The Thing From The Future
A card game in which players combine a type of future, a place, a kind of object and a mood to imagine a specific object from that future and discuss it as a group.
What it’s for
It helps you imagine alternative futures, which is hard: the game gives a concrete starting point and makes it fast and fun.
Key elements
Arc
The type of future (growth, collapse, discipline, or transformation) and how far away it is.
Terrain
The context or place where the object appears.
Object
The kind of thing to imagine, which becomes concrete when combined with the other cards.
Mood
What it feels like to come across it.
How it’s done
Draw the cards one of each type.
Describe an object from that future, each person on their own.
Discuss the ideas as a group and pick the most telling ones.
Applications in design
When to use it
To open a futures workshop or as a warm-up before building scenarios.
Avoid
Stopping at the witty idea: the value lies in discussing what each object says about that future.
Don’t fall for it
Play several rounds: the first ideas tend to be the most obvious.
Connections
Related to
Authors and works
Stuart Candy and Jeff Watson
Created the game at Situation Lab.
- 2009
Jim Dator
Proposed the four archetypal futures on which the arc cards are based.
Sources
Original sources
- Candy, S. (2018). Gaming futures literacy: The Thing From The Future. In R. Miller (Ed.), Transforming the future (pp. 233–246). Routledge. View source: Candy, S. (2018)
- Dator, J. (2009). Alternative futures at the Manoa School. Journal of Futures Studies, 14(2), 1–18. View source: Dator, J. (2009)
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