Carry a causal explanation out of three repeating mornings.

Rain has returned, yet the town's wells keep falling. You are a young investigator who can rewind the morning. Visit two sites, collect clues, and carry one memory into the next investigation. Across three mornings, connect the reasons a farmer, a factory operator, and a lender cannot act. Then use a limited budget to redesign the water rules and aim for a future in which all three choose to cooperate.

Choices2 sites each morning

Carry1 memory each morning

Mornings3 / 3

The one-memory limit is a game rule. Real investigations preserve all evidence.

The team finds the first anomaly at a drying well

Your path through the game

How to play and what to look for

Each morning, choose two of five sites, reveal their evidence, revise your hypothesis, and carry one memory forward. Connect your three memories as natural change, people's choices, and institutions. With a budget of 4, choose one core rule and up to two supports. Compare the characters' choices with the old rules, and check water recovery, finance, and cost sharing.

Visit two sites each morning and carry one clue forward
Use three memories to connect falling water and people's choices
Redesign the rules and test all three characters' cooperation

What makes it rewarding

The same morning looks different when you change where you investigate and which memory you keep. A rainfall explanation gives way as scattered clues connect. Changing one rule card lets you see whose reasons for cooperating change, making each revision an experiment you can understand.

Game theory you will learn

Pumping gives one user an immediate benefit while the cost of falling water spreads across the region. Test explanations against evidence, then change rights, measurement, and repayment terms to change individual choices. Explore mechanism design by making cooperation worthwhile for each participant.

Questions to take away

Who still chose to pump, and what did conservation cost that person? Did your remembered evidence support the rule you chose? Replay with different sites or support cards and check how a stronger explanation leads to a better design.

CAST

Three people living this morning

Fumi

Small farmer

Wants: This year's harvest and the farm's survival
Fears: Conserving alone while others pump

“If I stop alone while others pump, my farm still loses.”

Gaku

Beverage-plant operator

Wants: Reliable operations and predictable water limits
Fears: Being singled out for unfair cuts

“If everyone measures the same way, I can commit to cuts.”

Noa

Community-bank lender

Wants: Conservation investment that can still be repaid
Fears: Repayment arriving before groundwater recovers

“I can finance conservation if repayment can wait for results.”