It has been a busy few weeks here at Reacting Central with the Winter Conference, the rollout of Reacting 3.0, and the announcement of BLORG 2.0! Our authors have been busy too, and we have FIVE new games that have gone up on the site recently, alongside a host of games that received updated files over the course of the last few months. As you are considering what to run in your classes this spring, we hope you will consider some of the games below! 

NEW GAMES

The Challenge and Inequality of Care

The Challenge and Inequality of Care focuses on informal (unpaid) caregiving in the United States. It challenges players to try to keep their jobs and their health while meeting their caregiving challenges.

Even though the game focuses on unpaid care that people perform in families, it transforms the classroom into a hospital workplace in the United States. Players become employees--mainly in the hospital units that are not patient-facing, e.g., janitorial, food service, legal, and so on.

The Challenge and Inequality of Care provides players opportunities to learn about the interaction between their needs to give and receive care, the demands of paid work, and the main federal public policy around family and medical leave: the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The game pushes players to examine how these factors interact with different worker demographics, familial configurations, and care demands. It encourages players to consider whether and in what ways the status quo is unfair and/or uncaring.

Pachamama v. Production: The Constitutional Conflict over Los Cedros and the Rights of Nature, 2020

Ecuador's Constitutional Court is about to hear a case that will test the limits of its 2008 constitution, which was the first in the world to recognize the rights of nature. The cloud forests of northwestern Ecuador include the biodiverse Los Cedros Protected Forest, a home to endangered species unique to the area. In 2017, Ecuador's Ministry of Environment permitted exploration of copper and gold mining in Los Cedros by the national mining company, ENAMI EP, in partnership with Cornerstone, a Canadian mining company. In response, the local government of Santa Ana de Cotacachi filed a lawsuit arguing that mining would threaten the forests ecosystems and water sources, and therefore the constitutional rights of nature. In this game, you will participate in  a 2020 public hearing held by Ecuador's Constitutional Court, the state's highest interpreter of constitutional law. You will take on roles in one of four factions: Judges, who will weigh arguments and issue a final ruling; Advocates for Pachamama, who argue for an expansive interpretation of the rights of nature; and Advocates for Production, who defend the state's ability to pursue responsible economic development and its interest in protecting investor rights. The Media will report on the proceedings and influence the significance of the final ruling. 

The Price of Solidarity: The Jewish Boycott of Ancona and the Court of Suleiman the Magnificent

This microgame explores the tensions between moral solidarity and economic self-interest in the 1556 Mediterranean world. Following Pope Paul IV's execution of 24 Jewish conversos in Ancona, Jewish merchants from across the Ottoman Empire gather at Sultan Suleiman's court to debate a proposed boycott of the Italian port. Students play either Jewish delegates weighing the costs and benefits of collective action, or Ottoman court officials managing the empire's complex relationship with European powers. The game asks students to grapple with fundamental questions about communal responsibility: When are we obligated to sacrifice our own interests for distant members of our community? How do communities make decisions when members face vastly different consequences from collective action? Can economic pressure serve as a legitimate tool for justice, and at what cost?

Reclaiming Bayreuth: The Battle of the Soul of Wagner



Despite being recognized as one of the most influential composers of his day, Wagner left behind him a fraught legacy that was open to interpretation. This game centers on the ideological and culture clashes that have surrounded Wagner during and after his lifetime. Some of these conflicts are overt and political: revolutionary versus reactionary, cosmopolitan versus nationalist, left-wing versus right-wing. But his legacy also splintered into other unexpected directions: American westerns, early LGBTQ+ advocacy, feminism, and mysticism. As an attendee of the reinauguration of the Bayreuth Festival in 1924, you have a chance to stake a claim for the Meister's influence in the new century by getting your chosen musical drama on the agenda and writing a review. To win is to define how Wagner will be remembered; to lose is to watch an alternative revisionist interpretation take hold.

Uprising In Ethiopia, 1622: Orthodoxy and Catholicism



Uprising in Ethiopia is about the encounter and struggle between Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity and Roman Catholicism beginning in 1622. Students play nuns, monks, and peasantry, representing Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, as well a Jesuit missionaries and members of the Ethiopian ruling classes, representing Roman Catholicism. There is a theological debate about the different doctrines of these two Christian denominations. But this debate takes place within a much larger political and social context, in which Ethiopians are being urged to abandon their most-closely held cultural practices. Many students will be unfamiliar with—and even confused by—the doctrinal issues at stake. Adherence to religion and tradition alongside resistance to change will be more familiar to most students.

UPDATED GAMES

Ban the Jesuits: Jesuits and Their Opponents in the 1700s

• Added video about the game.
• Edited some Role Sheets to clarify some Role instructions and motivations.
• Revised IM and RS to be more printer friendly. 
• Added color versions of the RS and the game cards.
• Added Introductory PowerPoint for the game.
• Added Debriefing PowerPoint for the game.

Challenging the Camps: Korematsu v. United States, 1944

• Completed Peer Review and advanced to Level 4, now available to non-members in the Reacting Shop.

Climate Change in Copenhagen, 2009

• Added PowerPoint that provides updates on the fight against climate change as of 2025. 

Europe on the Brink, 1914: The July Crisis

• All factions now have unique mobilization forms. 
• Characters who have victory objectives to secure treaties promising territory now only get credit for achieving that objective if the treaty they sign is with the side that possesses a military advantage at the end of the game.

Executive Order 9066: Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor

• Completed Peer Review and advanced to Level 4, now available to non-members in the Reacting Shop.

Meta Oversight Board: Content Moderation vs. Political Speech on Social Media

• Added unique roles for Oversight Board members. 
• Added detailed follow-up assignments as supplementary material. 
• Made a number of small adjustments to encourage cross-faction collaboration.

Modernism vs. Traditionalism: Art in Paris, 1888-1889

• Updated additional materials to include including Art Dealer Contract, Certificate of Sale, etc. 

Peacemaking, 1919: The Peace Conference at Versailles

• General updates to Gamebook.
• General updates to Role Sheets.
• Added Delegation Briefs in addition to named roles. 
• Added decision menus for all roles. 
• Updated role selection table.