Marin underwater: just a game, for now

Model scenarios make players cope with climate chaos in board simulation

Coastal homes are flooded and uninhabitable. Roads resemble creek beds, and hospitals and fire stations regularly fill with water. The drinking-water supply has been contaminated by the rising sea, and power failures are routine rather than a rare occurrence. This is Marin Island, year 2050. These dystopian conditions are the norm in Game of Floods, a board game designed by Marin County urban planners to educate the public on how to adapt to climate change. Players become planning commissioners — a fantasy held by many? — who are faced with the difficult task of saving what they can and leaving the rest to the tides.

The doomsday scenarios might not be that far-fetched.

Flooding last February forced evacuations in San Anselmo. The chances for similar disasters are expected to only get worse for low-lying cities in Marin County, which has miles of bayfront and coast. A vulnerability assessment of local sea levels had dire predictions: By 2030, about 5,000 acres could be flooded, and an additional 3,000 acres could face a deluge of salt water during storm surges. The long-term outlook is even worse — sea levels could rise 60 inches by the end of the century.

“We wanted to get community members involved in adaptation planning for Marin,” said Alex Westhoff, a county planner who helped create the game. “Participants are tasked with acting as planning commissioners and making decisions with kind of a vision for protecting Marin.”

“We community wanted members to get involved in adaptation planning for Marin. Participants are tasked with acting as planning commissioners and making decisions with kind of a vision for protecting Marin.” Alex Westhoff, a county planner who helped create Game of Floods

The board game is fairly simple and also fairly complicated. Set on the semi-fictional Marin Island, which is inspired by West Marin, the game allows up to six players to pick an asset they want to defend from the ominous future conditions. Some select a particular beach where rare birds nest, or a street populated with houses. Others lean toward public safety and firehouses. Players then analyze strategies for defending these places.

Barriers such as high costs, environmental impact and community interests must be considered. The goal is to reach a consensus and defend the island against the elements. Nobody wins.

And one other problem can arise: Reaching a consensus on priorities can be tough.

“A lot of it is very much value-based,” Westhoff said. “Some players value habitat; other people value the historic character of a place. Others value the tourism or recreation economy of the island and want to see that protected. So there have been times when groups just can’t agree on types of strategies.”

Marin County urban planners can relate to this challenge. Right now, the community development agency is seeking ways for Marin to adapt to the inevitable. Planners are soliciting feedback from community members and experts as they consider how to adapt to rising sea levels. Game of Floods is part of that outreach, and planners regularly visit schools and community centers to facilitate the game.

Stori Oates, a teacher at Marin Academy in San Rafael, has played the game twice with her 11th- and 12thgrade environmental science classes.

“Some groups were so focused on the economic impact, and they were thinking about how much it would cost and how to raise revenue,” she said. “They came up with a plan of how to tax people over 10 years to make it happen. Others were like, ‘Let’s just build a wall around everything.’ ”

In total, more than 3,000 people have played the game in workshops. It is free to download and recently won a National Planning Achievement Award for public outreach. Input has come from players as far afield as New Orleans, Hawaii and Maine.

“We’ve even gone international,” Westhoff said. “We recently got a request from British Columbia.”

The board game was built to resemble Marin for a reason, but the stakes raised are by no means limited to one Northern California county.

“We also wanted it to be generic enough to be able to be played elsewhere, because the impacts of climate change are global,” Westhoff said.

Marin County Community Development Agency Seniors at Marin Academy in San Rafael weigh priorities in a dire climate-change scenario as they play Game of Floods in class. The board game presents a future Marin County is likely to face — and not only Marin.

Josh Edelson / The Chronicle 2017 In the devastatingly rainy month of February 2017, Caltrans workers prepare to drive through a flooded section of Highway 37 in Novato.

Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Above: Alex Westhoff, a Marin County planner, sets up the Game of Floods board game in San Rafael.

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 2017 Left: In January 2017, Jenny Holden (left), Isaac Holden, 6, and Liat Holden, 9, work together to fill sandbags for their home on Sunny Hills Drive in San Anselmo. The town has suffered severe flooding from its downtown creek over the years.