Showcasing a Wikipedia-based card game to the world at Expo 2025

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Almost a year after winning the International Green Gown Awards for our indigenous language preservation project, Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia was invited to present on indigenous lifeways and biodiversity at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan on 30th August 2025.

As part of the RCE Greater Gombak network, Wikimedia Malaysia was invited by the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) to present an interactive activity during a series of workshop sessions hosted by the Ministry of Environment of Japan and co-organised by UNU-IAS at the world expo.

Wikimedia Malaysia External Relations Ambassador, Ahmad Ali displaying a root card to the participants.

The goal of the workshop is to introduce sustainable practices from all over the world to the participants, featuring Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, and the Philippines. For the session with Malaysia, Wikimedia Malaysia was one of the two groups invited, with a delegation represented by Ahmad Ali Karim and Taufik Rosman.

Alongside International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), our long-time collaborator for the award-winning WikiKata project, we presented three sessions in total with over a hundred participants from Japan and around the world.

The session by Wikimedia Malaysia served as one of the conclusions, presented by Ahmad Ali. After hearing some presentations from academicians both from Japan and Malaysia, we came in to provide an interactive activity by learning through Wikipedia.

Roots & Relics introduction video used at Expo 2025 (in Japanese, English closed captions available)
CC BY-SA 4.0, Ahmad Ali Karim & Iffah Aminudin

Rather than conducting typical editathons or workshops, we decided to make it more interesting by exploring a game concept. Introducing Roots & Relics, a card-matching game where players can explore Malaysian indigenous culture and biodiversity, and find out the answers by scanning the QR codes to the respective Wikipedia pages.

Featuring free-license works from Wikimedia Commons, the game introduces various different apparatuses used by the indigenous communities made from various natural materials that can be found around Malaysia and the surrounding region.

  • Roots & Relics, a Wikipedia-based card game where you learn about indigenous lifeways and biodiversity.
  • Each box comes with 38 cards plus one instruction card.
  • Two types of cards are used, root cards and relic cards.
  • Players will be given relic cards which they will use to play.
  • Root cards will be put on the table and players must respond with the corresponding relic card.

The game features two types of card, root cards featuring the natural materials, and relic cards featuring the tools made using those natural materials. Players play by guessing which relic cards in their hand correctly correspond to the root card on the table. Those who get it wrong shall need to add one more card to their hand, but if they get it right, they can discard the card to the pile and get closer to winning by emptying their hand.

It’s a simple mechanic, really, and we might expand the concept in the future. For now, the game serves as a proof of concept on how we can apply Wikimedia projects in interactive learning beyond the typical wiki activities within the movement.

You can learn more about the game by visiting its page on Meta-Wiki.

As for the Expo presentation, we are glad to say that it went very well! Aside from the game itself, we also physically brought together some of the actual apparatuses featured in the card game, which the participants can later interact with.

  • Wikimedia Malaysia External Relations Ambassador, Ahmad Ali displaying a root card to the participants while they respond with their guesses.
  • Director of IIUM’s Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity, Professor Zainal Abidin Sanusi (left) guiding the participants in playing Roots & Relics.
  • Wikimedia Malaysia External Relations Ambassador, Ahmad Ali displaying a root card to the participants.
  • Participants listening to the briefing before the game begins.
  • Participants looking through their hand for the correct corresponding card.
  • A participant plays a relic card during one of the rounds.
  • A participant plays a relic card during one of the rounds.

A lot of them were more than excited to learn more, and we also had the time to explain further about the Wikimedia movement after the sessions to those interested.

This opportunity was a great step forward for our user group, having been invited to the global stage at an international event outside of the open knowledge sphere.

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