Game the Food System

World Food Day, October 16, 2026 to World Environment Day, June 5, 2027

The way we grow and eat food is straining the planet, and games can help change that. From classrooms to studios to your living room, Games for Change and WFP invite everyone to learn what makes food systems resilient, bring them to life in your community, and help restore land and food security where it's needed most.

Photo: WFP/en Haut

Why this matters

By 2050, the planet will be home to nearly 10 billion people, and feeding them through our current farming methods will push nature past its limits. As the planet degrades, growing food only gets harder. Our foodprint in nature is real, and it's growing:

  • 30%

    of all greenhouse gas emissions are related to food production

    Source: FAO
  • 70%

    of our fresh water is used for food production

    Source: FAO
  • 40%

    of once-fertile land is now too degraded to be used for farming

    Source: UNCCD
  • 75%

    of crops depend on pollinators, which are in decline even in protected areas

    Sources: FAO · Hallmann et al.
  • 20%

    of all food produced is lost or wasted, with all the water and energy needed to produce it

    Source: UNEP
Photo: WFP

The food system is under strain, and games can help address it.

With more than 3 billion people playing games worldwide, we can mobilize a community of students, educators, developers, and creators to spread awareness about the food system and help change it. Now, we're inviting every player to join this collective mission and tell their impact story.

Become part of #GenerationRestoration and help us plant new hope for people and the planet.

Goals

  • Learn

    Students and game designers learn the food system from the inside. They see how food and nature depend on each other and what it takes to build a system that works for both. They learn through games on these themes and by designing their own.

  • Apply

    Participants put what they learn to work on real food system challenges close to home. That can mean cutting food waste, rethinking where their cafeteria sources its meals, restoring degraded land, planting a backyard garden, or regreening their community. Through those micro-projects, they become part of a global community of food system transformers.

  • Scale

    The campaign is inviting all participants to join the ultimate challenge: Helping WFP plant thousands of half-moons where the world needs them most. Half-moons are a regenerative technique that restores access to water and brings dead ground back into productive use. A restored ecosystem also restores people's food security and reduces humanitarian needs.

Get involved

  • LearnStudents and educators

    G4C Student Challenge

    Design or play a game about the food system through the G4C Student Challenge and other game jams on the theme.

    Join the Student Challenge
  • LearnGame designers

    Game jams and design challenges

    Take on the theme at the Global Game Jam or enter a design challenge of your choice built around the same theme.

    Find a food system jam
  • LearnStudios, platforms, and content creators

    Campaigns and in-game storylines

    Build a campaign around food security and nature, or add a food system storyline to a game in development. Invite your players and followers to learn more and take action.

    Engage your players and followers
  • ApplyEveryone

    Food system projects near you

    Team up with classmates or co-workers and take on a food system challenge where you are. Make it a school project, a volunteering or community day. Share what you accomplished on social media with #GameTheFoodSystem. We'll feature a selection here.

    Improve the food system in your neighborhood
  • ScaleEveryone

    WFP's half-moon projects

    Spread the word, organize a fundraiser, or donate to WFP's flagship ecosystem restoration projects in the world's food security hot spots. Share the campaign with your community and join #GenerationRestoration.

    Support WFP's ecosystem restoration projects

Resources

See what the community is already making, and learn more about the food system.

Two speakers in conversation on stage at the 2026 Games for Change Festival, in front of a slide charting twenty years of initiatives.
Video

Can Games Help End Hunger?

Join this fireside chat celebrating two decades of pioneering work at the intersection of games, humanitarian action, and innovation.
Watch
Overhead drone view of shallow catchment basins dug into dry ground, with one person standing among them for scale.
Video

Inside Africa's Food Forest Mega-Project

Andrew Millison journeys with the UN World Food Programme to see an innovative land recovery project within the Great Green Wall of Africa that is harvesting rainwater, increasing food security, and rehabilitating the ecosystem.
Watch
Pixel-art platformer: a character on floating earth platforms above bright blue water, with fruit and coins to collect.
Game

The Giving Plate

Rescue food, dodge danger, and fight hunger. Be the hero who turns waste into hope! An action-packed platformer made by John D, Juno A, Elroi B, and Tahama A, winner of Best Outplay Hunger Game, Junior Division, at the 2025 Student Challenge.
Play
Cartoon crop-growing screen: three tomato plants in a bed of soil, with watering and N, P, K nutrient controls along the top.
Game

Harvest

From soil to plate, every mini game teaches something about sustainability. Award-winning fun by Tarek M., 2025 Student Challenge Game of the Year.
Play
Puzzle screen styled as an open case, with food tiles being arranged into a grid and ration counters along the top.
Game

The Scarcity Line

Balance meals, expose the system: be the hope in a city starved by greed. Award-winning strategy game by Annabel L, Hanwen L, Anne X, and Ziya T, 2025 Student Challenge Game of the Year.
Play
Retro green-tinted pixel scene with a small character beside plants, and dialogue reading: Hey! Don't step on the plants!
Game

Grownity

A neighborhood's last green space is under threat. Nurture it, defend it, and keep it alive in a story-driven simulation made by Ben D, Liam P, and Quinn L, winner of the 2026 Student Challenge.
Play
Sparse blue pixel maze with two small orange figures in the corridors.
Game

ROBO-FOOD

On planet PNF-808, famine rules. Scavenge scraps, feed the survivors, and rebuild a world in a game made by Leandro S, winner of the 2026 Student Challenge.
Play
Hand-drawn farm scene with crop fields, mountains and a barn, and an on-screen prompt reading: Build the farm.
Game

Rootbound

Learn how supply chains, local agriculture, and ecology bring a city back to life in Rootbound, an educational city builder by Arthur T, Emily D, and Yuki M, 2026 Student Challenge winner.
Play

About the partners

  • Games for Change

    Since 2004, Games for Change (G4C) has empowered game creators and innovators to drive real-world change through games and immersive media, helping people learn, improve their communities, and make the world a better place. G4C partners with technology and gaming companies, nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies to run world-class events, public arcades, design challenges, and youth programs. For more information, visit gamesforchange.org.

  • World Food Programme

    The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of weather extremes.