Keep Cool is a board game created by Klaus Eisenack and Gerhard Petschel-Held of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and published by the German company Spieltrieb in November 2004. The game can be classified as both a serious game and a global warming game. In Keep Cool, up to six players representing the world's countries compete to balance their own economic interests and the world's climate in a game of negotiation. The goal of the game as stated by the authors is to "promote the general knowledge on climate change and the understanding of difficulties and obstacles, and "to make it available for a board game and still retain the major elements and processes". Empirical studies have shown that Keep Cool can facilitate experiential learning about the difficulties of international climate politics. Reception Keep Cool sold out in four months after its release, prompting a second edition of the game to be released. The game has become very popular in Germany, and the game's creators were surprised at the success. Petschel-Held stated that "With 'Keep Cool,' we've been able to open new channels for dialogue between scientists and the public," and Eisenack commented, "Feedback has revealed surprising insights and exciting discussions about conflicts of interest in climate politics as highlights of Keep Cool." Keep Cool has been used by NGO's, schools, universities, and gaming conventions, besides being used by families and the general public. The German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) has now included Keep Cool as a part of its teaching materials. Aktivities related to KEEP COOL have been awarded various prizes: In 2016 the German Council for Sustainable Development awarded KEEP COOL mobil with the quality seal Werkstatt N. In 2017 Jasper Meya received the German Simulation and Gaming Award for his empirical study on the effectiveness of the board game KEEP COOL for teaching climate change. In 2016 and 2017 KEEP COOL mobil was awarded the Comenius-EduMedia-Siegel for educational media of particularly high didactic, content and design quality. Gameplay Countries The game can be played with three to six players. The countries that players will use for the game depends on the number of players, as shown in table below. Each of the countries has a distinct starting position in the game and some have special abilities/bargaining chips which can greatly affect negotiation. The United States begins the game with the most factories on