Five of the largest peace nonprofits in the United States were searching for new ways to re-engage the public in the nuclear disarmament debate. One of their major concerns was how to ‘translate’ the highly complex information used by experts in the field into language that could be readily accessed by the general public. A pilot project was funded to explore the use of scenario based gaming to accomplish this goal. A near term future scenario was developed and then used as the basis for a ninety “game.”
Using the game, the funders discovered that a significant generational gap existed in understanding and knowledge of nuclear disarmament issues. Based on these findings, the group refocused it effort s primary goal to develop program materials specifically aimed at engaging Millennials and college age audiences on a topic that few understood.