BLACKOUT is a serious security game using dark humor, created by people from Kharkiv who turned their experience surviving the wartime blackouts of 2022–2026 into a practical educational tool.
The game shows how ordinary people, families, and neighbors make everyday decisions in the face of shelling, power outages, and complete uncertainty—and how the community’s survival depends on these choices.
Game review: “At first, it seemed to me that we had a bunch of complex, insurmountable problems because we couldn’t seem to get together and solve them… But in the end, I felt like… that’s it, we survived… it’s such a pleasant feeling, like Deus ex machina!”
We were inspired by the Polish game Kolejka, which teaches history through the experience of commodity shortages in communist Poland, and the tradition of strategic role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons.
How does it work?
- Group format: 7–25 participants play residents of a high-rise building in isolation.
- Realistic scenarios: Based on real stories of Ukrainians, the game scenarios are easily adapted to modern European risks (from man-made accidents to climate disasters).
- Goal: Not just to “survive,” but to learn how to negotiate, allocate resources, prioritize, and support the most vulnerable.
The format of a board game allows you to use BLACKOUT in schools, youth centers, universities, communities, corporate training, and civil protection programs.
Why is it effective?
BLACKOUT provides a hands-on experience:
- For schools and universities: Develops teamwork skills under stress.
- For communities and NGOs: Helps create realistic civil protection plans.
- For businesses: Develops crisis management and solidarity skills.
In the game, players gain a simulated experience of “several days in the dark,” after which they re-evaluate their preparedness plans—at the family, home, and company levels.
We, the Maidan Monitoring Information Center, are looking for support for:
- Completing the development and printing of the game.
- Launching pilot educational projects in communities.
- Adapting the methodology for the European security context.
By supporting BLACKOUT, you are helping groups of 7–25 people learn to act together in the dark—before the lights go out in their own homes. Even a small individual contribution makes a tangible difference: one donation ensures another group of people will not face the next blackout unprepared.
How to support us? Click here to see.
Let’s use the experience of Kharkiv, a city on the front lines, to prepare our citizens for the dark times that may come to any European country and to strengthen the resilience of our societies today.
Maidan Monitoring Information Center has 14 years of experience in developing security strategies, educational programs, and analyzing crisis situations. We combine the experience of documenting war crimes with civil protection methodologies, creating products that save lives.
Photo show the pilots of the game, which we have been conducting since February 14, 2026. Photo authors: Nataliya Zubar, Yevhen Tytarenko, Hanna Dolzhek, Valeriia Gontar
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