EarthOpoly

EarthOpoly is a new game that invites all Earthlings to celebrate an old friend: our planet! Late for The Sky, the Cincinnati-based company which has produced dozens of unique property trading games, has come up with the ultimate real estate to barter for – Mother Earth – in its newest board game, EarthOpoly.

What is a more satisfyingly simple past-time with family and friends than a board game? And what subject has become more relevant in our era than the state of our beautiful blue planet? EarthOpoly, created and manufactured in the U.S., is a fun way to encourage kids and adults alike to rethink how we live in and on our common home.

As players move around the board they might get sent outside to play, or get hauled off to the Dump. They may have to pay $78 to fill up their gas-guzzling huge-mongous automobile, or get rewarded for switching to energy efficient lightbulbs or using their recycling bin.

Players will vie for properties ranging from bargains like “Concrete Jungle” (a collection of urban high-rises) to the more desirable “Land of Lakes” and “Rolling Rivers” to the supreme real estate purchases: “Sparkling Blue Sky,” and “Mother Earth” herself.

As they buy up property around the board, players learn more about Earth’s wondrous array of terrain and ecosystems. Buy “Colorful Coral Reefs,” for example, and your deed informs you that coral reefs aren’t just pretty Earth bling – they are living structures more than 400 million years old and actually protect near-by land masses from water erosion.

Property deeds also have suggestions for everyday life changes that will make Earth happy, like driving tips to get the most mileage – and produce the least amount of carbon emissions – from your gas tank. And did you know that aluminum cans can be recycled over and over? Just make sure to toss ‘em in the recycling bin!

EarthOpoly gets players thinking as they learn: what is a carbon footprint? What is my carbon footprint? How can I change that in my own lifestyle? How can more of us together make bigger changes? We don’t try to answer all your questions about environmental issues – hey, it’s a game! But players are given website suggestions on some of our cards to get further informed, if they choose.

EarthOpoly is Earth friendly! The whole game, made of cardboard and printed with soy-based ink, is recyclable, including its plastic tray – “we wanted this game to completely disappear when its time is up,” says Late for The Sky founder Robyn Wilson.

Game tokens are charming little pieces of our world: a polished stone imported from South Africa; a little shell exported by southeast Asians after they’ve harvested its mollusk for their own food source; a small wooden pyramid, fashioned from scrap wood by a local woodworker; a crystal; a lima bean; a bamboo cylinder.

To counter our own “carbon footprint” in the making of the game – after all, some of the tokens, and the dice, had to be imported from around the world – Late for The Sky will research carbon “offset” funds as well as the size of our “footprint” in the making of the game, and purchase offset credits accordingly.

Did we mention it’s a game? Intentions are to inform children and adults (the game is recommended for ages 8 and up) and reinforce, in a fun way, some important concepts about our home – the Earth. So, turn off the TV, roll the dice and GO GREEN with EarthOpoly!