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2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World

The 3rd Geogames Symposium (3GGS) provides an international forum for researchers, developers, and game enthusiasts to present, exchange, and advance knowledge in the field of geogames. The symposium examines the potential of analogue and digital geogames as catalysts for understanding and transforming communities, environments, and societal practices. This year’s theme focuses on the role of geogames in fostering awareness, responsibility, and care for our planet. In particular, the symposium highlights how geogames can be employed to explore Earth as a complex, living system of interdependent actors and self-regulating processes, thereby inspiring more sustainable ways of living and informing the reshaping of human–environment interactions.

Editors: Alenka Poplin (Iowa State University), Ítalo Sousa de Sena (University College Dublin), Arghavan Akbarieh (Eindhovel University of Technology)

Student Forum


CyClash: A Campus Exploration Geogame for Freshman Orientation

Aidan Flagel

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 9-12

Virtual Reality Frameworks for Collaborative Environmental Simulation and Workforce Training

Gabriel Vald, Yusuf Sermet, Uditha Mudiyanselage, Ali Rahmani, Ramteja Sajja and Ibrahim Demir

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 13-15

Student Project: Muckraker

Dawson Glawe, Hope Austin, Maddy Rupp and Samuel Coventon

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 16-18

Immersive Serious Games for Environmental Education and Disaster Preparedness

Gabriel Vald, Yusuf Sermet, Bekir Demiray, Eveline Gonzalez, Eslim Emiroglu and Ibrahim Demir

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 19-21

Ancient Warfare

Michael Kasno, Malcolm Wei, Sarah Jefferson and Jasper Vinge Hanson

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 22-25

A Theoretical Framework for a Behavioral Simulation Game on Multimodal Decision-Making in MaaS

Claire Anderson, Valeria Cairati and Soora Rasouli

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 26

Geogames, Participatory Planning, and Emotions


Pins, Pendulums and Pearls (3P)—A Board Game for Public Transport (PuT) and Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)

Todor Stojanovski

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 27-31

Hybrid Geogaming as a Process for Engaging Children in Designing Public Spaces

Ítalo Sousa de Sena and Chiara Cocco

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 32-36

Co-Creating a Geogame for Climate Adaptation and Engagement

Xu Liu

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 37-40

The Emotions Geogame: Mobile Location-Based Game for Mapping Emotions and Places

Niall Sharma, Alenka Poplin, Chiara Garau and Kumar Siddharth

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 41-44

Geogames for Playful Learning and Teaching


Learning Through Play: The Development of a 1:1 Scale Board Game in an Outdoor Space at a Rural School

Ariane Magda Borges, Raul Isaias Campos and Vitor de Almeida Silva

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 45-48

Quiz-Based Learning in Serious Games for Cybersecurity Education: A Preliminary Review

Trishala Jain and Zhenhua "Aaron" Yang

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 49-53

Translating Geogames into Local Contexts: Energy and Biodiversity Board Games to Strengthen Environmental Awareness in Community Homestays, Nepal

Shankar Tiwari, Deepak Marahatta and Jiwnath Ghimire

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 54-57

Game Demonstrations


Meliponários: Pollinating Knowledge

Ariane Magda Borges, Raul Isaias Campos and Vitor de Almeida Silva

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 58-59

Promoting Disaster Risk Reduction Knowledge and Skills through Analogue Games

Deepak Marahatta and Jiwnath Ghimire

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 60

Save The Cyberverse

Ana Bull, Ryan Schlesinger and Zhenhua "Aaron" Yang

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 61-63

Friend or Enemy: An Urban Design Card Game

Christopher Craig

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 64-65

The Emotions Geogame: Testing the Prototype and Exploring Emotions and Places in Ames, Iowa

Alenka Poplin, Niall Sharma, Chiara Garau, Kumar Siddharth, Arti Fitch, Elizabeth Kendell and Samuel Coventon

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 66-67

Engaging Children, Storytelling, and Simulation


Serious Games as Outreach Activities: A Case Study of a Children’s Educational Escape Room on the Circular Built Environment

Arghavan Akbarieh and Qi Han

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 68-73

Geogames for Reconnecting Children with Nature in Urban Environments

Eszter Tóth and Anna Szilágyi-Nagy

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World

Tell Your Story Through Games (TYS): Preliminary Guidelines for Mixed-Migrant Participatory Game Jams

Kseniia Harshina

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 79-82

The Multiplayer Trap Game: A Web-Based Strategy Simulation of the Sustainability Paradox

Matthew Fisher

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World

Workshops


Geogames for Community Engagement: Learning and Experimentation for Climate-Responsive Planning and Community Health

Joshua Peery, Celen Pasalar and Yanhua Lu

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 85

Developing Geogames for Disaster Preparedness in Iowa, US

Deepak Marahatta and Jiwnath Ghimire

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 95-98

Mapping the Critical Zone: A Living Lab MLE for Collaborative Geogame Design

Maroun C. Tabbal and John F. Barimo

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 88-89

Fora.ai: Reshaping collaboration for climate and social impact

Moira Zellner

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 90-91

Geogames for Disaster Risk Reduction and Crisis


A Multiplayer Computer Game to Train Emergency Management Professionals

Cameron MacKenzie, Alex R. Renner, Eliot H. Winer, Abram D. Anders, Michael C. Dorneich, Sri Sritharan and Brett McIntyre

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 92-94

From Play to Preparedness: Behavioral Change and Community Resilience Triggered by Geography-Based Serious Games in Kathmandu Valley Schools

Deepak Marahatta, Jiwnath Ghimire and Alenka Poplin

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 95-98

A Game Based Participatory Approach to Walkability

Hakan Ilikoba and Nesip Omer Erem

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 99-103

Community Co-Design & Social Engagement with Geogames


Spatializing Participatory Budgeting: Testing Municipal Facilitators in a Housing Policy Game

Micael Sousa

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 104-107

From Prompts to Progress: Interactive Learning on Energy Transitions through an LLM Prompt-Based Game

Ana de Boon, Arghavan Akbarieh and Dujuan Yang

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 108-114

Compete, Collaborate, and Co-Create Your Circular City (C6) Serious Game

Arghavan Akbarieh, Qi Han and Alexander Klippel

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World

Communicative Practices in Landscape Development: A Comparison of a Public Meeting and the Deliberative Geogame Urbanity

Anna Szilágyi-Nagy

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 122-125

Enhancing Urban Realism in GeoGames: An Unreal-Based Framework for Multi-Source Building Data and Dual-Database

Ziyu Tong and Qi Wen

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 126-131

Geogames Technologies, Platforms and Social Innovation


The Use of Location-Based Games in the Dissemination of Cultural Heritage

Ariane Magda Borges and Natalie Johanna Groetelaars

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 132-137

The Great Track (TGT): A Location-Based Social Geo-game Integrating Exploration, Creativity, and Community

Javad Zanganeh

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 138-143

Evaluation of RPG Maker as an Alternative to GIS for the Generation of Interactive Maps

Clara García, César Táboas-Carrera, Silvia M. González-Collazo, Ítalo Sousa de Sena and Jesús Balado

2026-06-29 2026 • Proceedings of the 3rd Geogames Symposium: Games and Play for a Better World • 144-147