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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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ktopia joins Conscious Food Systems Alliance CoFSA

ktopia joins Conscious Food Systems Alliance CoFSA convened by UNDP

March, 6th 2025 – written by André Boeing

It is with great joy and gratitude that my Ktopia.eu André Boeing application with CoFSA has been reviewed, and I have been welcomed as a new member of the CoFSA Community. I look forward to contributing to our Alliance and being inspired by my fellow members—networking and collaborating with professionals across food and agriculture systems who also recognize that, underneath our helpful programs, policies, and funding structures, we must essentially cultivate inner capacities to activate systemic change and regeneration.

Healthy soil begins with a fertile mind

CoFSA

The Conscious Food Systems Alliance (CoFSA), supports people from across food and agriculture systems to cultivate the inner capacities that activate systemic change and regeneration. Convened by UNDP, is a movement of food, agriculture, and consciousness practitioners united around a common goal: to support people from across food and agriculture systems to cultivate the inner capacities that activate systemic change and regeneration.

As the United Nations lead agency on international development, UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capa- bilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Our work is concentrated in three focus areas; sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience. Find more info at undp.org.

As an individual member under the Ktopia.eu narrative label, my core contribution to CoFSA lies in multistakeholder dialogues and cooperative pathways for developing Open Educational Resources (OER). These narrative, playful, and co-created OERs aim to inspire and support conscious citizen participation in transforming our food systems.
You can find my membership profile here.


“We cannot solve our biggest problems, if we do not come together. It is not only about Institutions or processes. It is the first instance about our mindsets.”

Antonio Guterres, 
UN Secretary General

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3.5 days re-treat, re-align and re-design – ktopia year II

Playful Food System Expedition Quests, pragmatic k.limate Utopias and mindful Living Lab Ecotopes for growing joyful Optimisms.

Here we have it! A wonderful, clunky sentence and essence of my self treated re-identity design retreat. As I compressed the vision and mission statement, as well as a tiny manifesto into that one clunky sentence, it’s pretty condensed and short. The golden nugget.

The 6 Services showed up in retroperspective after the first year since founding ktopia: Idea Scouting, Rapid Prototyping, Facilitating a multi-stakeholder quest coop in a living lab, Deploying custom self-hosted Open-Source Social Collaboration Tec, Myth Weaving an engaging story narrative, Designing the Narrative into an edutaining product and freely share with the commons.

If, so far it still sounds lofty and abstract. The concrete products out of this context show, that the deeper philosophy is also pragmatic with an effective outcome.

I founded Ktopia in January 2024 as a freelancer. In November 2023, during International Novel Writing Month, I wrote and published a climate fiction short story. It painted an alternative vision for my place of residence, the documenta City of Kassel, Germany.

Ktopia, the Smart Eco City version of Kassel, embraced both technology and practical ecology – especially through its abundant, close loop circular food system – its passion for creative urban gardens and gastronomy. My story was inspired by the novel Ecotopia, published by Ernest Callenbach a year after I was born.

“I have great faith in optimism as a guiding principle, if only because it offers us the opportunity of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

—Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Inspired by the stories of Ecotopia, Ktopia, and Sir Arthur’s optimism as a guiding principle, I have also found great beauty in Pragmatic Utopias, betting on the same outcome: a possible, self-fulfilling prophecy.

Two months into Ktopia, I became immersed in its first project quest within the Wastelands, assigned by the city administration’s Smart City department. Over the course of 2024, this led to the creation of the Smart Waste Agency Game (The SWAG), an edutaining, open-source tabletop and card game about waste, recycling, and the circular economy. But something else emerged as well: a circular, cooperative model, as described in this article.

A year after its foundation, in January/February 2025, I have revisited Ktopia.eu itself again and reflected on its practical philosophy while redesigning the website to express the “today”.

Technically, Ktopia remains a social brand under my freelance status within the EU Small Enterprise / Business Owner scheme, dedicated solely to the common good. But I let it flow & grow organically. It might as well evolve into a non-profit org legal entity, that becomes a fellowship in diverse project coops for shared seasons.

On the re-designed website there is also a visual story, narrated by Grove Druid. It also tells about the essence of what playing with pragmatic utopias in ktopia means.