Digital preservation and related games

Some games are available for downloading and printing. For other games you may have to contact the creator or publisher.

If you know of any other games that should be added to this page or if you have other feedback, please let me know.

Digital preservation games

Name	By	Description	Players	Duration	Type	Mechanism	License	Remark	Image
Archive	Émilie Fortin and Jean-François Ruest of the Université Laval	In this collaborative and competitive game, you try to obtain the resources to keep your collections indefinitely!	2-4	45m	Board game	Game of Life	CC BY-NC-SA 4.0	I playtested an early version of the game at iPRES 2019 in Amsterdam.
CURATE! The Digital Curator Game	DigCurV: Katie McCadden, Susan Schreibmann, Jennifer Edmond, Kate Fernie and Carol Usher	Put yourselves into digital project scenarios and address challenges that arise when institutions engage with digital curation and preservation.	4-6	45m	Board game	Monolopy	CURATE! is copyright of DigCurV.	CURATE! inspired me to start developing Preservia.
DANS Data Game	DANS-KNAW: Ricarda Braukmann, Heidi Berkhout, Ellen Leenarts, Cees H.J. Hof, E.M.S. Dijk and René van Horik	The DANS Data Game gives an impression of the research data landscape and was produced for the 15th anniversary of DANS in 2020.	2 or more	15m	Card game	Quartet	CC-By-SA	Thank you Henk van den Heuvel for mentioning this game.
Data Horror Escape Room	A collaborative team from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Leiden University and the Eindhoven University of Technology	Can you escape this online data horror escape room?	1-many	45m	Escape room	Online	CC-BY-SA-4.0
Digital Preservation Jeopardy!	Ruby Martinez and Tricia Patterson	What is Digital Preservation Jeopardy?	1-many	15m	Jeopardy!	Jeopardy!	Unknown	Photo credits: Digital Preservation Coalition, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Digital Preservation Storage Criteria Game	National Library of New Zealand	Players consider the relative importance of each criterion in the context of specific roles where resources or support may be limited.	3-5	30-60m	Board game	Drafting/Deck building	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License	Image credit: Ashley Blewer
File Format or Fake?	Karyn Williamson	Test your file format knowledge: is the file format on the screen an existing or fake file format?	1-many	10m	Quizz	Choose between two options.	Unknown	Played it at iPRES 2022 in Glasgow.
Mille Formats	Émilie Fortin and Jean-François Ruest of the Université Laval	Try to get your format cards into a trusted digital repository before anyone else.	2-7	20m	Card game	Drafting/Deck building	CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Nibble in Cyberspace	Ross Spencer	Help Nibble fight entropy itself by following good #digipres practice	1	as long as you want	Video game	Shoot 'em up	Contact Ross Spencer
Obsolescence	Colin Armstrong and Valene Jouvet of the British Library	Obsolescence is a competitive card game, themed around the practices and challenges of digital preservation. Avoid obsolescence by not drawing an ‘Obsolescence’ card.	2-5	15-30m	Card game	Exploding kittens	Retheme of 'Exploding Kittens'. Use only in a non-commercial capacity.	Obsolescence is a lot of fun and has beautiful original graphics.
Open Science Escape Room	Elisa Rodenburg, Lena Karvovskaya, Eirini Zormpa and Anna Volkova	Can you escape this online open science escape room?	1-many	45m	Escape room	Online	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License	Played it at iPRES 2022 in Glasgow.
Preservia	Remco van Veenendaal	Roll dice, explore Preservia, recover heritage, restore policy. Win!	2-4	60-90m	Board game	Eurogame / Role-playing game	CC0
Save my bits	Eld Zierau	Learn more about bit preservation. Invest your money wisely and form alliances. don't lose bit information.	3-10	60-90m	Board game	Eurogame	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
The Digital Archivist	Giulia Carla Rossi	The Digital Archivist is a video game about digital preservation that uses a webcam combined with a colour tracking algorithm as the player’s input.	1	5m	Video game	Space invaders	Contact Giulia Carla Rossi	Played it at iPRES 2022 in Glasgow. Photo credit: Giulia Carla Rossi.
Ticket to preserve	Herman Uffen en Tamar Kinkel	Together with colleagues, you will learn how to get a grip on sustainable digital heritage collection expenditure and how to map out your ambitions.	2-4	45m	Board game	Monolopy/Ticket to ride	Contact Netwerk Digitaal Erfgoed	I had the opportunity to contribute to the game's development.

Name	By	Description	Players	Duration	Type	Mechanism	License	Remark	Image
Play-A-LOD Animals	Marcia van Oploo, Constant Gordon, Erwin Folmer and Platform Linked Data Nederland.	The aim of the Play-a-LOD Animals is to become acquainted with the principles of Linked Data, by creating triples consisting of a Subject - Predicate - Object.	2-4	15-30m	Tile-based game	DominoesDominoes	Buy the game at bol.com or contact Hans van Bragt.
Informatiespel	Hermes advies en management	The aim of the game is to get information management on the agenda, to raise awareness and lay the foundations of knowledge.	groups	60-90m	Serious game	Storytelling/Deck building	Unknown	Thank you André Plat for mentioning this game.
KVAN jubileumkwartet	KVAN	A quartet game created to celebrate the 125th anniversary of KVAN.	2-4	15m	Card game	Quartets	Unknown