“CAPTRS pandemic wargames help us prevent what we normally do, which is stress test plans based solely on past experiences. A simulation exercise like this allows us to discuss threats which may arise in the future in order to create plans and clearly understand the roles of all decision-makers and agencies.”
CAPTRS
Redefining Preparedness for Global Threats
The Center for Advanced Preparedness and Threat Response Simulation develops next-generation games and exercises that prepare decision-makers to face future threats with confidence.
Welcome To CAPTRS!
Practicing Today for Tomorrow's Threats
History shows we're often unprepared for crises because we fail to imagine what's possible. CAPTRS offers a diverse set of threat preparedness and response games to practice both real and hypothetical scenarios.
Learn More About CAPTRS
Mindful Game Design
Our research-based games are designed to be deeply engaging and build intuition by combining cognitive, strategic, operational, and tactical learning.
Decisions-Driven Learning
Unlike traditional exercises, our serious games leverage the natural appeal of gameplay—competition, exploration, and decision-making—to create immersive, goal-oriented experiences.
Hands-On Discovery
By learning through doing, players can safely test assumptions, explore reasoning, and refine their actions in a compelling, low-risk environment.
Built for the People on the Front Lines of Crisis
CAPTRS games are designed for the decision-makers who don't get a second chance to practice.
Emergency Management
Practice resource allocation, cascading effect response, and multi-jurisdiction coordination in high-pressure simulations built for your real-world constraints.
Public Health
Build the situational awareness and cross-agency alignment your department needs—before the next outbreak or emergency hits.
Elected Officials and City Leaders
Understand what your agencies need from you during a crisis. Experience the decisions that matter most before a real-world test.
Resilience and Risk Leaders
Practice activating protocols and building cross-departmental response capacity under uncertainty.
Foundations and Corporations
Surface assumptions, compare competing priorities, and explore how today's strategic choices might play out over time.
Not sure which game fits your team?
Let's TalkFeatured Games
Three Research-Driven Games on Global Preparedness for Complex Threats.
EMCE: City Blackout
Step into fast-moving crisis scenarios where every decision counts. EMCE challenges players to balance preparedness and response, allocate limited resources, and adapt as conditions rapidly change, all under real-world time pressure. It is dynamic, high-stakes training for complex emergencies.
Learn More About EMCE: City Blackout
C3C Game
Strong response starts with strong coordination. C3C brings multiple agencies together in realistic crisis simulations that expose gaps, align plans, and strengthen activation understanding. This gaming exercise turns written protocols into practiced, collaborative action.
Learn More About C3C Game
A3P Game
When uncertainty rises, clarity matters most. A3P sharpens situational awareness and decision-making by revealing how individuals and teams interpret risk, align perspectives, and activate response plans. The gaming exercise builds shared understanding before it is needed most.
Learn More About A3P Game
Our Team Takes Games Seriously
Where Innovation Meets Expertise
Our Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Francesca de Rosa, and our Chief Game Designer, Dr. Micael Sousa, bring years of experience in game design, collaborative planning, engineering, and cognitive science. We also work with subject-matter experts for each of our games. We invite you to review recent publications by our team.
From First Conversation to Game Day. We Handle Everything
Getting your team trained shouldn't be complicated. Here's how it works.
Step 1: Choose Your Game
Browse our portfolio of research-backed simulation games and find the one that matches your team's training goals or talk to us and we'll help you decide.
Step 2: We Set You Up
We provide everything your team needs: game materials, a facilitation guide, and 1:1 facilitator training so your session runs smoothly from the first round to the debrief.
Step 3: Play, Learn, Apply
Your team plays through real-world crisis scenarios, surfaces blind spots, and walks away with stronger decision-making instincts and a shared response framework. The CAPTRS Digital Insight App will capture key player decisions and outcomes throughout gameplay, giving you rich material to fuel the debrief and extend learning beyond game day.
Trusted by organizations across the globe
“The CAPTRS Situational Awareness game helped me think about my blind spots and hone my skills. It prompted thoughts on drivers of decision-making for public health. Decision-making based on a risk assessment is what you do in public health your whole career, and the game helped me analyze how I think about sources and reliability of a source when I make my risk assessment.”
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