Turn Up the Heat!

Turn Up the Heat is an interactive board game for the entire family. See if your family can survive for a year with limited resources and unforseen events that can stretch you thin.

Turn Up the Heat is the world's first thermostat board game. Why play a game about thermostats? Because it's fun! Not to mention thermostats are widely misunderstood, poorly used, and account for a huge portion of our nation's energy consumption. To win the game you will need to make careful tradeoffs around comfort, money, and the environment.

iPad screenshot
Game board and cards

Get the Game

Download and print out the game elements:

You'll also need a die and a player token.
Die Token

Play the Game

When you're ready to play, open the Turn Up the Heat App!

App Link

Game Play Video

About Us

Turn Up the Heat was produced at Northwestern University by the Tangible Interaction Design and Learning (TIDAL) Lab and the Learning, Interaction, and Media in the Everyday (LIME) Lab.
TIDAL Lab LIME Lab

Game Design: Michael Horn, Reed Stevens, Amartya Banerjee, Pei-Yi Kuo, Laurel Schrementi, Sarah D'Angelo, Harmon Pollock, and Andreas Wadum.

Software: Michael Horn and Amartya Banerjee

Graphic Design: Maisa Morin (maisamorin.com) and Michael Horn

Funding: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant IIS-1123574. Any opinions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. Seed funding was also provided by the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern.

Green Home Games

Copyright © Michael Horn and Reed Stevens. All rights reserved.