CARTEL CHAOS
A discursive card game with ever changing rules, endless dead ends, impending doom at each turn, and every player out for blood. There’s only one goal, getting across the border alive!
Nearly 70,000 people arrived at the border of Mexico and Texas in 2013 hoping for asylum after traveling more than 2,000 miles on foot. Almost all children, some young as 8, make the deadly journey because their home countries have become overrun by drug cartels and kidnappers looking to sell children into the sex trade. Many who make it to the border get deported but almost all of them try again.
Cartel Chaos is a game based on the true stories of children who have found sanctuary in the United States. The game sheds light on the situation by spreading awareness about what is happening and creating understanding.
IDEATION
USER TESTING
FINAL PROTOTYPE
Games allow us to soften our political opinions and be more willing to accept an alternative reality, leaving room for empathy to grow.
Although based on real stories, the game is not to trivialize the hardships faced by of these kids. Instead, players create their own paths inspired by the real journeys traveled by these young and desperate refugees in hopes of realizing their point of view.
Cartel Chaos is the new card game about sneaking past the street gangs, hiding from kidnappers, and outsmarting border control to gain asylum in the United States. Without getting deported or trafficked into the sex trade, you must build a path to sanctuary. It’s no easy feat but it has been done, most of the time by kids. So, can you cross into the borderlands without getting caught? Try a hand and find out!
GAME INSTRUCTIONS
LIVE UPDATE EXPANSION APP
To keep the game relevant and up to date, the supplementary digital application incorporates headlines, real time events, and policy changes into the flow of the game.
