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Author: Andre Boeing

New Project Partnership with Nawanyago, Uganda

Today we met Mary and Jude from the Busano Community Initiative, a school and community support project with an attached orphanage in Uganda, Kamuli District in the village of Nawanyago.

We are very happy and grateful to announce a new project partnership for implementing and contextualizing our educational card games, The SWAG “Waste & Recycling” and Fsys “Regenerative Food Systems,” to the daily life relevance for people in Nawanyago. As our analogue games work just great without internet and electricity, Mary and Jude immediately saw the possibilities for their school with joy.

A month ago, the well construction for the school went into its next phase after the hydrological report and drilling. This well will not only serve the school and orphanage, but also the whole village with access to drinking water. One of the next steps will be to build a kitchen and edible gardens to grow food for and with the school students and orphans.

The food system card games can help with involving Youth into building the basics for their school and learning about clean water, regenerative food systems, and more.

The German support association Friends4Busano.de does such a wonderful work to support the school project with funds and donations out of Germany and with their friendship. They have even established a direct trade route with fair-priced, organic coffee from the region—each sale in Germany supporting the project. (We never had better coffee before.) The Friends for Busano currently host Mary and Jude on a Germany tour. Ktopia was glad to support free of charge with the website design in April, and we are now happy to be in touch and do this educational project together.

To learn more about the wonderful initiative of friends, visit their website at friends4busano.de

The SWAG 1Y Anniversary Summer Edition launched – free card design templates, a Multiplayer Story and a course

The SWAG 1Y Anniversary Summer Edition launched – free card design templates, a Multiplayer Story and a course

July 15th 2025 by André Boeing

☀️ Free Wastemonsters- and Recycling-Mod Card Templates (A6 standard postcard format) representing real waste types and recycling methods — plus free bonus graphics and a video tutorial course on how to adapt the game cards to your context in Education for Sustainable Development and your region, using the free, open-source graphic design software Krita.

☀️ “SWA – The Great Cycle”: An interactive story for 1–3 players as an immersive introduction to the Smart Waste Agency Game (The SWAG), the World of waste types and recycling — featuring different pathways to face our global waste challenge. Also suitable for classroom settings.

☀️ Our 1-Year Summer Anniversary Edition of The SWAG, co-developed with 64 young designers aged 7–15 during the 2024 summer and autumn holiday Playshops in Germany, is out!

You can join the free course, download the material, and experience the story on our website:

🌐 www.the-swag.eu

Thanks a lot Odin Mühlenbein, AI Tinkerer on a chosenpath.ai, for collaborating on this story and the invitation to test the AI story engine in beta — it rocks!

Thank you so much to all the young participants and youth organization partners who co-created during our holiday Playshops 2024. Our photos give a good impression of the analogue and digital skills, and the joyful, playful creation of games for a serious topic.

📷Summer 2024 Photostory

We are now looking forward to see, what you will do with the Card templates and Story on the-swag.eu 🙂

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New Partnership with The Jena Declaration at UNESCO Chair on Global Understanding for Sustainability

It is with great joy to announce our fresh ktopia project partnership with The Jena Declaration (TJD) at the UNESCO Chair on Global Understanding for Sustainability.

The principles of the Declaration resonate deeply with Ktopia values and approach to open, grassroots educational game world design intended to spark joy—joy in actively becoming involved in “The Great Quest” of learning to live sustainably, regeneratively, planetary.

“Meaningful, sustainable change can only be achieved if every person on the planet changes their everyday routines, practices, and mindset. This must be true in business, government, schools, and at home.” is one of TJD’s principles.

Play sparks curiosity and invites us to face challenges with joy. Games offer ways to explore, grow, and even learn through failure. Ktopia invites people into narrative education worlds about sustainable living and supports them in co-creating open-source, analogue–digital games as Open Educational Resources. (OER)

In our partnership we wish to explore collaboration in the playful appropriation of the principles of The Jena Declaration through approaches inspired by co-creative game design, prioritizing Africa–Europe partnerships. We also explore collaborative promotion and dissemination of Ktopia eduGames (SWAG, FSYSgame) in combination with the principles of the TJD.

