Cooperation: The Wealth of Nations Game.
Compare barter, socialism, capitalism, and money democracy (formerly called autonomy).
Apply sociology to economics by playing Cooperation: The Wealth of Nations Game. The version available here is for playing on a computer. The picture shows students playing the board game version.
You manage cities of 20,000 people trying to live the good life. People in your cities need food, fiber for clothing, wood for housing, metal for machines, and fuel to run the machines. They can get them in only two ways; they must work to produce them or they must trade with other cities to get them. Getting resources earns 10 resource points for each different resource. You must get food for each city or the people starve and your score for that city is negative 20. The highest score is 70, (50 resource points plus 20 free time points).
Your score will depend not only on your decisions. It will also depend on the economic rules of the game you are playing at the time. Start with Barter; it’s the beginner's game. Majority Rule is the socialist game. Making Money is the capitalist game. Autonomy is the expert, tournament game.
Download the game, instructions, and the document, The Economics of Cooperation, to read what it all means.
It's free. Click here.Cooperation
Version 4.0 The file is about 2.5MB zipped. The game contains tutorials on how to play. You can also download instructions for Barter, the beginners' game by clicking here. Barter
Instructions. The file is 1.2MB zipped.
Download instructions for Majority Rule, Making Money, and Autonomy here: Majority
Rule, Making Money, and Autonomy instructions (18KB).
Download a Word document explaining the Economics of Cooperation: The Wealth of Nations Game here. The
Economics of Cooperation (25KB zipped). If you want a boxed boardgame, $30 plus $10 shipping.
Putting
people to work costs free time points, one point lost for each 1,000 people employed. Having free time is part of having a good life.
