After binging Game of Thrones and spending an embarrassing amount of time reading about medieval succession laws, I returned to reality — as a park ranger at Yosemite National Park. No iron throne, just rock walls, waterfalls, and towering trees. My quest? Create a ranger program about some aspect of the park. I could nerd out about Giant Sequoias, the real challenge was how to convince everyone else to care.

I wandered through the Mariposa Grove, trying to craft a story, when a tiny Giant Sequoia cone dropped. And then it hit me (not literally): these big trees are monarchs, the king of the jungle. It is known. They’re the one tree to rule them all — wait, too many different pop culture references here. I'll just stick to one.

Inspired by the show’s ruthless competitions, I created Game of Cones, an interactive experience where visitors embody a Giant Sequoia at its most vulnerable: a tiny, unassuming cone. Their goal? Beat the odds and grow into one of the largest living things on Earth. The catch? Everything is out to get them. Insects devour them from the inside out. A careless hiking boot nearly flattens seedlings. Even other trees racing to the top. Fire clears the competition — but can they handle the heat? Every card is a lesson in resilience, science wrapped in suspense, with just enough cheeky competition to keep things fun.

I designed the game’s mechanics, visuals, and storytelling to disguise hard science as high-stakes drama. And like any good drama, there’s a plot twist. Despite Giant Sequoias having spent millions of years adapting to their domain in the Sierras and evolving into muscular skyscrapers, they are not invincible. But their survival is under existential threat. Enter the the biggest plot twist: it's climate change and there's no quick adaptation to that. Not without the help of all humans.

The game is rigged, of course — because in real life, the odds are not in the trees’ favor.

And just as the season finale of the show warns: winter is here; so too is climate change. The question is: what will we do to ensure the House of Sequoiadendron Gigantea stands the test of time? Hopefully, the game leaves players with a sense of deep admiration for the adversity these incredible trees experience to get to where they are — and hopefully: a reason to care about the future of these trees.