The last weeks have been a wonderful “getting to know each other” with TJD’s Dr. Martin Repohl and UNESCO Chair Prof. Dr. Benno Werlen. To experience Benno’s passion, compassion, commitment, impressive background, and wide, interdisciplinary thinking is inspiring. To join a rich, soil network of currently 65 worldwide TJD project partners—including the World Academy of Art and Science as well as the Club of Rome—makes us grateful.

To a fruitful 🌳 and wonderful partnership. A joyful “Cheers!” 🥂

with our ktopia project partners Ibrahim Gadzama, Jana Fuhrmann-Heise and ktopia founder André Boeing

A look into the Market of Collectible Trade Card Games and why our free, Open Educational Resource can benefit from this Genre –

🎯 Educational Potential of TCGs

Trading Card Games (TCG) combine storytelling, collectibility, and strategic play in a way that captivates across generations and geographies. From bustling tournaments in Japan to local game nights in Nigeria, the TCG format is a proven catalyst for engagement.

Its unique ability to connect analog experiences with digital platforms makes it a powerful medium for participatory learning — while remaining resilient and redundant: fully playable offline, even when power or internet access is unreliable or unavailable.

For fsys, the TCG isn’t just a game format — it’s a narrative infrastructure for transformation: inviting players to reflect, act, and grow abilities through playing out Quest cards = real-world actions to practice living sustainably. It’s education imagined as a mythic adventure.

Let’s look at the “market” of TCG’s

Recent data shows that around 51% of players are aged 25 and above — highlighting strong adult engagement in TCGs and the potential for a truly multi-generational narrative tool.

With roots in analog play and strong extensions into digital platforms, TCGs naturally bridge offline and online worlds — making them ideal for cross-media learning experiences.

The mechanics of TCGs—strategic thinking, deck-building, and interactive gameplay—offer valuable opportunities for educational applications. By integrating real-world themes such as food systems, environmental sustainability, health, and social responsibility, TCGs can serve as engaging tools to foster learning and awareness among diverse audiences.

🌍 Global Market Overview


🃏 Leading TCG Franchises

  • Pokémon TCG: Achieved record-breaking revenue of $857 million in Japan alone in 2023, outperforming other major TCGs combined. pokebeach.com
  • Magic: The Gathering: As the first modern TCG, it boasts over 50 million players worldwide and generates annual revenues exceeding $1 billion. en.wikipedia.org
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!: Recognized by Guinness World Records as the top-selling trading card game, with over 22 billion cards sold worldwide as of 2009. en.wikipedia.org+3en.wikipedia.org+3en.wikipedia.org+3

🌐 Regional Highlights

  • Asia-Pacific: A dominant force in the TCG market, with countries like Japan, China, and South Korea contributing significantly to global revenues. The region is projected to grow from $5.07 billion in 2024 to $12.64 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 12.1%. straitsresearch.com
  • North America: Accounts for approximately 40% of the global TCG revenue, with a market size of $2.65 billion in 2024, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.0% through 2031. reddit.com
  • Europe: Holds a significant share of the market, with countries like Germany, France, and the UK being key players in the TCG landscape.

Nigeria

🎴 Local Card Gaming Culture

  • Whot!: This shedding-type card game, similar to Uno, has been widely played in Nigeria for decades and is often referred to as Nigeria’s national card game. en.wikipedia.org
  • NIBCARD Games: Founded in 2016 by Kenechukwu Cornelius Ogbuagu, NIBCARD Games is a Nigerian tabletop game publisher that focuses on creating games addressing societal issues, such as ranching conflicts and migration. The company has gained international recognition, winning the 2021 Diana Jones Award. en.wikipedia.org

📈 Market Potential

While detailed data on the TCG market in Nigeria is scarce, the broader board games market is experiencing growth. A 2025 report indicates an increasing demand for strategy and deck-building games, suggesting a receptive audience for TCGs. marketresearch.com

🌍 Digital Engagement

Nigeria’s high mobile phone penetration and growing internet access have facilitated the rise of digital gaming platforms. This digital infrastructure could support the adoption of digital or hybrid TCGs, expanding their reach across the country.

