Become a green gamer

In recent years lsquowokersquo millennials have been credited with kickstarting several trends that have gone on to inspire lasting changes in how we think and live It is only befitting therefore that five millennial minds at the Mangrove Foundation are melding two themes we presently feel strongly about mdash environmental conservation and board games mdash to create awareness about the importance of saving marineprotected areas and species in the country The game that was released earlier this week is aptly named Conservation Sail It invites participants to sail through Indiarsquos vast and varied coastline and experience its marine biodiversity The flow is loosely based on Monopoly where participants must compete to save various endangered indigenous species from extinctionThe game is based on Monopoly where participants compete to save endangered indigenous speciesGaming for changeldquoWe were brainstorming ways to create more awareness among school and college students and wanted to go beyond campaigns and photo and drawing competitions Being an avid board game enthusiast I proposed creating onerdquo shares Siddhesh Surve 31 assistant director capacity building at Mangrove Foundation His idea found resonance with his colleagues Vandan Jhaveri 34 Sheetal Pachpande 35 Moon Bhandari 31 and Hrishikesh Rane 25 who have contributed to the gamersquos dynamics and visuals and have handcrafted elements including the board chips and tokensIn the coming months Surve and his team intend to invite groups of students from city schools and colleges to experience the game at the Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Centre in Airoli Navi Mumbai Here they can also watch multimedia presentations and videos about marine life and conservation efforts ldquoWe hope it inspires participants to put this knowledge to good use in the real worldrdquo he said The game has already quite a buzz on the Mangrove Foundationrsquos official social media pages which invites players to register for a chance to experience the game in person They also intend to offer board game enthusiasts and naturelovers the chance to purchase their copy of the gameSetting sailWe invited midday reader and board gameenthusiast Ayesha Ladha 33 and her sevenyearold son Essa to join the gamersquos creators and us for an afternoon of Conservation Sail Players familiar with Monopoly will recognise the gamersquos format mdash at the outset each player is handed a sum of 1500 six chips and a shipshaped piece We rolled the dice to move our ship through various boxes mdash you can build your own ecotourism venture at a marine life hotspot such as the Sundarbans get rewarded by the government for an important conservation initiative answer a question to earn game lsquocashrsquo or be penalised for a lsquocrimersquo committed by a tourist visiting your resort Each participant must build at least two twolevel tourism ventures before she can opt to save an endangered species such as a dugong or a whale shark Here the game intensifies the challenge by asking players to bring down the conservation status of the species in question by two levels Each reduction costs the player 600 Players can add to their stash of cash by upgrading their ecotourism ventures thereby collecting more rent and by answering environmentthemed questions correctlyLearning on boardThe game took some getting used to in terms of familiarising ourselves with its various elements although after two turns we had found our groove One of the gamersquos biggest strengths is how much it teaches you about indigenous species mdash we were surprised to learn for instance that the whale shark found off the coast of Kerala Lakshadweep Islands and Saurashtra is the largest fish species in the world blue whales are mammals not fish and that Mumbai has its own city bird the coppersmith barbet Paying up for thoughtless acts committed by errant tourists is a reminder about what not to do while on a nature trip ldquoI found it interesting how my son learned that saving the planet takes realworld cash Each time we had to pay for fines he realised that he was digging into his reserve and was a step further from saving a species and hence winningrdquo shares Ladha This game could easily require three to four hours especially if you play the longer version where players compete to save the maximum number of endangered speciesFrom left Hrishikesh Rane Moon Bhandari Vandana Jhaveri and Siddesh Surve with Essa and his mom Ayesha Ladha play the game PicsSneha KharbeSurve and his team were amenable to our suggestion of including more material about how the contributed funds could help protect the species in question by way of cue cards The game has been designed for students from grade seven upwards which seems to be ideal as younger players as was the case with us could struggle to relate to some actions on the board unless each step is patiently broken down The game is in its early stages in terms of design and build although Surve is keen to involve professionals to finetune the product ldquoWe are still gathering inputs from players to simplify certain aspects so it becomes more enjoyable to reach an even wider audienceAT Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Centre 2 Diva Nagar Road Mangrove Forest Airoli Navi MumbaiCALL 2269498485Time 10 am to6 pm closed on FridaysLog on tomangrove_foundation InstagramCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates