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The Smart Waste Agency Game (The SWAG) is an edutaining, open-source tabletop and card game. It immerses players in the world of waste types, recycling techniques, and the circular economy, fostering creativity, collaboration, and environmental awareness.

2024 Release

The Alpha version was developed in 2024 by a coop of 3 City Administration departments including the local waste management corp., 3 non-profits and 63 Children and Teenager within the documenta City of Kassel, Germany. It was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building, via KfW Bank and the Smart City Kassel Model Project. It has been released as an Open Educational Resource under a Creative Commons license during the Smart Social Regional Conference in December 2024.

Initial Seed Funding through direct assignment by Smart City Kassel has ended End of 2024.

The visual rich German Game Site, game download for self printing & documentation:

2025

We are currently fundraising to continue development and are seeking a local partner in Brussels, EU, to help facilitate a synchronous SWAGdesign Playshop between two EU cities in April.


We began our co-development journey in 2024 with the Question:
“How can we become smarter with our monstrous waste and aim for 0 wastefulness?”

Our leading Motto has been the smart Albert Einstein quote “Play is the highest form of research!

We took his words literally and developed a game as a playful research tool to explore the question.
Sixty-three children and teenagers, age 7-15, designed Wastemonsters both analog from waste and digitally. They graphic-designed the game cards and elements, prompted via text-to-image AI, designed and 3D printed game figures, developed game rules, and released playable test versions.

3 City departments including the Waste Cleaner specialists came out of their silos, meeting once a week in the SWA Online Jour-Fix. 3 non-profit youth .organizations worked together to offer funtastic workshops and holiday SWAGdesign weeks.

So: besides developing, creating and designing a digitanalog  Game together, it’s even more about HOW we cooperate as diverse actors, including young people. How we coop, to offer a true „Social Product“ for and to the Common Good.

Creating a playful game together is a safe and tiny living lab, in which we can practice the transformation towards a more cooperative, social smart model – both in our cities and within our European Union.

Waste Problems became Waste Monsters

Each waste type represents a monster type with specific environmental dangers if not recycled

Recycling methods became Smart Multi-Tools

Each Mod installer represents a miniature method of how the specific waste type is usually being recycled

„Waste Maker“ became „Smart Waste Agents“

From passive „Waste Producer“ to active Smart Waste Agent representing the hands-on response to our global waste challenge

And the „Wastelands“ of our City became our game board…

But we are not done yet…

our 6 „r“ of smarter wasting: reduce, reuse, repair, recycle, respect, respond

2025 „Out of town into EUrope“

In 2025, we aim to take our game out of town and into the European Union. Our goal is to connect young people from diverse EU countries through our gamified social network, co-create waste monsters from waste, graphic-design cards, smart waste multi-tools, and build tabletop wastelands. We also aim to localize the game in different languages and cultural contexts while sparking conversations about smart waste, zero waste, recycling and a Circular Economy in our cities.
  • Develop and launch the SWAG gamified open-source collaboration social network.
  • Create Play&Learn educational bonus material
  • Find a local partner in the administrative Capital of the EU: Brussel.
  • Create and host a synchronous SWAG game design event in Brussels and Kassel in April 2025 and connect the participants via the collaboration network.

As a 80th PC Revoluzzer I’ve been working at the intersection of the Digital Web, Analog Art and Education in Europe and California for 30 years now.

These days I am passionate about playful, gameful approaches in Education for Sustainable Development and include technology for the purpose of „Social Smart“. I strongly believe, that digital technology alone won´t make anything smart.  If it enables us in our social collaboration and supports our diverse talents it helps us to become smart.

I have served the 2024 SWA Seed dev phase as coordinating creative producer, developer, designer and story world builder and was assigned as an independent freelance contractor for Smart Kassel.

While Smart Kassel finances the 2025 production of a high quality German Box version made from recycled materials I have launched an independent EU branch and funding system to also support the box launch with optimized game rules and Play&Learn Bonus Material.

André Boeing during SWAG launch alpha @ Social Smart Conference hosted by the German ministry of City Development and Smart City Dialogue