Pinoy board game teaches kids how to respond to disasters

A Filipino-developed board game helps immerse players in a series of challenges, where winning relies on one’s skills and knowledge in disaster-response.

“Master of Disaster” is an interactive and informative card-based board game designed to teach children as young as five years old how to prepare for and respond to the most common disasters in the Philippines.

The game is developed by the Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation, an international non-government organization, in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology - National Capital Region CAMANAVA Cluster.

Khryze Gerian, DOST NCR CAMANAVA Project Technical Aide VI, said the game can be played in schools and libraries, starting with Valenzuela City.

“Ang naging partnership po namin is we bought the board games and then we deployed it sa mga schools and sa libraries po. One area po kung saan kami nag-deploy is sa Valenzuela (City) Library,” Gerian told GMA News Online.

(Our partnership involved purchasing the board games and deploying them to schools and libraries. One of the locations where we deployed them is the Valenzuela Library.)

She added that the Valenzuela City Library has conducted tournaments for the board game.

“Sa part namin, we have to monitor din kung ano na yung progress, kung sino na yung na-train with this kasi ito, interactive naman po talaga siya,” Gerian said, adding that the partnership started in 2024.

(On our part, we also have to monitor the progress and track who has been trained with this, since it is interactive.)

Currently, DOST is targeting to present the board game in the CAMANAVA area, which covers Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela.

The board game is available in English, Tagalog, and soon, in other languages in the country.

The game has “disaster” cards, which contain real-life scenarios like earthquakes, fire, typhoons, and floods.

It also includes ‘response’ cards that correspond to specific ‘disaster’ cards. An icon on each card indicates whether it’s a match.

Meanwhile, “knowledge” cards have questions or challenges related to disaster risk reduction, where correct or wrong answers have corresponding consequences.

The board game can cater to up to six players, who take turns in performing the corresponding actions when they landi on a specific cell.

The player must give an appropriate response to the “disaster” card they pick whenever they land on a “disaster” cell.

If a player lands on an “emergency” cell, he and the other players are required to respond using their “respond” card.

A player who lands on a “chance” cell should pick a “chance” card, which could either help or hinder the player from winning.

When a player lands on a “knowledge” cell, the one on his left will pick a “knowledge” card and work together to complete the task.

The game concludes when all but one player have made it to the “safe” cell.

Master of Disaster also includes heart tokens, representing a player’s life in the game, and hero tokens, where the player holding the most of them can be declared the namesake.

The game is one of the exhibits presented in the 2025 Regional Science, Technology, and Innovation Week (RSTW) in Metro Manila, which runs from November 24 to 26. —RF, GMA Integrated News