Pocket Change

A reintroduction of wolves alters the flow of a river. The removal of an invasive plant threatens the habitat of a rare butterfly. A spurt of wind magic on one coast leads to a cyclone storm on another. A wish for world peace brings a surprise alien invasion.

Pocket Change is a riffing game of unexpected ripple effects. Play as an ecosystem in flux while speculating on and adapting to the chaos and consequence of being interconnected.

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Pocket Change was made during Worlds in Conversation (Summer 2024, School for Poetic Computation), and inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin (the Earthsea cycle, The Lathe of Heaven), Donella H. Meadows and systems thinking, and lessons from watching city coyotes (and watching them watch me). Many thanks to Everest Pipkin, Caro Asercion, my Wednesday section classmates, and everyone else who playtested and reviewed earlier iterations of this piece.