The New Zealand Futures Game

Abstract

The New Zealand Futures Game is a classroom exercise based on current perceptions of future trends in population growth, economic growth and environmental quality. For the purpose of the game, "The Future" is defined as being 50 years from now. The game kit is capable of being used in a number of different ways. In the basic game students make a series of resource-demand decisions followed by a series of population growth decisions. As a consequence of these decisions they select one of 12 future scenarios, each of which describes the future New Zealand that would result if many New Zealanders made the same decisions as they did.