How do we design games informed by values of mutual aid?

I work with a mutual aid group in my city, and I've been wanting to use my game design skills to raise funds for my neighbors. But mutual aid is all about community — so let's jam together!

What are values of mutual aid?

There are many mutual aid networks serving different people with different needs, but many groups value community care, solidarity over charity, transparency, long-term relationship-building, and learning and growing.

I'm particularly inspired by the visions and values of MAMAS (Mutual Aid Medford & Somerville), my local group. A few phrases that stand out to me:

🤝 Everyone has something to offer and everyone has things that they need. No one knows everything but together we know a lot.

🤝 Needing things is not a personal failure; we are living in a profoundly unequal society without safety nets. This is not our fault, but we believe in taking collective responsibility for getting everyone through times of crisis.

🤝 We have to trust in and fight for people we don’t know. This kind of work moves at the speed of trust (a learning from the Movement for Black Lives) and we choose to slow down, through urgency, in order to build trust and maintain accountability to each other and our network.

I definitely recommend reading the full vision & values statement!

What kind of game jam is this?

This is a casual, unranked game jam meant to inspire creativity and commumity-centered thinking. There will be no voting on submissions, and no awards. The jam will run from December 1, 2025 to February 28, 2026.

If you haven't participated in a jam before, you can make a free itch.io account (if you don't have one already), click "join jam" on this page, and then submit your piece! 

What do I need to know to submit to this jam?

💛 This jam is meant for tabletop/physical/analog games and larps only.

💛 Submit as many things as you like! You can submit short works, long work, works in progress, or works you've already finished — as long as they fit the theme.

💛 Charge or don't charge: you can submit free works, pay-what-you-want works, or paid works. In the spirit of mutual aid, you might consider adding community copies or donating proceeds to your local mutual aid network if you're able!

💛 No AI-generated content, including artwork and writing. 

🤝 Join the Earthly Body Studio Discord server to chat with other folks jamming!

🤝 Interested in learning more about mutual aid? This toolkit from Shareable is a great resource! It's presented by Dean Spade, who also has a great book called Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next). 

Happy jamming! I'm very excited to see what you come up with.