Planning a board game where you can learn SDGs more closely while playing. Ryohei Kadokawa, representative of Sunaba Corporation

"Take concrete measures against Climate Change," "Zero hunger," and "Build a foundation for industry and innovation." SDGs”. Since it was adopted by the United Nations Summit in 2015, recognition has gradually spread in Japan, but there are not many opportunities to think about it as a familiar theme.
Mr. Ryohei Kadokawa, representative of Sunaba Corporation, which produces educational content, plans and produces a board game "Get The Point" that allows children and adults to realize the importance of SDGs. We are working on dissemination. We asked him how he got involved in the creation of a game that you can learn while having fun, and his thoughts on the SDGs.

　"Makunouchi lunch box" that includes everything from social issues to innovation

-Why were you interested in the SDGs?

Ryohei Kadogawa (hereinafter referred to as Kadogawa): I learned the word SDGs through SNS four years ago. At that time, I retired from Benesse Corporation and was trying to become an elementary school teacher. When I looked it up, I got the impression that it was like a "Makunouchi lunch box" filled with all the themes that I was interested in, from social issues to innovation (technological innovation).

Of course I was interested in education, but I was originally fond of new things, and at that time I was also interested in innovations such as blockchain (distributed ledger) technology and VR (virtual reality) technology. I think about social issues and innovation (education, environment, etc.) as a set, but they are often talked about separately. I think the SDGs are attractive because they focus on economic growth and innovation, which are indispensable for a sustainable world, and they are also important in the field of education.

-What made you interested in social issues such as education?

Kadogawa: I became involved in education after I was in the Faculty of Law when I was in college, but I wasn't familiar with the law and chose the education method in a seminar. The field of education is a field that cannot be achieved by law alone. There, I came across a free school that supports children and students who do not attend school as part of their fieldwork.

Until then, I had a fixed image of school refusal children. However, when I actually meet them in the field, even if I say a school refusal child in a word, some of them are very sociable and have a wide range of communication, and some are sensitive and very delicate. There were various personalities, such as students who love sports and physical activity. Knowing that there is diversity in one social issue, I jumped into the free school as a volunteer. At the free school, I used the teaching materials of Shinkenzemi, so I gradually became interested in Benesse (which develops the business of Shinkenzemi). After graduating from university, I got a job at Benesse because I was fascinated by the fact that it is a private company that pursues profits but also cooperates with public education.

This has been around for a long time, but when I think it's interesting, I try to get involved first. What's more, it would be even better if what you find interesting leads to social good (services and products that are good for society). After joining Benesse, I was involved in the development and marketing of educational materials.

Relax in a playful and stuffy world

-After retiring from Benesse, after working as a teacher for about two years, I was involved in a cumulative total of 4 million copies of the "Unko Drill" business at a publishing company. Please tell us the reason for developing playful teaching materials including Get the Point.

Kadogawa: Standing in the field of education as a teacher, I realized that while the school has a good "learning" system, it lacks follow-up to children who are outside the framework. Adults are diversifying their way of life such as changing jobs, entrepreneurship, and freelance, but it seems that it is a stuffy world for some children that from 6 to 18 years old is limited to one option of school. When. Ability may be increased by a vector different from the measuring rod that adults think. I think that children have the ability to learn while playing. I was wondering if we could create a more relaxed and deep-hearted society by creating places and teaching materials that would eliminate the boundary between play and learning.

We are also working on SDGs games with such an awareness of the problem. While I think it is wonderful to hear that the SDGs are full of seminars for business people in Tokyo, I was wondering what percentage of the whole of Japan is being conveyed. I think we can only reach those who participate in workshops and study sessions after work. On the other hand, school education is a place where everyone can participate and learn, for better or for worse. Therefore, I thought that I could contribute to expanding the base by making the content that can be used in class into a play called a game.

- Get The point is what kind of game.

Kadogawa: Play with cards in groups of four. Cards are divided into 9 types of "items" such as cars, mobile phones and barbecues, and 6 types of "resources" such as iron, wood and animals that are the materials for them. Items have a difference in value from 200 to 700 ㌽, and in the first game, children explain that "each person makes items in turn using resources and competes for the (total) points of the collected cards." They are interested in "Oops".

Of the resources, iron and rare metals are not recycled when used, so they are put in the trash can, but wood and animals are renewable. Therefore, we will add a rule that wood and animals will be revived up to twice the remaining number after going around. Since children are competitive, we only build cars and houses with high points, and soon we run out of resources. We will announce the winners of each group, but nothing remains on the board.

He asks, "I can't make anything with this. If it happens in the real world, is there anything I can do?" Of course I can't do anything. So rewind the time and enter the second game.

■ Bridging to the real world

​-How will it change?

Kadogawa: The basic rules haven't changed at all. The rules for recovering resources are the same, and the procedure is the same. However, only one thing changes the logic that determines the outcome. With just one change, the world of competing and competing for the first game will naturally change to a world of mutual cooperation and prosperity. Discussions are born naturally without the facilitator prompting.

In the second game, event cards called "Crisis (Crisis) Card" and "Sustainable (Sustainable) Card" will be activated during the game. For example, if the crisis of "overfishing" gets angry, you have to discard more than half of the animal cards. On the other hand, for example, if a sustainable card called "biomass" is issued, a plant card (regenerated) can be used as fossil fuel. Children are very happy, so they say, "I wish I could use more biomass."

-It's a game, but the words you use are very real.

Kadogawa: Words are difficult and children use them for no reason at first, but I think they will be a bridge to know what is happening in the game in the real world. For example, most elementary school students don't know the word sustainable, but they are happy when the card comes out. Then, the SDGs can tell that "it is an activity to increase (initiatives) for sustainable cards."

As for the result, the total of (4 players) in the first competitive game is only 10,000 to 13,000 ㌽, but the second game in the cooperative type increases to 18,000 to 19,000 ㌽. As a child, prioritizing the sustainability of the world over the first game desperately trying to get points, there are many second games that took actions other than just to increase the score, saying "Let's put up with it here". I feel strange. From there, it takes about 90 minutes to think about a "competitive" society and a "cooperative" society, ask which society is closer to you, and reflect on that.

■ Increase the number of people who know to take action toward 2030

- Do you have a response that SDGs are transmitted.

Kadogawa: My impression is that the reaction is better than I imagined when conducting it in elementary school classes and workshops. The other day, during the game, a child in the lower grades of elementary school saw a board that was about to run out of resources and said uneasily, "No, the world will be destroyed!" Even if you watch a video that conveys the crisis of resources, you can't think of it as your own thing, but if you understand it as a simulated experience through a game, the way information is entered after that is completely different. He seriously thinks about "the importance of continuing the world".

- Please let me suggest the future development.

Kadogawa: I have raised funds through crowdfunding (raising small funds online), so I would like to increase the number of human resources who can use this to conduct classes and workshops. We are also promoting cooperation with local governments, and we are considering having them adopted for school lessons and creating a get-the-point version for each city. For example, if the cards used in the game are local specialties, or if the natural energy is a local solar park, it will contribute to the understanding of the region.

We would like to expand the types of games, such as shortened versions, to increase opportunities for experience. Since the awareness of the SDGs is still low, I think it is important to increase the number of people who know and understand first in order to lead to actions to achieve 17 goals in 30 years.

* Honorific titles omitted in the text

Composition: Satoshi Aida / Photo: Naoko Saegusa