The rules of the game
How to play.
Four or six crises. Three dimensions. Four strategies. Ten or sixteen years.
1.
Build your foundation
Name your world, your foundation, and your currency. Choose how fast to spend your endowment (a calm 5% per year, forever — or a bright 20% per year for a single generation). Decide whether your money rests in mission-aligned or market-heavy investments.
2.
Watch the world
Your world has three dimensions — People, Systems, Planet — each scored 0–100. The average decides whether the world is RED, ORANGE, or GREEN. If any single dimension collapses, the world is in crisis no matter the average.
3.
Respond to crises
Every year, a new crisis arrives — housing, food, health, education, the economy, the climate. You allocate the year's available budget across four strategies:
Direct Service
×2 · immediate · people
Helps people right now. The need returns tomorrow.
Systems Change
×5 · 3 years · people + systems
Seed a policy that changes the shape of the crisis.
Civic Infrastructure
×5 · 3 years · systems
Build courts, records, inspectors — the unromantic durables.
Environment
×5 · 3 years · planet
Tend the ground beneath. Slow, patient, essential.
4.
Mind the decay
Every year, the world gets worse on its own — −10 per dimension, plus a market penalty if you're heavily invested in markets. You're not investing at leisure. You're racing.
5.
The halftime switch
At the mode midpoint, you get one chance to revisit both your payout rate and your investment posture. The instrument can be re-tuned — but only once.
6.
The years ahead
After active play, the world keeps moving on its own. Your durability — the share of structural investment — and your remaining endowment determine whether the world holds at the final year.