Eco Squad

In Eco Squad players are confronted with environmental challenges in homes, cities and factories. By playing cards from their hands, they can implement solutions to these situations.

To start the game, twelve goal cards are taken randomly from the deck of 50, with four goal cards laid face up. Each goal card is labeled home, city or factory and shows two, three or four eco symbols, respectively, the symbols being air, water, energy and natural resources. Each player starts with a hand of five eco cards; most of these cards show one or two eco symbols, along with a description of what this solution represents, e.g., "Recycle used paper" shows one tree (natural resource) while "Front-loading washers" shows one water and one energy.

On a turn, a player either starts a stack of cards on the table in front of him (with at most three stacks in play), adds up to one card to each stack in play, or else discards any number of cards from hand. The player can also play one action card (of which there are five in the deck) and claim one goal card, assuming he has the needed eco symbols in a stack and the environmental solutions match the situation shown on the goal. ("Carpool lanes" are useless in providing clean air at home.)

At the end of a player's turn, he refills his hand to five cards. When a goal card is claimed, another goal card is revealed. Once the final goal card is claimed, the player with the most goals wins; in the event of a tie, the tied player who has the most eco symbols on his goal cards wins.