Best World Game is first and foremost, a game. Though it deals with serious things, it is not itself serious. It’s a game, and games are about having fun.
Rule #1 Have Fun
The object of the game is to create the best world – really. There are a few ways to define that, but one we like is what Bukminster Fuller used: A world that works for everyone with no one and nothing left out.
Another one that gives us a little more focus is a world that is thriving socially and ecologically. We say “thriving” because we believe the best world is beyond “sustainable” and is really thriving. Based on this definition, the game is about transforming things that are in the way of environmental and human thriving into things that create the best world. The catch is that this transformation must happen in a way that no one and nothing is left out.
Rule #2 Create the Best World
Best World Game is not new, though this structure for it is. People have been playing Best World Game in their own way for centuries, but – as far as we know – there has never been a structure to help people learn and play the game together. What you’ll find here is a structure that is currently, and always will be being perfected. It will change and grow as we get better at playing Best World Game. So its really important that you share how you are playing and what you are learning with your fellow players so we can all get better together.
Rule #3 Share Your Learning
There are three ways to play Best World Game. You can play with the other people in your household. You can play at work. You can play with your brain. If you want, you can play all three ways at once, but you don’t have to.
To play best world game with other people in your household, focus on what you bring into your home, what you take out of your home, and how you are with your friends and neighbors. In the best world, you’d only bring things into your home if they helped create the best world. And you’d only send things out of your home if they did the same. Similarly, you’d only interact with your friends and neighbors in ways that helped to create the best world.
To play best world game with other people at work, focus on what the environmental impacts of your organization, the human impacts of your organization and the purpose your organization exists to fulfill. Then work with your coworkers to try to transform all of those things into things that are designed to create the best world.
To play best world game with your brain, start by defining what you would need for your world to really work for you and for those around you with no one and nothing left out. This might include some self reflection on what really makes you happy (it might be different than you think now) and on what kind of impact you want to have on those around you. Then, practice, practice, practice to get really good and living up to your best world.
Rule #3 Focus on your world
I’ll be honest, today there are a lot of things I bring into my home and a lot of things I send out that do not help create the best world. Similarly, a lot of what I do for work isn’t creating the best world. And I’m not thinking and acting in ways that create the best world all the time either. That’s why I want to play Best World Game. When I play, I get a little bit better. And when I keep playing, I get a lot better. There is nothing to be ashamed of for the ways your world is not yet aligned with the best world. We are all stuck in systems that aren’t designed with Best World Game in mind. But the best way we can change that, is by playing the game.
Rule #4 Keep Playing Best World Game
To really run up the score and eventually win Best World Game, you need to play with a team. Teammates can be anyone. Other people in your household, other people at work, friends and relatives, anyone. The more people who play Best World Game, the faster the game moves.
Rule #5 Play with a team