BARTERTOWN, Alternate Currencies version

Faculty Research
Date: Fall 2019  
Principal Investigator: Janette Kim

This game asks how new networks of care and sociability can emerge in a world without money. Residents of a fictional land called Bartertown must brave disasters such as climate change, a stock market crash or even a divorce. Players can exchange favors and resources to survive, using unique ‘powers’ that trade in alternate forms of currency: property, inventiveness, mobility, generosity and influence. Whether they win or lose, dominate or inspire, players will explore unexpected ways to strategize, negotiate, and reshape both the city and the home through a new economy of favors and resource-sharing.

Creators and Users. Bartertown was originally commissioned by the Bay Area Conservation and Development Commission Adapt to Rising Tides program, via a grant to Urban Works Agency, for use as a public engagement tool in a Caltrans Regional Planning Grant awarded to Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), BCDC, Caltrans District 4, and Bay Area Regional Collaborative (BARC). For more on the original version of Bartertown, see here. The version of Bartertown shown here was developed with support from Forecast Berlin for the Housing the Human Festival in October, 2019; and has been played at the Oslo Architecture Triennale, UC Santa Barbara, SPUR San Francisco. Janette Kim, designer, with Research/Design Assistants Jen Tai, Clare Hacko, Alma Davila, Zhongwei Want, and Maria Ramirez Perez.

How to Play. Please see our News/Events page for upcoming game nights, If you are interested in hosting a game night, feel free to contact us at janettekim at cca.edu.