The Geelong creator of The Human Rights Game has scored an invite to speak at three United Nations (UN) conferences in the US.
“This is a really big kick for Geelong in the world arena,” educationalist Hugh Kingsley said.
Students from Ocean Grove Primary School and North Geelong Secondary College, along with two American schools, helped test the game during development, Hugh explained.
“We did three classes with [North Geelong Secondary College] and the kids weren’t shy with their opinions,” the 65-year-old said.
“They did a great job these kids! We could have stayed another hour.”
Hugh’s American co-creator, human rights advocate Andrea Chorney, first pitched the idea to him 2016.
But making the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights into a fun children’s game was challenging, he admitted.
“We spent a lot of time putting post-it notes all over the wall and threw many of them out.”
In April they released the game, which explored many of the issues currently driving Black Lives Matter protests, Hugh said.
The game, now available in Australia, Canada and the US, features artwork by Gordon TAFE graphic design coordinator Jose Rodriguez and students.
The “competitive discussion” game combines the randomness of chance cards and snakes-and-ladders-style game play with scenarios, according to Hugh.
During testing students told them the game’s questions “really make us think” and “talk about stuff we don’t usually talk about”, he said.
“And that’s what we wanted to happen.”
Hugh will present remotely at an American conference in November and will travel to the US for another two conferences in 2021, depending on the COVID-19 situation.
For information: humanrightsgame.com
