The Energy Game

The Cards

The cards will be divided into the following categories:

• Fuel - Fuel is consumed to release its energy. It includes things like food, battery charge, disposable batteries, and gasoline.
• Rechargeable - A rechargeable is something that can be replentished with energy from some source. Typically it would be a rechargeable battery, but a hydrogen or methane tank, or a flywheel is also possible.
• Converter - A converter takes energy in one form and makes it another with some amount of loss in the process. A generator is a converter that takes gasoline (typically) as input and produces AC electricity.
• Producer - A producer "creates" energy. A solar panel or windmill are examples of producers.
• Consumer - A consumer "consumes" energy. An amplifier or firepit consumes energy.

Some cards take energy as input: Rechargeables, Converters, and Consumers and some have energy as output: Fuel, Rechargeables, Converters, and Producers. Energy needs to be in the same form for it to be passed from one card to another. The following are forms of energy:

• Food
• Gasoline, diesel, kerosene, alcohol
• Non-rechargeable batteries
• 12-volt DC, 12-volt charging DC (14.1V)
• cell DC (1.2V-1.5V), 1.2-volt charging DC
• 120-volt AC, 240-volt AC
• light, heat

The layout of the cards shall have the name of the device is in the upper-left corner, the output energy is in the upper-right, and the input energy is in the lower-left. That way, if, say, you have a bunch of lights, you can stack the cards to show only the energy input, or the reverse for energy output. The example cards are shown below, but I originally created them as a PDF file here.

The idea is that you start with your consumers — the devices you'll need in your camp. Print as many cards as you need and write in the values as appropriate. Then work right-to-left and try using a generator, for instance, and connect that card to the left. Likewise, connect the gasoline fuel card to the left of the generator and figure out how many gallons of gas you'll need.

Fuel Card

Rechargeable Card

Converter Card

Producer Card

Consumer Card

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All content copyright ©2007 Jason Olshefsky.