Games for Change: Empowering Civic Imagination Through Tabletop Play

Sat Sep 27 2025 at 03:00 pm to 06:00 pm UTC-04:00

2050 15th St | Detroit

Cezanne Charles
Publisher/HostCezanne Charles
Advertisement
This talk explores how games, primarily analog, social, and cooperative ones, become tools for civic engagement and collective resistance.
About this Event

This conversation begins with 463NCY, a fast-paced tabletop skirmish game that casts players as cybernetically enhanced agents battling for digital rights, privacy, and autonomy in a city governed by total surveillance and algorithmic control. Designed for quick tactical sessions, 463NCY invites players to inhabit the friction between insurgency and infrastructure. The missions unfold in a near-future smart city dominated by the Technoligarchy and its all-seeing nervous system, The GRID. Whether playing as VECTORS, hacking for liberation, or as PIGS AUDITORS defending the system’s integrity, participants explore the moral complexity of technology’s role in society.

As a “serious game,” 463NCY belongs to a growing body of creative work that repurposes game mechanics not just for entertainment, but as platforms for learning, rehearsal, and speculation. This panel brings together designers and artists working at the intersection of games and social change to discuss how tabletop formats can raise critical questions about urban governance, mobility, AI, and democracy. We’ll explore why tabletop games are particularly effective at modeling complex systems, fostering empathy, and enabling situated decision-making in public policy contexts.

What does it mean to design games not only as stories or simulations, but as infrastructures of imagination? What might games teach us about resisting the logics of optimization, surveillance, and control?

Advertisement

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

2050 15th St, 2050 15th Street, Detroit, United States

Tickets

USD 0.00

Sharing is Caring:

More Events in Detroit

International Observe the Moon Night
Sat, 27 Sep at 01:00 pm International Observe the Moon Night

Knapp | Detroit Public Library

DIY Bird Feeders
Sat, 27 Sep at 01:00 pm DIY Bird Feeders

Edison | Detroit Public Library

Oktoberfest Beer Barrel Cruise
Sat, 27 Sep at 02:00 pm Oktoberfest Beer Barrel Cruise

9666 E Jefferson Ave, Detroit, MI 48214-2910, United States

TAILgate Presented by Strategic Staffing Solutions
Sat, 27 Sep at 02:00 pm TAILgate Presented by Strategic Staffing Solutions

Grand Circus Park

Apple Stamping Craft
Sat, 27 Sep at 02:00 pm Apple Stamping Craft

Main | Detroit Public Library

Saturday Family Movie Day
Sat, 27 Sep at 02:00 pm Saturday Family Movie Day

Chaney | Detroit Public Library

Fall Festival day 1
Sat, 27 Sep at 04:00 pm Fall Festival day 1

St. Francis D'Assisi - St. Hedwig Parish

Detroit Corktown Oktoberfest 2025
Sat, 27 Sep at 04:00 pm Detroit Corktown Oktoberfest 2025

Corktown Tavern

Detroit Greektown Oktoberfest 2025
Sat, 27 Sep at 04:00 pm Detroit Greektown Oktoberfest 2025

The Well

Detroit Princess Boat Hosted Let\u2019s Travel The World
Sat, 27 Sep at 05:00 pm Detroit Princess Boat Hosted Let’s Travel The World

Detroit Princess Riverboat

Lorna Shore at Masonic Temple - Temple Theatre
Sat, 27 Sep at 05:00 pm Lorna Shore at Masonic Temple - Temple Theatre

Masonic Temple - Temple Theatre

Detroit is Happening!

Never miss your favorite happenings again!

Explore Detroit Events