When we named this store Dryad Games, we were thinking about nature, things that grow, and what it means to be an integral part of your environment. Earth Day exists because people care about these same things, and we wanted to spotlight that in this issue. So here it is, made with love, for the planet and for you!
EARTH DAY MUSINGS:
What’s Actually In Your Box
Most board game boxes are sized for shelf presence, not for their contents. A game with 120 cards and a handful of tokens ships in a box big enough to hold a sandwich alongside them, wrapped in a plastic laminate that makes the cards feel great and renders them basically unrecyclable. The miniatures boom made it worse. Mountains of polypropylene that a lot of collectors never fully paint and that will eventually end up in a landfill.
Nobody talks about this much. The hobby is joyful and communal and good, and it is also, quietly, a manufacturing industry that produces a lot of waste.
The good news is that publishers are starting to take notice. FSC-certified cardboard means the pulp in your game comes from responsibly managed forests. Soy-based inks and water-based coatings are gaining ground. Compact box formats prove you don’t need a massive footprint to feel premium. When you’re done with a game, selling it, trading it, or donating it to a library keeps that cardboard doing something useful instead of sitting in a closet. We think that matters, and we’re paying attention to which publishers think so too. Here are some that standout:
WHAT BOARD GAME PIECE IS THIS?
Think you know board games? Identify the game this piece belongs to and check the bottom of this article to see if you’re a true master!
NEW QUEST:
Play The Game Already On Your Shelf
Here’s something no retailer is supposed to say: you might not need another new game right now.
We know you have at least a few on your shelf that have never been played, still in shrink wrap or shuffled to the back after a new one took its spot. We certainly do! Every one of those games represents cardboard already produced, miles already shipped, a manufacturing footprint already spent. The most sustainable thing you can do is play the games you already have. Let your Shelf of Shame be a Shelf of Opportunity!
SIDE QUEST: Poll
| Does knowing a publisher uses eco-friendly materials make you more likely to buy their games? | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes, it absolutely matters to me | It’s a nice bonus but not a deciding factor | I hadn’t thought about it before today | It does not affect my game purchases |
Ok, I know what we just said about playing the games you already have before buying new ones, but… if you are really set on a new game, here are some that are themed perfectly for Earth Day!
Daybreak
Cooperatively decarbonize the planet and create resilient societies.
Age: 10+
Play Time: 60-120 Min.
Complexity: 3/5
Players: 1-4
Daybreak is a beautifully hopeful cooperative game about the one problem we all actually have to solve together. Each player controls a world power, building out real technologies and policies in an engine-building race to draw down global emissions before the temperature climbs too high and everyone loses.
Canopy
Grow the most bountiful rainforest in this game of card drafting and set collection.
Age: 8+
Play Time: 30 Min
Complexity: 2/5
Players: 1-4
A card drafting game where two players compete to grow the most beautiful rainforest, carefully choosing which trees, plants, and wildlife to add to their ecosystem before fire, disease, or drought wrecks everything.
Earth
Strategically grow your ecosystem card engine with unique flora, fauna, and terrains.
Age: 14+
Play Time: 45-90 Min.
Players: 1-5
Complexity: 3/5
A sprawling, satisfying engine-builder for 1 to 5 players where you draft from over 350 unique cards to build a living island tableau of plants, terrain, and ecosystems.
Forestry
Become forest stewards who balance resource harvesting with sustainability.
Age: 13+
Play Time: 70-120 Min.
Complexity: 3/5
Players: 1-4
A Euro-style worker placement game where you play as a forest steward, harvesting timber and fulfilling contracts while replanting and tending the land so the forest can actually survive your presence.
Ecosfera
Restore wild nature before it is too late.
Age: 8+
Play Time: 40-80 Min.
Complexity: 3/5
Players: 1-4
A cooperative deck-builder where you work together to restore wild nature from the ground up, combining plants and fungi into animals and animals into biomes before disaster cards tear it all back down.
ECO: Coral Reef
Dive into the world of marine life to save the Coral Ecosystem.
Age: 12+
Play Time: 30-60 Min.
Complexity: 2/5
Players: 2-4
A fast strategic tile-laying game where players collaboratively build a shared coral reef mosaic while quietly competing to complete personal missions and advance their turtle toward the waterline.