I’ve spent the last months digital nomading through Mexico.
During my travels I learned about the indigenous people of Mexico that use a cactus for healing and ceremonial purposes.
The cactus is called peyote and it’s been used for hundreds of years.
In the past decade many people from all over the world have also started to engage in peyote ceremonies in Mexico.
This has led to peyote being an endangered plant.
Until today, people are travelling to Mexico to use peyote for personal / healing / recreational reasons.
My impression is that the current cycle of drug tourists using peyote is unhealthy.
Peyote is being used by certain groups of people for religious and spiritual reasons.
The “new", non-religious users mainly take peyote for personal benefits.
To raise attention to this situation I created a game.
The goal of the game is to inform people about peyote and the use.
This brings up the question:
What is peyote?
Ever heard of peyote?
Well, if you’ve read the intro you know a little.
But, lets dive deeper.
Peyote is a small, spineless cactus that is found in the south-west United States and northern Mexico.
The plant has been used for about six thousand years by native tribes for spiritual and healing purposes.
The origin of Peyote is something that has been debated for decades.
The most accepted theory is that Native American tribes initially used the plant for religious purposes but eventually discovered its medicinal benefits.
The earliest record of peyote use comes from a cave painting in Tehuacan, Mexico.
Why peyote is important to indigenous people from Mexico
The Native American Church (NAC) has used peyote as a sacrament for spiritual enlightenment since long before European contact.
This practice is still followed by the NAC today.
Peyote is also used by many other groups in the United States and Mexico, such as Wiccans and followers of the Native American Church.
How I came up with the game
As the idea started to formulate in my head, that I want to make a game about the situation with peyote I did not know where to start.
I was thinking about creating a game mechanics from scratch and could already estimate that it would take me a lot of time.
This is when Milo showed the huge collection of open source games on GitHub.
I was truly amazed and could see, that I just have to find a project that suits my requirements and used the code base as a starter.
This is exactly what I did to create my game.
The Game
So, here it is my game about the hallucinogenic Mexican cactus peyote that’s going extinct, you can
🕹️ Play it Here
And see the source code on GitHub
Further resources
NPR.org - Mexico’s Peyote Endangered by ‘Drug Tourists’
Youtube Video - Anna Ermakova - Peyote Conservation in the USA