Two Swiss bankers brought an illustrator on board to design a board game that revolves around the topic of blockchain. Your work “Token Economy” is intended to teach, enlighten and explain – and also be fun. The whole thing is financed via crowdfunding, but not through Kickstarter, but via the “We make it” platform. Commendable: The board game should be produced in Germany and rely on sustainable materials and compliance with environmental standards. What is behind the “Token Economy”? The makers can best explain this themselves.
Admittedly, it is a kind of déjà-vu when you open your e-mail inbox and then smile at you a message about a new board game that is all about financial topics. Two Swiss bankers weren't complicated enough about stocks, bonds and credit, so they chose "blockchain" as their central theme.
Token economy to “playfully represent” blockchain
Why does it always have to be bankers who design board games with financial settings? Presumably because they are the only ones who still have any perspective in the modern financial world. Because that is the case, something should change, at least that is what Felix and Dominik, the two authors behind the board game “Token Economy”, claim. And indeed, the tangibility of the topic was a trigger for designing this very game.
"Dominik and I come from the financial sector, we work at the same bank, and we see customers and employees every day who have no access to financial topics or who find it difficult to keep up," says Felix Saible, who came up with the idea for "Token Economy" after he had attended advanced training. The bank where the two Zurich residents work is a pioneer in the field of blockchain banking, so they both came into contact with the topic early on. Then the aha moment: "Last year I attended a further education course on the subject of blockchain and then experienced that even most experts completely lack access to the subject," explains Felix Saible - and this moment was something like the birth of " token economy”. His idea as a curious banker with a penchant for handicrafts: Design a board game to create a playful learning effect.
Said and done. With his current writing partner Dominik, Felix brought a board game fan and Warhammer supporter on board, Loraine complements the team as an illustrator. "It's entirely our idea and we want to use it to help raise awareness or a little bit of financial education and perhaps ensure that people can get excited about such topics and don't put them off," says Felix. The makers assume that blockchain technologies will end up with more and more end customers in the coming years: "In this way, people in their private lives can approach the topic," explains the author, "if they have heard the most important terms before, they will learn the principle of tokenization and learn more useful facts from the enclosed booklet, which also shows the history of blockchain and its applications in Switzerland and Liechtenstein".
Switzerland and Liechtenstein? Exactly, the board game Token Economy has a strong geographical connection, namely to Vaduz and Zurich, where two stock exchanges are located. There is also a connection to Germany, where the game is to be produced - sustainably and in compliance with environmental standards. This is reflected in the costs. Around 45.000 Swiss francs are to be generated via crowdfunding, which corresponds to almost 42.000 euros. Quite ambitious if you look around at projects that are to be realized by "crowd financing". "However, we are simply covering the costs for the first edition of 2.000 copies and all the costs that we have incurred so far," explains Felix Saible. "We just want the game to actually be produced and help people to understand blockchain a little better." And so they decided to go through a well-known manufacturer from Germany, who appreciated the personal contact to the production site and who rely on the expertise of the contact persons there.
The Swiss are doing everything they can to successfully finance their project. And what if it still doesn't work? "If the crowdfunding doesn't succeed, which we hope doesn't, then we won't stop, we'll try to fund the game ourselves, doing as much as we can by generating pre-orders from companies that give the game away to their employees and customers want,” explains Felix Saible. "In this case, as soon as we have the minimum order quantity together, we would then start with the B2B business and produce a certain amount more, which we would like to sell in our own online shop and some small game retailers in Zurich." So there is a plan for that If the worst comes to the worst, Felix lets us know that giving up is not an option. “We firmly believe in the token economy and that financial topics can also inspire. In addition, we already have other ideas and would like to translate even more financial topics into games!”
Consciously placed on the niche
The makers know that financial issues are a niche in board games and blockchain even more so - and they consciously rely on it. "On the one hand, we want to be represented in the specialist trade and on the other hand approach companies and educational institutions - we are even already in negotiations with some universities in Switzerland and Liechtenstein," says Felix Saible happily. Precisely because it is a completely new approach, it is interesting for her. In a later step, the authors would also like to approach schools, and then in the medium to long term also with more games, since then more everyday financial topics, such as the Swiss pension system or the topic of consumer credit, will also be discussed.
You quickly notice that Felix and Dominik go to work as idealists, partly because "financial education is neglected in most countries!". What sounds aloof is rooted in everyday life: "You learn mathematics, but that stops when you pay in installments for mobile phones and debt among teenagers is becoming more and more of a problem in Switzerland, for example," explains Felix Saible. “If we were to get our games into schools, we could start here. And yes, we remain true to board games, even though everyone is talking about digitization and apps - people love things to touch and unpack".
The financing campaign for Token Economy is now running on the crowdfunding platform “We make it”. There are various pledges to choose from, the basic game costs just over 65 euros at 60 Swiss francs. Quite a proud price, which the makers explain as follows: “At first glance, of course, you get a lovingly designed game of high quality. In addition to a large playing field, the game includes instructions, a booklet, 137 physical tokens, property, course and event cards as well as game pieces, play money and a notepad for your own crypto trading could make people sit up and take notice: "We also enable a learning effect that may ensure that they continue to find out more about the topic and do not make wrong decisions later. You are certainly not an expert in tokenization, but you will no longer let your bank advisor talk you into the first product that comes your way.”
Finance or Fantasy? Mainly mechanics!
Because the price tends to appeal to passionate board gamers, i.e. connoisseurs or experts, the question arises as to whether this target group is being addressed with token economy: “We organized a game night for connoisseurs in the new Gameorama games museum in Lucerne. Of course, they took our game apart down to the last detail and provided incredibly valuable input and I asked them – as a banker – whether they would let the topic get to them and whether they found it appealing. The answer was, you know, if we're going into a fantasy world or finance, it doesn't matter to us if the game is well made and works."
And speaking of function: How exactly does the Token Economy board game work? Felix Saible explains the concept: “The central element of the game is trading among each other and on the stock exchanges. Each player starts off with a basic amount of money and then has the opportunity to buy various assets as the game progresses. And since – compared to a classic share – you can put almost anything on the blockchain, i.e. tokenize it, pretty much everything is represented here: from nightclubs to companies, licensing rights, soccer player transfers to a fund or ski lift operator.”
There are also two stock exchanges on the field: Zurich and Vaduz. As soon as the first one is sold (if you secure an exchange you have a slight advantage because you collect trading fees from the other players), all players can tokenize their assets and trade in cryptocurrencies. For the latter, there are price fields and associated cards, on each of which the current price of five crypto currencies is shown. Tokenization is either voluntary or based on external influencing factors, e.g. event cards. Crypto trading is about growing your own wealth. With tokenization, it is about building up the cleverest possible investments (alone or in a team against others), on the one hand to build up assets through dividend payments and on the other hand to protect yourself against cost traps. There is also the HODL special field (term from the blockchain scene), where all players are rewarded with crypto currencies and can toast with their drinks.
In the end, the team with the highest fortune wins. Unusual: The board game does not have an automatic end. "Token Economy can be played for a very long time and players are free to stop when they want to," explains author Felix Saible of the idea. "However, we are currently still working on feedback from our game nights and blind tests that we have organized." For example, a "clock" could be introduced so that the score can be measured after each round.
If you are looking for more information on the token economy, please visit the Project page for the crowdfunding campaign find it. There the makers explain in a video what is behind them and their ideas. Time remains until November 13th, then the financing phase ends. By the way: So far, the Swiss have collected a little more than a fifth of the required amount.
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