Games can be a powerful way of engaging people in citizen science and motivating them to act – especially if they result in some kind of public or classroom recognition.

The more eyes on the lookout throughout the community, the better off we are as growers and an industry, as the chance of early detection of unwanted pests and diseases is greatly increased.

We were pleased to see these articles on social media last week relating to gamification of biosecurity – especially one from our Aussie counterparts who we’ve been sharing some of our collateral with.

Pest card tricks: An Australian playing card game (inspired by Kiwifruit’s Most Unwanted pest cards created by KVH) has been launched for the International Year of Plant Health 2020. The cards are based on Australia’s National Priority Plant Pests to provide school students with an educational tool to learn about biosecurity threats to Australia’s natural environment.

Game on with the Spotted Lanternfly: The colourful, winged insect native to China, India, and Vietnam is one of Kiwifruit’s Most Unwanted. It has made its way to the USA and proven its ability to cripple grape, lumber, and landscape industries. We don’t currently have the dreaded Spotted Lanternfly in New Zealand but if we did …… here’s a novel idea from a dad in the USA who developed an app formatted like a game to rank those who squish the most lanternflies.