How a card game is engaging young people with the future of the Lake District

A new game called Otter Intelligence, developed between the Lake District National Park Partnership and the University of Edinburgh, is helping young people and other groups to understand and contribute to the next Lake District National Park Partnership Plan for 2026-31. The Partnership Plan sets out the objectives for the management of the National Park and World Heritage Site and determines how Partners will work together to tackle our most important challenges.

We caught up with Partnership Manager, Veronica Fiorato, to tell us more about how the Otter game works.

What is Otter Intelligence?

Otter Intelligence is a card game about the Partnership Plan for the Lake District. Cards relate to the Partnership’s suggested priorities for the management of the National Park and World Heritage Site over the next 5 years, including restoring wildlife, climate action, protecting the historic environment and boosting the local economy. Players select cards that represent issues that matter most to them about the Lake District’s future.

Teams of players in schools have used the game and worked to develop their ‘plan’ for the Lake District — with individual players taking turns to pick cards that they feel display the most important objectives to focus on, and then to advocate for their inclusion in the final plan. Through the game, we’ve managed to reach young people in a way we absolutely wouldn’t have achieved by other means, and they are a target audience for the Partnership as the future guardians of the Lake District.

Why is it called ‘Otter Intelligence’?

Because the ‘Otter’ in the game is clever! The Otter controls the game and decides what the group should prioritise during their turn. This role then rotates around all of the players until everyone has had a go.

Who has been involved in played the game?

We have played the game with 150 pupils at two of the three secondary schools in the National Park (Lakes School, Windermere and Keswick School), and are scheduled to work with another 50 pupils at the third (John Ruskin School, Coniston) shortly. The school sessions have taken place with geography classes to fit in well with their curriculum. We have also played Otter Intelligence with 40 Partners at our Partnership meeting at Bampton Village Hall in June 2025, members of a female farming group called ‘Ladies with Livestock Group’ earlier this month, and staff from across the Lake District National Park Authority at our staff event in November 2025.

What was the purpose of opting for a ‘gamification’ approach to the Plan?

The Partnership team has used the game to develop the draft Plan that is currently out to consultation, and now to seek responses on the consultation draft. We were interested to explore whether a gamification approach would result in different feedback and greater reach than more traditional forms of consultation, like our parallel drop-in events. Also, the game is designed so that every player’s voice is heard – because the ‘Otter’ rotates around all the players, and the players discuss and collaborate to reach consensus on what matters most to them about the Lake District, everybody’s opinions are captured. Therefore it’s more of a democratic approach, ensuring that it’s not just the opinions of the loudest voices that get heard.

What was the process of creating the game like?

It has been fantastic! We had used a variation of the game before in the Lake District for a transport conversation, so when the University of Edinburgh approached us about this collaboration I jumped at the chance. The cards in the game have been designed to reflect our early thinking for the Plan (game version 1) and now what’s in the consultation draft (version 2). The University have supported us all the way including helping with game design, and coming to assist with facilitating the game-play and recording the conversations.

The University has also been working with the Cairngorms National Park who have been using a version of the game for their Local Plan consultations. In October 2025. Representatives from the Cairngorms National Park, the University of Edinburgh and myself all spoke at a workshop at the University to share the concept with others interested in exploring a game option for their own conversations and consultations, such as Edinburgh Business Improvement District.

A big thank you to Veronica Fiorato and her Partnership colleague Adrian Anderson, also Chloe Swift from our Strategy team and Ruth Suddaby from our Engagement team, who have helped to facilitate the Otter Intelligence game. Thanks also go to Dr Agnessa Spanellis, Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor at the University of Edinburgh who designed the game, and Adam Chalmers, Associate Professor who designed the AI Chatbot that analyses the gamers’ conversations for us, and for supporting with game facilitation.