FangFrage

How much fish will you catch when the catch is yours, but the fish stock belongs to everyone? In FangFrage, players form up to six competing fishing crews. During each fishing season, every crew decides how many fish to catch and secretly submits its catch record card to the game moderator. Only then does everyone discover how the sum of their individual decisions has affected the shared fish stock.

The game unfolds over three phases. At first, the crews act without coordinating; later, they are allowed to negotiate and cooperate. Yet in both phases, the sea is usually overfished. In Phase 3, the North Sea Council convenes: negotiations are structured around a set of existing agreement cards from which the crews can establish binding rules.

FangFrage turns the tragedy of the commons into a directly experienced simulation and shows how individual interests, cooperation, and political regulation interact in the sustainable management of shared resources.