Okay, so today I messed around with this idea I had – “Habitat Heroes Monopoly.” It’s basically Monopoly, but with an environmental twist. I wanted to see if I could make a game that was fun and made you think a little about saving the planet.
Getting Started
First, I brainstormed some ideas. Instead of buying properties, I figured players could “adopt” habitats, like rainforests, coral reefs, or wetlands. And instead of houses and hotels, you’d build things like research centers and wildlife sanctuaries.
I grabbed a regular Monopoly board I had lying around (sorry, classic Monopoly!) and some colored paper, markers, and dice. I didn’t want to get too fancy at this stage, just wanted to test out the core concept.
Making the Changes
I started by renaming the property spaces. “Boardwalk” became “Amazon Rainforest,” “Park Place” turned into “Great Barrier Reef,” and so on. I tried to pick habitats from around the world to make it a bit more educational.
Then, I created new Chance and Community Chest cards. Instead of “Go to Jail,” I had things like “Oil Spill! Pay cleanup costs.” Or “Community Support! Receive funding for your conservation project.”
- “Recycling Drive! Collect $50 from each player.”
- “Endangered Species Found! Advance to the nearest wildlife sanctuary.”
Instead of money, I made it about “Ecopoints”. Building had different costs in Ecopoints, dependending on the cost of restoring the enviroment I thought.
Playtesting (aka, Bug Squashing)
I roped my family into playing a test game. It was… chaotic, to say the least. We quickly realized some of the rules needed tweaking. For example, the “Oil Spill” card was WAY too harsh at first. We also found that some habitats were much more desirable than others, just like in regular Monopoly, which made the Ecopoint unbalance.
I jotted down notes during the game – lots of “too expensive,” “too easy,” and “what does this even mean?!” moments. It was clear that I needed to balance things out a bit better.
Making it Better (Version 2.0… Maybe?)
After the first disastrous playthrough, I spent some time refining the rules. I adjusted the costs of the habitats, tweaked the Chance and Community Chest cards, and added some new rules to make things more interesting. I also thought about adding “Endangered Species” tokens that could give bonuses to players who owned certain habitats.
Honestly, it’s still a work in progress. It needs more playtesting, and I’m thinking about making a proper game board with some cool artwork. But it was a fun experiment! It definitely made me think more about how we can make games that are both entertaining and promote environmental awareness. Maybe one day I’ll even try to 3D print some custom pieces – little trees and animals instead of houses! It will need a lot more Ecopoints I think.
