EARTHOPOLY BOARD GAME

Don’t Pass Go

EarthOpoly, created and manufactured by Cincinnati-based Late for the Sky, is a fun way to encourage kids age 8 and older to think about the planet. 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 automobile, or they may get rewarded for switching to energy efficient light bulbs or for using their recycling bin. Players vie for properties ranging from bargains like Concrete Jungle (a collection of urban high-rises) to the more desirable Land of Lakes.

As kids buy up property, they learn more about the earth itself. Buy the property Colorful Coral Reefs, for example, and your deed tells you about these amazing living structures. Property deeds include helpful tips like how to drive to get the most mileage—and produce the least amount of carbon emissions.

EarthOpoly is, of course, earth friendly. The whole game, made of cardboard and printed with soy-based ink, is recyclable, including its plastic tray. 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 as food; a small wooden pyramid, fashioned from scrap wood by a local woodworker; a crystal; a lima bean; a bamboo cylinder.

To counter its 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 purchases carbon-offset credits.