Data for Humanity is an interactive, card-based game designed to help anyone explore and use open data—especially people who feel they are “not good with numbers.”
The game encourages players to turn data points into compelling stories and discover the power of open data in everyday life.
Open data is a powerful public resource, yet many people are unaware of how to use it or even that it exists.
Data for Humanity introduces open data in a friendly, playful format that welcomes:
- Students
- Designers and design agencies
- Educators and librarians
- Journalists and nonprofit employees
- Government staff
- Storytellers, activists, and community advocates
The game helps participants build comfort with concepts like percentages, comparisons, and data-driven insights—without needing technical skills.
Developed by Meag Doherty as part of a Mozilla Foundation Open Leaders initiative, the game is loosely inspired by Cards Against Humanity and serves as a hands-on tool for data literacy.
The game is played in rounds using two decks of cards:
- Prompt Cards (P) – storytelling prompts
- Data Cards (D) – real data facts or values
- Place both decks at the center of the table.
- Each player draws 7 cards.
- Select a Data Czar for the first round (e.g., the person with the most recent birthday).
- The Data Czar draws a Prompt Card and reads it aloud.
- All other players choose a card (or cards) from their hand that best completes or answers the prompt.
- Players submit their chosen card(s) face-down to the Data Czar.
- The Data Czar shuffles the submissions, reads each response aloud, and selects the story they find most compelling.
- The winning player keeps the card(s) they submitted as points.
- Choose a new Data Czar.
- All players draw cards until they again have 3 Data Cards.
- Continue until the group decides to end the session.
- The player with the most collected cards wins the game.
The decks include themes and facts sourced from public datasets such as NYC Open Data.
Some cards are intentionally left blank so players can create new prompts or data points, encouraging creativity and customization.
(For workshops or group activities)
- 15 minutes – Introduction & icebreaker
- 30+ minutes – Break into groups of 4–6 and begin gameplay
- Wrap-up – Share reflections, favorite stories, and insights
Contributions are welcome! You can help by improving documentation, expanding card content, or suggesting new gameplay variations.
If you'd like to contribute:
- Open an issue to discuss your idea.
- Fork the repository and create a feature branch.
- Make your changes.
- Open a pull request describing what you updated.
Created by Meag Doherty as part of a Mozilla Foundation Open Leaders initiative.
Inspired by card-based storytelling games and supported by open datasets such as NYC Open Data.