SETUP

Each player will load this webpage on their device. It will serve as the player's deck of cards throughout the game. The page displays best on larger screens.

Before you start, all players agree on the campaign scenario to be elaborated during the game. The campaign should have an injustice, either stated or implied, and a desired outcome. For example, “Cancel student debt at a community college.” Consult the campaign scenarios handout for ideas.

Read the Points of Intervention descriptions as a group. Each player takes a turn reading one of the points of interventions out loud. Consider what these points of intervention may look like in your chosen campaign scenario.

THE PLAY

Each player clicks on all three cards displayed on the page, randomly generating a new card in each of the three positions.

Each round, one player plays the role of the judge while the other players compete to have their tactic/intervention selected by the judge. After each round, the judge role shifts to the person to the left. Always to the left.

The judge plays an important role. To start the round, the judge presents a development in the campaign scenario. This could be a routine development that adds context or depth to the scenario (“Community college board says that student government association and community college president must provide a debt cancelation plan before the board will consider it”). Or a challenge, complication, or twist (“College president’s offices raided by the FBI, reason unknown”).

Each round, players get a campaign scenario (or development in a single campaign). The timer is started and each player quickly develops a tactic using one of their three cards. When the time is up, each player reads their card outloud and briefly explains the tactic. The judge listens and chooses the the tactic they like best. The person whose tactic is selected wins a point.

Each player then clicks on the card they played that round to generate a replacement card. The next campaign scenario is read alowed and the next round begins, with the judge role now transferring to the player to the left. Always to the left.

WINNING

The first player to 3 points wins.

Points of Intervention

POINT OF PRODUCTION
A place where things are made. Factories, crop lands and schools. The realm of strikes, picket lines, crop-sits, etc. Interventions here are often about leveraging labor power or impacting profits.

POINT OF CONSUMPTION
Places where people are in the role of customer. Stores, restaurants, online spaces, TV/movies etc. Sometimes the only place that an audience has a physical interaction with systems we are changing. The realm of consumer boycotts and markets campaigns.

POINT OF DESTRUCTION
A place where something is destroyed. Dumpsters, mines, clearcuts, landfills, jails, etc. Interventions here are often about stopping the bad.

POINT OF DECISION
Anywhere there is decision making. Corporate HQ, polling places, townhalls, city council meetings, slumlord’s office, etc. Interventions here are often about challenging the assumption of who is a legitimate decision maker.

POINT OF ASSUMPTION
Challenging underlying beliefs/ control mythologies. Could also be actions tied to cultural moments or pop culture trends. Or prefigurative actions such actualizing alternatives.

Example Campaign Scenarios

To start the game, all players will agree on the campaign scenario, which will be elaborated during each round of the game. Choose one of the scenarios below or make up your own.

A different take on campaigns

Order a physical Picture This! deck for workshops and group work:

Based on Picture This! by Center for Story-based Strategy