Mobilitree

Topic
- Nature & ecology
- Transport & mobility
Learning skills
- Critical & reflective thinking
- Communication & expression
Activity type
- Card game
Materials
- Printable downloads
Age
- 6 - 11 years
- 12 - 14 years
- 15 - 17 years
- 18+ years
5 - 15 minutes
+5 players
Easy
Calm
Small (office, pavement)

Contributors

Mobile School

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Everything you need to play this game

Mobilitree Playing Cards Download mobilitree-playing-cards.pdf (7.8mb)
Chalk, rocks, sticks, ... (depending on the game board)

Make it yourself

Step 1

Print out the Mobilitree Playing Cards

Print out the Mobilitree Playing Cards recto-verso on A4 paper. If you want the cards to be more durable, you can print them out on thicker paper and laminate them.

Good job!

A step-by-step guide to play the game

The standard Mobilitree card deck consists of 52 playing cards:

There are 13 red playing cards depicting a car, 13 yellow playing cards depicting a bus, 13 green playing cards depicting a pedestrian and 13 blue playing cards depicting a bicycle.
Each card is worth 1 tree (1 credit).
At the back of each card, a situation is depicted which can occur in traffic.
Underneath the situation, you can see how many spaces each player can move and whether or not they need to pay or will receive credits.
There are some special cards and symbols, explained in the “Additional Game Information”.

There is no fixed game board. Agree on the number of squares beforehand and ask the players to design the game board (a road) themselves. They can draw a line on a chalk board, in the sand or on the ground, on a piece of cardboard, … They can also create a road using small rocks or sticks.

All players choose a pawn (any object of their choosing, such as a rock, a piece of chalk, a bottle cap,…) and place it on the starting square of the road they designed.

Shake up the cards and give all players the same number of playing cards (10 if the game is played with 5 players, less if it is played with more players). Make sure each player has a combination of the different means of transport.

All players place their cards in front of them, vehicle side up. The remaining playing cards are put on a pile in the center.

Before each turn, all players decide which means of transport they will use from their set of cards: they can go by car, by bus, by bicycle or on foot. They make their choice clear by placing the card depicting their choice in the middle.

As a general rule:

Cars move 4 spaces, buses 3, bicycles 2 and pedestrians 1 space.
Players going by car, need to pay 3 credits and players going by bus 1 credit (accounting for petrol costs and for the bus ticket). Players going by bike or on foot do not need to pay.

During the game, though, different situations occur influencing the number of spaces all players can move along and the amount of credits that are gained or that need to be paid.

After all players have chosen their means of transport, the game leader flips the card on top of the pile in the middle. He shows the situation on the card. All players move their pawns according to the instructions underneath the situation and pay or receive credits.

The game ends when the first player arrives at the finish line. The first player to reach the finish line, gains 2 extra trees.

The player with most trees at the end of the game, wins the game.

Extra game information

There are some special cards and symbols: * If a hand is depicted next to a means of transport, it means that the players who chose that means of transport need to skip a turn. * On some playing cards, next to one or more means of transport, you can see two possible options with an icon of a man in between with his arms stretched out to the right and left. The players who chose that/those means of transport can chose which option they prefer. * There are five special cards, which can be recognised by their special border (yellow and black stripes). One of those special cards contains an infinity symbol (a figure eight on its side). Once this card has been drawn, the rule holds until the game is over.
If a player wants to take a means of transport he doesn’t have in his set of cards anymore, he can swap one of his cards with a card from the central pile or with a card from another player at the beginning of each turn.
If a player goes bankrupt during the game (no more cards left), he has to return to the starting square and start over.
Because players need to pay to take the car or the bus and they only have a limited amount of credits, they will need to switch up their vehicle choice throughout the game.
1 credit is 1 tree. You can use this as a starting point for a discussion about CO2-emissions, climate change, recycling,…

Variations

You can create your own set of playing cards with situations corresponding to your local context, so they are recognisable for the players. You can ask the players to come up with additional situations as well.
When you’re playing with a small and calm group, you can ask the players to draw a bigger road, so they can be the pawns themselves.
After the first game is over, you can ask the players to play the game again, starting with the amount of credits they have left. This will lead to different choices.
If you want to add an element of surprise, don’t mention that the player who has most trees at the end wins the game. That way, players will assume the goal of the game is to reach the finish line the fastest, which allows for an interesting discussion afterwards.
If you want to be able to discuss the choices each player made during the game, you can write down the name of each player on the blackboard or on a piece of paper and write down the different choices they make next to their names. This way, in case of a draw, you could award the winning place to the player that made the “greenest” choices along the way.

Specific learning objectives

Gain knowledge about the sustainability and the pros and cons of different means of transport.

What people said about this game

Sander Degeling

Partnership Coordinator Africa & Asia StreetwiZe • Mobile School BE

24 January, 2020

(1)

Beautiful card deck! Definitely worth it to read through the instructions in the manual, once you start playing the game, you'll notice it's easy and fun. Looking forward to playing this game more often with different target groups.

Joke Verreth

Partnership Coordinator Europe & Latin America StreetwiZe • Mobile School BE

28 January, 2020

(1)

Smart choices and luck are what you need to win this game. It's a simple card game, but the many twists keep it interesting! The game is a good starting point to open up discussions on sustainable mobility and sustainable living in general.

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