🧑‍🎓 Educational Opportunities

The integration of gaming into educational contexts is gaining traction in Nigeria. For instance, NIBCARD’s collaboration with organizations like Voluntary Service Overseas to produce educational games demonstrates the potential for TCGs to serve as engaging educational tools. en.wikipedia.org

In summary, while the TCG market in Nigeria is still emerging, the country’s existing gaming culture, growing interest in board games, expanding digital infrastructure, and openness to educational gaming suggest a promising environment for the development and adoption of TCGs.


Deepening Coop with Nigeria, Card Crafting Services for food system professionals, Agile Response-Ability – June 2025 Dev Updates

Nigeria and the fsys Africa–Europe partnership deepens

The collaboration deepend in the many meetings with my dear Conscious Food System Alliance fellow Ibrahim Gadzama in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria and me, located in the Kassel Region of Germany. Ibrahim brings the wisdom, knowledge, experience and passion of farmers to the circle. He carries a deep vision for a new Generation of regenerative Farmers, where farming is being highly and deeply valued, where farming is seen as a diverse path of work callings – where farmers are paid fair, well and feel supported in implementing deep, sustainable practices with head, heart and hands. Where Farmers are highly skilled and Cool! and not associated with “the most poor” in an industry of exploitation.

I am very happy, Ibrahim joined the re:gen fsys development with his passion.

Agile Response-Ability

Agile, organic development also means, to walk responsively through the wild Innovation landscape, which naturally doesn´t know of any roadmaps.

As we saw an interesting, yet challenging mountain peak as a June Goal to reach, we set course back in May and walked into the Month of the rising Summer. A couple days before the epic June Goal was due, some wonderful sidepath to explore showed up and took us into another direction as the “fixed to the mountain” one.

A bee farmer from Nigeria and a farm horse farmer from Germany wanted to see their passion topics as a Quest card in the regenerative food system game.

“Players of the card game should learn about bees,” he said, “— how important they are in our regenerative systems.” “They should be able to learn about a horsehuman relationship,” she said, “a work and life relationship that treats soil with care and nurtures both of us anima(l)s.” The wish of the farmers inspired and created the new fsys game cards. More organizations and professionals within food systems voiced their interest, to have game cards for their fields of profession, too.

I have stopped using “target groups” in my project developments a decade ago. I rather speak of “resonance groups.” Just do your authentic, passionate deep thing (as individuals and organizations), and the group with resonance will show up! — no overblown strategy mindFullness to influence “target groups” needed. When narrow fixed to a target, one might also oversee the path next to the plotted road – a “sidepath” that might be truly helpful, if explored and can enrich the original intention. When fixated to one group, one can also oversee the group in need right in front of us.

While we thought we were creating cards for young students in this June development sprint for a first testrun in schools before summer holidays, the mid June agile development state showed, that farmers, educators, and people with special food system knowledge want to see their passion topics as a card in the game.

Agile as we are, running in an innovation wilderness of no-roadmaps towards certain targets at the near horizon… until a different valley shows up and we responsively change direction and take another path, naturally getting to the first one — enriched by the change of direction.

This adjusted, current development path now serves people with regenerative food system knowledge through analog game card design – and their digital web companion pages. Our task is now to optimize this service and design cards for the “Know people.” The cards will then have more vital substance for the players of various ages taking a first Play-test during or after Summer holidays.

The new card design and pages can be seen here:
https://www.fsysgame.org/chapter-1-the-card-crafters/

Food System Collectible Card Game Development started

Food System Collectible Card Game Development started

May 23rd, 2025

A Collectible Trading Card Game for Education in Regenerative Food Systems

International & urban-regional synchronous development of an Open Educational Resource (OER) and Game for the Creative Commons

Open Development began
on May 08th 2025
Visit Project website for detailed information

fsysgame.org


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First round within the climate education landscape

Walking up our UNESCO world heritage “Bergpark” under Hercules watchful, naked eyes. Walking towards our first Innovation Circle for the State Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment, hosted at the Forest School Kassel – a space dedicated to Education since 1926, surrounded by a forest, much, much older. Entering an agile development sprint, a temporal coop quest within our climate education landscape in the fields of . An innovation program, initiated, funded and facilitated by our innovative documenta City Stadt Kassel for the Ministry – together with a network of expert organizations in the field.


