The you’ve got baggage game came out of the University of Auckland women in maths/science retreat. The basic idea of the game is to move through the career path of an academic all the way from postdoc to professor, but to do that as a woman. Women in mathematics frequently hit barriers and burdens that male mathematicians do not. These barriers cause set-backs in themselves but they also subject women to extra emotional stress and strain (the baggage). In this game as you progress through the career board you draw cards that reflect some things (both positive and negative) that might happen during your career. The positive things allow you to draw a star, the negative ones baggage. How many stars vs baggage you carry determines whether you are able to progress in your career. The cards were all contributed by women working in mathematics or related areas. Details have been obscured to protect the contributors but these events have all happened to either the contributor or someone they know.

The original board was based on the New Zealand system but feel free to create your own board to reflect different academic systems. If you do create a new version of the game I’d love to be able to post it here, please send it to melissa.tacy@auckland.ac.nz