Introduction

By December 1940, the “Western Allies” of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa were in the second year of the war with Germany.

In  July of that year, the German Air Force (the Luftwaffe) began a series of air raids in southern, central, and northern England. These attacks included the “blitz” of London as well as bombings of Cardiff (Wales), Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester that took place over approximately eight months.

In response, the Royal Air Force of Great Britain launched a defensive military strategy, and this campaign became known as the “Battle of Britain.” This campaign had a direct impact on ordinary British citizens. More than 23,000 women, men, and children were killed in their homes, their workplaces, their schools, and the streets of their communities. To try and protect citizens from these air attacks, the British government provided air raid shelters that could be installed at home, such as the Anderson and Morrison air raid shelters. Citizens could also retreat to community shelters that were opened in spaces such as underground or in public buildings such as libraries.

Deciding to either stay at home or go to a community shelter is a good example of the kind of “high stakes” (i.e., life or death) decisions that individuals and families faced regularly during the war. These decisions were complicated by the information (or lack of information) to which people had access. In 1940, people in Britain shared and received information largely by word-of-mouth, the radio, newspapers, and letters. More well-to-do families had telephones at home, but most people had to use public telephones to make phone calls.

As a result, people did not have instant access to large quantities of information, let alone accurate information: there was no texting or social media to enable a blitz of information and rapid-fire decision-making. The purpose of the game is to provide an opportunity to better understand some of the experiences of people in England during World War II and how they might have accessed and assessed the information that they received about a life-changing event (or events). The game has broader implications, certainly for academic work because it provides an opportunity to also think critically about sources, which are authoritative, current, and unbiased and which are not, and what information to trust when making a “high stakes” decision.