Letting 100 gut project ideas pour out of us into the middle of our “Great Circle”, then collectively point voting them down to 4 projects with 4 Team Circles. Sitting in the green grass in springtime sun beams, eating fresh baked bred, jamming ideas in our 4 Circles…walking back down town……

After an intense and fruitful first round in the Innovation Sprint, we will continue on Monday to write our concepts and Offering out. With this official procedure we will then be directly awarded, assigned, equipped with a fund and a Go! from the City Administration of our Stadt Kassel.

I am grateful to be part of the Journey – bringing my work experience, skill sets, talents and passions to the Circle, as all of our fellows do. + I bring my fresh On-Boarding bag of practices and approaches, inspired by the wonderful Conscious Food Systems Alliance, convened by UNDP Food Systems. An Alliance, I’ve gratefully and happily joined.

🌱 Joining the Climate Education Landscape Innovation Pot by the Hessian Ministry for Agriculture and the Environment, Germany

Grateful and excited to be part of a 6-month agile innovation journey, initiated by the Hessian Ministry for Agriculture and the Environment, Germany.

Starting next week at the Forest School in Kassel, I’ll join a small group of selected innovators to co-create impactful solutions with a special focus on regenerative food systems. In just two weeks, we’ll shape our ideas into a concrete development plan—and then sprint forward, supported by dedicated funding, until November.

The Climate Education Landscape is a project of the Hessian Ministry for Agriculture and the Environment. The City of Kassel, the Working Group for Nature and Environmental Education in Hesse (ANU), and the World Garden Witzenhausen are jointly implementing the project as a coordination office for Kassel and the surrounding area.

They serve as the regional points of contact. The initiative is part of the Hesse Climate Plan in the area of action titled “Education and Research.”

The goal is to embed climate protection and sustainability structurally within local educational landscapes for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). To this end, the full range of local stakeholders from education, municipalities, administration, business, civil society, and climate protection should be involved. The initiation phase of the Climate Education Landscapes is planned to run until mid-2028.

The Smart Waste Agency Game has reached it’s impact goal

The Smart Waste Agency Game (The SWAG) has reached its impact goal!

April 30th 2025 – André Boeing

Educators from diverse backgrounds have started using our narrative approach to explore the themes of waste, recycling, and the Great Circular. Because we developed the game under a Creative Commons license, it’s now being remixed and adapted for various gameplay formats and educational use cases — from Education for Sustainable Development to playful media education.

I’m deeply grateful and happy. After a full year of passionate, committed development, today marks my last day with the SWAG project. I’m now setting out on new project quests in the field of Regenerative Food Systems — my heart’s calling.

📄 Project documentation: swa.futurespace.org
🌍 Join the educational community continuing SWAG: community.epic-education.eu

Thank you to everyone who contributed! Onwards to new adventures. 🙏✨

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Epic Education adopts The SWAG. Community for educational Multipliers in Beta

Epic Education adopts The SWAG. Community for educational Multipliers in Beta

Narrative Education and educational Adventures activate Joy, Playfulness and deepen engagement among learners. The German non-profit .org Epic Education adopted our Creative Commons Game “The Smart Waste Agency” in March 2025

To support our educational products of Pen & Paper and Live Action Roleplaying Games (LARP) and tabletop/card + movements Games I have designed a gamified, Open-Source Online Community platform for Open Educational Resources around our themes.

You can visit the Beta Release at
https://community.epic-education.eu/

  • Screenshot from 2025-04-15 13-51-08

  • Screenshot from 2025-04-15 13-50-45

  • Screenshot from 2025-04-15 13-50-34

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