Playing for Change: Using Card Games to Teach Sustainability and Responsible Management

David Anderson & Davina Bird

At Lincoln International Business School, we’ve been exploring new ways to bring the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) to life. With support from the PRME UK & Ireland Seed Funding competition, we co-developed a suite of four interactive card games designed to make sustainability education both meaningful and memorable.

The goal? To turn complex global challenges into accessible, engaging conversations – where students are not just learning about sustainability but actively playing with it.

We’ve embedded the impactful five (i5) principles—Iterative, Joyful, Meaningful, Active, Social – into the design, making the games adaptable for diverse teaching contexts.

The full Educational Packs are now ready to support colleagues across disciplines. If you’re looking for practical, playful ways to bring PRME values into your teaching, drop us a message—we’d love to share ideas. Games developed include:

  • 17 SDG Memory Game (Pair matching game)
  • Sustainable Development Trumps (Trick taking game, based on Top Trumps)
  • Cards for Sustainability (Party game, based on Cards Against Humanity)
  • Concord (Cooperative deck builder, based on Dominion)
17 SDG Memory Game
Cards for Sustainability

The PRME Educational Packs includes cards, game instructions, and ready-to-use classroom activities. Whether it’s helping students develop awareness of the 17 SDGs through a memory game, debating which PRME-inspired action has the strongest impact, or engaging in strategic cooperation through the deck-building game Concord, each game offers a fresh angle on embedding responsible leadership into the curriculum.

Play them in your own classes, download the Educational Packs below which include free print & play versions of each game and teaching support resources, available below.

We want to help you bring these into your classroom, if you need any support in printing or playing please contact us at:

  • David Anderson: danderson@lincoln.ac.uk
  • Davina Bird: dbird@danderson

Educational Packs (Free Downloadable Resources)

Teaching Support Resources Pack

The teaching support pack provides an overview of each game, instructions for setup and game play, as well as suggested classroom activities. We encourage you to adapt these as required to best suit your student needs.

Teaching Support Resources PackDownload

  1. 17 SDG Memory Game
  • Contents: 17 x SDG Cards, 1 x Setup instructions.
  • Print instructions: print on card for best results, in colour, single sided.
  • Note: you will need to print two copies to play the memory game.
  • See teaching support resources to help integrate classroom discussions.
1_Print2Play_SDGsDownload

2. Sustainable Development Trumps

  • Contents: 34 x Trump Cards, 1 x Setup Instructions.
  • Print instructions: print on card for best results, in colour, single sided.
  • See teaching support resources to help integrate classroom discussions.
2_Print2Play_TopTrumpsDownload

3. Cards for Sustainability

  • Content: 204 x Playing cards, 1 x Setup instructions.
  • Print instructions: print on card for best results, single sided.
  • Note: To play this game you will also need one copy of the 17 SDG Memory game.
  • See teaching support resources for various ways to play and to help integrate classroom discussions.
3_Print2Play_Cards4Sustainability (w Cut Guides)Download

4. Concord

  • Content: 204 x Playing cards, 1 x Rule Booklet.
  • Print instructions: print on card for best results, in colour single sided.
  • Note: To play this game you will also need one copy of the 17 SDG Memory game.
  • See teaching support resources for various ways to play and to help integrate classroom discussions.
4_Print2Play_ConcordDownload