By Felix von Samson
Felix von Samson is a master’s student in Energy Science and Technology at ETH Zurich, dedicated to finding effective solutions for a more sustainable and equitable world. Nearly two years ago, he envisioned Energetica as a way to make energy systems more accessible and engaging. What started as a personal project has since grown into a collaborative effort, with two friends now contributing to its development and bringing the vision to life.
Energetica is an open-source, web-based multiplayer game that makes exploring the complexities of energy systems both engaging and entertaining. Players must make strategic decisions while facing real-world challenges such as market fluctuations, climate impacts, and limited resources. By combining fun gameplay with educational value, Energetica fosters critical thinking and collaboration, aiming to spark informed discussions about the energy sector and beyond.
While the climate crisis and the urgency of moving away from fossil fuels are well established within the scientific community, identifying the best path to a sustainable future remains a challenge. Energy systems are inherently complex, interconnected, and full of trade-offs between cost, reliability, environmental impact, and social acceptance. Renewable energy sources, for instance, like wind and solar can generate low-carbon electricity but require expensive storage and backup systems.
Public debates often reduce these nuanced dynamics to simplistic narratives, overlooking that the best path forward will be context-dependent. There is a need for a careful balance of multiple complementary technical solutions. Facts and figures alone are insufficient to convey the real-world consequences of today’s energy choices. Building this understanding requires innovative tools that bridge the gap between experts and the public, making energy systems accessible and fostering informed dialogue.
This challenge inspired the creation of Energetica, a free, web-based multiplayer serious game. Players step into the role of energy managers, grappling with tough decisions that real-world stakeholders face. Through a playful approach, Energetica fosters critical thinking and meaningful dialogue, making the energy transition more accessible and engaging.
A detailed and strategic game
At its heart, Energetica is about decision-making. Players begin by selecting a location on a map of hexagonal tiles (Figure 1), each with unique characteristics such as resource availability (coal, gas, uranium, wind, hydro, solar) and vulnerability to climate risks. Starting with basic technology like steam engines, players must build their way toward advanced energy solutions through strategic investments and research.
Figure 1: The Energetica map features 331 hexagonal tiles, each with unique resources and climate risks. Each player must choose only one location, a crucial choice that will shape their strategy in the game.
The game’s depth lies in its intricate mechanics, which mimic real-world energy systems:
Strategic investments: Players can invest in a variety of energy-related projects, including the construction of power plants (Figure 2), storage facilities, resource extraction operations, and research into new technologies. Each investment comes with unique benefits and constraints, requiring players to weigh factors such as construction costs, operational expenses, emissions, fuel consumption, power ramping speeds, efficiency, and lifespan. Researching technologies unlocks new facilities and enhances their performance. The game also features functional facilities essential to gameplay, most notably industries that consume variable amounts of electricity while generating revenue.
Figure 2: An example of three power facilities out of the 14 available in the game, along with their associated information.
Dynamic electricity market: A player’s electricity demand is driven by industrial consumption, ongoing construction and research projects. Players must manage fluctuating consumption patterns and adapt to growing demand over time. By joining a network, they can trade electricity with other players, setting bidding prices for each generation capacity and demand type. Every minute, the market dynamically calculates the equilibrium price and quantity based on these supply and demand curves (see Figure 3). This system enables players to experiment with pricing strategies, fostering opportunities for innovation, collaboration—or ruthless competition.
Figure 3: Graph showing the demand and supply curves for electricity on the market (all graphs in the game are interactive). The market optimum (red dot) is dynamically calculated, determining the price at which electricity is bought and sold. Players can set their own bidding prices for each of their facilities.
Shared climate impact: Players’ CO₂ emissions stem from various sources, including the operation of power plants, the construction of new energy and resource extraction projects or even climate events such as wildfires. These emissions contribute to a shared atmospheric pool, driving global temperature rise (Figure 4) and triggering climate events that impact all players. This dynamic creates a strong incentive for collective action while highlighting the consequences of inaction. The game also features carbon capture and storage, which removes CO₂ from the atmosphere at an energy cost. However, since the benefits are shared globally, early adopters face a first-mover disadvantage.
Figure 4: Graph showing the global average temperature anomaly, illustrating the increase in average temperature over the last two years (in-game) driven by players’ emissions.
Energetica doesn’t have a single optimal strategy. Success depends on a player’s location, available resources, weather conditions, and the decisions of other players.
For those curious to explore these complexities further, the Energetica wiki provides a detailed breakdown of the game’s mechanics, offering a glimpse into the depth and realism of its design.
Teaching through play
The educational potential of games is immense but often overlooked, especially for adult learners. Energetica demonstrates how games can be used to teach complex topics in an accessible and engaging way. During a pilot test at ETH Zürich, students showed high levels of engagement, working together to understand the game’s mechanics and experimenting with different strategies. This hands-on learning approach helped them grasp key energy concepts, including the critical role of fast-ramping power plants in responding to fluctuating power demand or generation, and the mechanics of energy markets, such as why bidding at marginal cost or revenue is often the most optimal strategy. These are just two examples of the many insights players gained through Energetica.
Previous runs of the game have revealed emergent behaviors driven by player decisions—outcomes not preprogrammed but arising naturally from the game’s dynamic systems. For example, controllable power plants that provide grid flexibility were shown to significantly influence market prices, even with relatively low installed capacity. On the resource market, competition among multiple players drove prices close to marginal costs, while a single resource supplier could command far higher prices. Another notable behavior was the tendency for most players to initially prioritize “clean” technologies. However, one player would often exploit the low production costs of coal power plants, generating significant emissions that impacted all players and underscored the challenges of collective action.
Energetica allows players to see how their decisions play out, they gain a more nuanced understanding of real-world energy systems—knowledge we believe is crucial for informed public discourse and action.
An open invitation to collaborate
Energetica is currently available as a beta version at energetica.ethz.ch, and we are eager to collaborate with the energy science community to refine and improve the game. By making the project open-source and free to play, we hope to maximize its societal benefit, ensuring accessibility to everyone interested in engaging with this project.
We invite you to test the game, explore its features, and share your feedback. Whether you’re a researcher, educator, or enthusiast, your insights will help us improve Energetica as a tool for learning, discussion, and innovation.
Together, we can build a community that uses games to better understand and address the challenges of our time. If you have questions or ideas for collaboration, please don’t hesitate to reach out. (felixvonsamson@gmail.com)
Cover image: Felix von Samson
Keep up with the Energy Blog @ ETH Zurich on Twitter @eth_energy_blog.
Suggested citation: Felix von Samson. “Energetica: Learning energy systems through play”, Energy Blog @ ETH Zurich, ETH Zurich, February 5th, 2025, https://blogs.ethz.ch/energy/energetica/
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