Bycatch

Featured Project, IDFA DocLab

Official Selection, XOXO Tabletop

“Bycatch is a bold idea for a game.” – Julian Benson, Kotaku

“Bycatch makes you comfortably numb.” – Levi Rubeck, Kill Screen

“The most striking thing about Bycatch is how the random killing of innocents seem first necessary and then almost easy—and then, perhaps, makes you uneasy with how effortless it has become.” – Laura Hudson, Boing Boing

“Bycatch forces players to ask themselves how many innocent people should have to die for every high-profile target to be killed.” – Mark Wilson, Fast Company

“Bycatch is a very valuable example of how a game can provoke discussion on a difficult subject.” – Jonathan H. Liu, GeekDad

“Horrifying!” - Tom Vasel, The Dice Tower

A card game about flawed surveillance, impossible decisions, and the people caught in between, for 3–5 players.

Simple to learn and quick to play, Bycatch invites players from across a wide range of game-playing backgrounds to contemplate the dilemmas of remote warfare.
An inventive surveillance mechanism employs your phone's camera to let you experience firsthand the shortcomings of aerial spying.
Appealing artwork helps you empathize with your citizens and the horrors of drone strikes and collateral damage.

Our artist statement Newspapers, Rituals and Games captures the background and essence of Bycatch.

A preview of Bycatch's artwork and design

In Bycatch, each player controls a nation on the hunt for suspected terrorists. The players try to locate suspects hiding abroad using drone surveillance, and eliminate them using drone strikes. Meanwhile, they must shelter their citizens from the attacks of their opponents. Who will gather the most accurate intelligence and strike with the least collateral damage?

A Bycatch player surveilling an opponent's hand of cards

More praise for Bycatch:

“A truly experimental concept.” – Lea Schönfelder

“The paradox of Bycatch is that it makes you think critically about collateral damage and the arbitrariness of surveillance while at the same time being a very entertaining game to play.” – Hans de Zwart, Director of Bits of Freedom

“Jeder Schritt in diesem Spiel lässt eine Analogie zu auf diese Thematik. Man kann da sehr lange über viele Sachen reden und nachdenken.” – Marcus Richter on Deutschlandradio Kultur

“Bycatch erinnert uns daran, wie gut Spiele zum Vermitteln politischer Botschaften geeignet sind — und dass sie gleichzeitig Spaß noch machen können.” – Daniel Ziegener, WIRED

“Waarom zou je er in hemelsnaam een spelletje van maken?” – NOS

“Het spel ziet er prachtig uit.” – Rutger Otto, Bright

“Zo is een spel een bijzondere manier om over drones na te denken.” – Nooit meer slapen, VPRO