How To Play

Step by Step of How to Play Happy Earth

Goal

To have the cleanest Earth (the deck with the most positive points)

Ages 8 and up

2-4 players

Included

20 green cards

20 red cards

6 action cards

4 immediate cards.

How to play:

- Each player is dealt 5 cards.

- Youngest goes first, and play continues clockwise from there

- If you are dealt a yellow card at the beginning of the game, shuffle it back in the deck and draw a new card.

- On your turn, draw a card. Then you MUST either discard a card OR play an action card. Even if you only have green cards, you still must discard one.

- The game ends when the deck runs out AND all playable action cards are played.

- The negative and positive points are added together and the player with the most points wins.

- If necessary, use a calculator to add up your final points.

Green cars: These cards are good. Each card adds more points and positively affects how clean your Earth is.

Red cards: These cards are bad. Each card takes away points and negatively affects how clean your Earth is.

Yellow cards: These cards are immediate. That means if you draw them, you have to play them immediately.

How to play action cards:

Single use plastic party: An opponent of your choice has thrown a single use plastic party! You can give that player 3 red cards from your deck. If you don’t have 3 red cards, you can take cards from the discard pile until you have a sum of 3 red cards.

Upcycle: This is an immediate card. That means this is not a card you can give to an opponent and you must play it immediately. If you draw this card, you must discard your deck right away and draw five new cards. If you draw another Upcycle card during the play of an Upcycle card, start over and draw 5 new cards, putting all cards previously drawn in the discard pile. After drawing 5 new cards, your turn is over.

Helping hand: This is an immediate card. If you draw this card, everyone playing, including you, has to rotate their deck one place to the right. When drawing this card during the play of an Upcycle card, finish drawing five cards (this includes the helping hand card), discard the Helping Hand card, then rotate decks. After rotating decks, your turn is over.

Reduce, reuse, recycle: You have the choice of either taking a card from the trash, taking a card from someone else, or getting rid of one card. If you decide to take a card from someone, you are not allowed to see their deck and must pick blindly.

Slim pickins’ : Draw three cards from the deck. Choose the one you’d like to keep, and place the others in the discard pile. If you don’t want any of the three cards, you do not have to keep one. If you draw a yellow card, ignore it and shuffle it back into the deck (however, you do not get to draw another card in its place).

Greener Cleaner: You organized a cleanliness drive to help clean up the park! All other opponents must give you one green card from their deck for your hard work and leadership! If there are opponents who do not have a green card in their deck, you may take one green card from the discard pile for each player who did not give you a card.

Pro tips and things to remember!

When a yellow card is drawn at the beginning of your turn, after the card is played, your turn is over!
Red cards have different levels of negative points depending on how bad the action is to the environment. This means -1 is not so bad, while -10 is horrible! When getting rid of a red card, you should get rid of the card that is the most harmful to the environment.
Green cards have different levels of positive points depending on how good the action is to the environment. This means +1 is pretty good and +10 is really good! If you have all green cards and you must discard one, you should get rid of the card that is worth less points.
When the deck runs out, gameplay continues until there are no playable action cards left in your hand. For example, a Slim Pickins’ card would not be playable, but a Single-Use Plastic Party, a Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Greener Cleaner card would.
When playing a Slim Pickins’ card, you do not have to keep a card if you don’t like the options. If a yellow card is pulled during Slim Pickins’, shuffle it back into the deck (but remember, you do not get to draw another card in its place).
When adding your points at the end of the game, try adding the green card points and the red card points separately, then subtract the sum of the red cards from the sum of the green.
Read the captions on the cards! They’ll tell you some facts, causes of global warming and pollution, and what you can do to help!