating a matrix.

 

Forecasts: The five forecasts from the 2010 Ten-Year Forecast:

    1. The Carbon Economy

    2. The Water Ecology

    3. Adaptive Power

    4. Cities in Transition

    5. Molecular Identity

 

Scenarios: The four scenarios described in the 2010 Ten-Year Forecast:

    1. Growth: One Step Ahead of Disaster

    2. Constraint: Sustainable Paths in a Low-Capital World

    3. Collapse: Local Disaster, Regional Conflicts

    4. Transformation: Superstructed Systems

 

 

2010 Map of the Decade

 

The 2010 Map of the Decade is now available for free download as a PDF, or you may purchase a printed version online.

 

More Information

For more details about the forecasts and scenarios that make up this year's Ten Year Forecast, please contact Sean Ness at 650-233-9517 or [email protected].

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