Learning Experience
Ember Dodge: Neighborhood
A collaborative wildfire
A shared wildfire experience through a series of 20-minute modules. Members of 3-5 households imagine that they are neighbors who, together, prepare for and experience a wildfire threatening their neighborhood.
Sign up now to get early access.
Ignite conversation
Our card-based cooperative Neighborhood game invites small groups of people to imagine that they are neighbors who must manage the safety of their households and neighborhood. Grounded in their real-life circumstances, players experience how individual decisions and community cooperation directly affect their options and survival.
Designed to be used in community meetings and workshops, the series launches with the Evacuation module. Evacuation Senior, Home Hardening, Defensible Space, and Coming Home modules will follow soon!
Specifications:
- 3 to 50 players — playing in groups of 3-5 households
- 20 minute play time per module
- Also offered in Spanish
Our card-based cooperative Neighborhood game invites small groups of people to imagine that they are neighbors who must manage the safety of their households and neighborhood. Grounded in their real-life circumstances, players experience how individual decisions and community cooperation directly affect their options and survival.
Designed to be used in community meetings and workshops, the series launches with the Evacuation module. Evacuation Senior, Home Hardening, Defensible Space, and Coming Home modules will follow soon!
Specifications:
- 3 to 50 players — playing in groups of 3-5 households
- 20 minute play time per module
- Also offered in Spanish
”Great idea to play the game! It makes you think, discuss & remember the actions to take!”
— Sean, Participant, Wildfire Café Game, American Canyon CA
Neighborhood Evacuation!
In the Evacuation module, players face difficult decisions about when they should evacuate, and what actions to take before going. Event cards change circumstances, and introduce complications they must address individually or together.
It’s about determining priorities and making tradeoffs.
1
On your mark!
Set up is simple: Players place two decks of cards on the table, and answer two simple questions about their real-life households.
1
On your mark!
Set up is simple: Players place two decks of cards on the table, and answer two simple questions about their real-life households.
2
Get ready!
To play the game, players take turns drawing cards, and choosing what actions they think they have time to take. But, don’t take too long: the fire may move quickly … or not!
2
Get ready!
To play the game, players take turns drawing cards, and choosing what actions they think they have time to take. But, don’t take too long: the fire may move quickly … or not!
3
Go!
Individual players win by getting their households out safely before the neighborhood burns. But the neighborhood loses if anyone is left behind — including a few surprise neighbors that pop up during the game.
3
Go!
Individual players win by getting their households out safely before the neighborhood burns. But the neighborhood loses if anyone is left behind — including a few surprise neighbors that pop up during the game.
“It was clever that the more prepared people were in real life, the smoother their gameplay was.”
— Abigail Flores, Napa Valley COAD, Wildfire Café Game, Yountville CA
Learning objectives
Wildfire preparedness
- Assess real-life household needs and state of evacuation readiness.
- Understand essential evacuation preparedness, including importance of advance preparation, official emergency notifications, and early evacuation.
- Identify one immediate action, along with the motivation to complete it.
- Experience the uncertainty and unpredictability of wildfire behavior.
Social resilience
- Discover community interdependencies.
- Recognize the power of working together.
- Practice collaboration skills.
- Strengthen social connections.
Inspire
Players imagine a wildfire together. But they must make decisions in the very real context of their personal circumstances, and must collaborate with their “neighbors” to succeed. This helps them to strengthen real social connections, recognize the importance of their local community connections, and inspires them to talk with friends and neighbors about preparedness and mutual support in an actual event.
Educate
In addition to key elements of wildfire preparedness and best practices, the game is designed to increase social resilience. Players experience the power and importance of sharing information and physical resources, and strengthen their communication and collaboration skills. They have an opportunity to validate what they know, discover gaps and share knowledge with peers, and discuss questions with experts.
Educate
In addition to key elements of wildfire preparedness and best practices, the game is designed to increase social resilience. Players experience the power and importance of sharing information and physical resources, and strengthen their communication and collaboration skills. They have an opportunity to validate what they know, discover gaps and share knowledge with peers, and discuss questions with experts.
Empower
The game presents players with individual and shared challenges, and then gives them the freedom to choose their actions. As events unfold, they see how their and others’ decisions affect their own safety and comfort, and experience the power of community. By the end of the game, players have sketched out their own evacuation and recovery plans, as well as a vision of how they can work with their real-life neighbors.
From our blog
Curiosity #11: Wildfire and the Secret Life of Steel and Stone
Have you ever looked at a massive concrete bridge and thought, "That’s basically rock, it’s invincible"? Concrete is generally a firesafe material:...
Curiosity #10: Caging the Wildfire Dragon
There is a wildfire dragon rampaging through the forest. Dragon Slayers are fighting hard to stop it. But dragons are hard to kill. Battling them...
Curiosity #9: Power Lines, Wildfire, and the Race to Glory
High above the ground, Zip Zap is one of billions of electrons racing through a high-voltage transmission line. Rumor has it that a wildfire is...
From our blog
Curiosity #11: Wildfire and the Secret Life of Steel and Stone
Have you ever looked at a massive concrete bridge and thought, "That’s basically rock, it’s invincible"? Concrete is generally a firesafe material:...
Curiosity #10: Caging the Wildfire Dragon
There is a wildfire dragon rampaging through the forest. Dragon Slayers are fighting hard to stop it. But dragons are hard to kill. Battling them...
Curiosity #9: Power Lines, Wildfire, and the Race to Glory
High above the ground, Zip Zap is one of billions of electrons racing through a high-voltage transmission line. Rumor has it that a wildfire is...
“Great! Makes emergency planning FUN 😀!”
— Napa Valley COAD member, Wildfire Café Game, Napa CA