The Great Gambit: Teaching Peace Through Play with Anders Kjellberg | Episode 394
Release Date: 05/26/2025
Professor Game Podcast
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What happens when a teacher turns history into a simulation?
We interview Swedish educator Anders Kjellberg, who co-created The Great Gambit, a role-playing simulation designed to help students understand the driving forces behind conflictâand how to prevent war. From sweaty failures to empowering classroom dynamics, Anders shares what worked, what didnât, and how learning through games can activate students like never before.
Anders works as a teacher in Swedish upper secondary school. His main subjects are History and Swedish but he is also part of the school's educational steering group and takes part in a collaborational project with other Nordic upper secondary shools.
Apart from being a teacher, Anders is a musician, playing mostly bass, guitars and syntheizsers in several of bands and records a lot of music in his house up in the Swedish forests.
Together with his friend Zhenya Luchaninau, he has created an educational tool/simulation to be used in history class in upper secondary school, called "The Great Gambit". The scene is a tumultous transitional period in Europes history, dealing with the years between 1871 and 1914: the build up to World War One. The purpose of the game is, to put it short: make the students understand the driving forces behind conflicts and wars and, hopefully, teach them to understand how a society can avoid such things.
Rob is a host and consultant at Professor Game as well as an expert, international speaker and advocate for the use of gamification and games-based solutions, especially in education and learning. He's also a professor and workshop facilitator for the topics of the podcast and LEGO SERIOUS PLAY (LSP) for top higher education institutions that include EFMD, IE Business School and EBS among others in Europe, America and Asia.
Guest Links and Info
- Website: thegreatgambit.com
- LinkedIn: Anders Kjellberg
- Facebook: The Great Gambit Community
Links to episode mentions:
- Proposed guest: Neil Young
- Recommended book: Hang City (In Swedish)
- Favorite game: Who Knows Where
Lets's do stuff together!