In 2023 and 2024, Boho researched and created So Farm, So Good—a narrative tabletop game in which participants take on the identities of various user groups occupying a fictional farming community based in the South-West Slopes region of New South Wales. Commissioned by and researched in partnership with CSIRO, So Farm, So Good is a tight 75-minute tour of a single rural town amidst big and inevitable ecological, social and economic changes.

Participants round up ping pong ball sheep, plant riparian vegetation along the river bank, strategise about the economic viability of their farms and try to put on the best country show in living memory in order to steer the future of their beloved town into its best possible iteration.

So Farm, So Good is hands-on—it presents a series of games that demonstrate the complex crossovers of the biophysical, economic and social spheres that comprise their fictional town. Concepts communicated in the game include systems modelling, thresholds and tipping points, mapping futures, trade-offs and collaborative versus individual decision-making.

Appropriate for policy-makers and representatives of council, agricultural businesses, conferences, farmers, environmental or science groups, community leaders and festival audiences.

SCIENCE & FUNDING PARTNER
In researching and creating this work, Boho worked with scientist Dr Katrina Szetey as part of CSIRO’s Future States project.