GAMES: Focus on Nature : Playing Games With Mother Nature

“The happiest adults,” said Picasso, “are doing what they did as kids.”

And what do kids do? Play games. If one tableau for the Acquisitive ‘80s found them hunched over Monopoly or the Trump game or the Wall Street game or Acquire, a metaphor for the ‘90s may be a kinder, gentler competition across a game board that teaches environmental principals.

The “environmental decade” is spawning an array of games, usually made from recycled or recyclable materials, that teach an appreciation of nature.

Some, such as Birding!--developed by Robert Huffman, a copywriter for a Detroit publishing company--are niche games, available only through conservation group catalogues or specialty shops.

Spurred by his twin interests in bird-watching and game-playing, Huffman, 33, spent four years creating his board game, which simulates a day of bird-watching in the marshes and wetland woods of Point Pelee National Park in Ontario.

“The pawns for my game are made out of wood, because I didn’t want to use plastic,” he said.

“The game encourages people to stay on trails because groups have destroyed the vegetation. It doesn’t just teach bird-watching, it also encourages ethical behavior that is in again. After the ‘me’ generation of the ‘80s, people are getting this feeling back.”

Huffman isn’t sure how widespread this new selflessness is, but “green” games that teach people about recycling, geography, animals and plants are showing up across the boards.

“We are seeing a lot of new games that create involvement in nature,” said Donna Baker Schwenk, a reviewer of educational materials for the National Wildlife Federation. Its new catalogue features Save the Forest, in which players follow a path through a forest, collecting litter, caring for animals and learning about their habitats. At the National Geographic Society, Barbara Fallon reports that the ongoing success of Global Pursuit--in which players assemble pieces of a world map and answer trivia questions about the globe--has spurred the development of On Assignment With National Geographic.

“It’s a family game, and you take on the role of a National Geographic photographer,” she said. “It will be out next October for National Geographic members, or can be ordered. It won’t be available through stores.”

But the games are also sprouting in stores outside the environmental niche. And while nobody is suggesting that Save the Forest will edge out Pictionary as the game of choice on a rainy afternoon, casual investigation reveals a coming wave.

“It’s a trend, I’m telling you it’s there, “ says Diana Huss Green, editor-in-chief of the quarterly magazine Parents’ Choice. She shopped this year’s mammoth New York Toy Fair, sponsored by the Toy Manufacturers of America, and came away with evidence that toy land is taking on an eco-tinge. Green ticked off some of the upcoming entries:

* Pollution Solution, from Aristoplay, in which each player owns a section of the township and, confronted with a series of pollution problems, such as “overburdened septic tanks pollute lake and drinking wells,” has to come up with solutions, such as “sanitary sewer system is installed.”

* Save the World, from Crown and Andrews, in which players guide endangered species across a world map and attempt to develop a better ecological balance.

* Colorful Kingdom, from Family Games, for children, in which players try to match exotic animals with their desert, jungle or ocean habitat.

* Endangered, from Family Games, for older children and adults, in which participants travel to various countries to help save endangered species.

* Don’t Bug Me, from Game Inventors of America, in which players race around the board, competing with other farmers to grow vegetables and ward off insects that threaten crops.

Although the real evidence won’t be in until Christmas, when 60% percent of toys and games are sold, Green gives the new games high marks for their fun factor.

“They are competitive, and that’s important. A game has to offer something to win, and it’s just as much fun for kids if they win at solving pollution than at those horrible ‘80s games when the competition was to get the most money.”

She sees the whole board game category as reflective of society.

“These games are telling me about values: that the most educated and affluent parents in history want to buy their children the tools of childhood that reflect their own values.

“It speaks very well for environmental concern.”

At the Nature Company’s 40 stores, environmental games such as Eco-lotto and Insect Dominos are becoming staples. “They’re a trend which we think will only go up on the chart,” says spokesman Michael Modzelewski. “We can barely keep them in the stores.”

Nature Company market research shows the typical customer to be a “slightly over-educated couple who are very interested in their children,” Modzelewski said, “and games are important for setting values. I think they realize that even the mobile hanging over a crib or the animal painted on the wall are educational within themselves.

“As we go toward the new millennium, the ‘90s are the decade of trying to save the Earth.”

But in the larger world of commerce, where companies generally acknowledge less lofty goals, “green” games are eyed with some skepticism. “A board game where everybody who cleans up the garbage wins, doesn’t sound like much fun to me,” suggested one industry expert.

Dennis Murray, the manager of Gamesmanship in South Coast Plaza, with 4,000 square feet of nothing but board games, says he has not seen a trend yet: “To get something that gets big-big in this country, you have to have the big money--get the major manufacturer behind it,” he said.

And at the Toy Manufacturers of America, the industry trade association, Jodi Levin reported that “environmental games” do not warrant their own category in the $13.4-billion toy industry.

“On the other hand, trends like this sometimes start out very small in our industry and end up being huge,” she added. “The trivia trend started that way.”

Other observers recall a slew of wholesome “safety” games for children--with titles such as Don’t Talk to Strangers--that were introduced a few years ago but never took off. “The play value wasn’t there,” says Mike Agrelius, director of Game Inventors of America, a Texas-based umbrella group for about 150 small companies. “We play games to escape, not to learn.” His company is marketing Don’t Bug Me, which is becoming their bestseller, just on the basis of advance orders, he said. “It teaches math skills and decision-making skills, but it’s not successful because it’s educational.

“It’s successful because it’s fun.”