Their goal is to raise awareness towards nature and the environment. «We first thought of it in 2020, as we wanted to find a creative way to teach children about biodiversity's delicate balances – said Giada Rossi, Kaleidoscienza's president – It's an issue we've been really caring about since our very beginning. That's why we started the DiverSimili project, now running for the fourth year, and it ultimately prompted the development of the board game later called “Equilibrium”».
Playing with nature
Friuli Venezia Giulia flaunts an extraordinary biodiversity, and it's perfectly reflected in the board game by Kaleidoscienza. There are 5 different natural environments one can play with: mountains, hills, flatlands, lagoons and karstic territory, and 6 different species for each of them such as plants, carnivores, herbivores, insectivores and so on. By rolling the dice and playing cards, in “Equilibrium” players can manage their own resources and choose the best moment to boost their species' beings. The game, suitable for children +6 years old, allows 2 to 4 players for each natural setting and has been developed along with Play Res, a cultural association promoting games' research.
Kaleidoscienza tested the board game on 10 classes and 160 children throughout 2020 and 2021, getting extremely positive feed-backs both from teachers and players. Since then, schools had been asking to keep the game, in order to let students play with it, and that urged the need for more. So the association thought it was time for a larger production, and started a crowdfunding to cover all costs like planning, game designing and prototypes. «We'd like to give more and more children a chance to play with biodiversity – said Giada Rossi – that's why we allowed a double choice: one can buy the game for himself, or else donate it to a school. We hope that, thanks to “Equilibrium”, people who live in Friuli Venezia Giulia will look at their homeland from a different perspective, and people in the rest of Italy will discover how fascinating our region is». Kaleidoscienza already thought about give-aways for people who will support the crowdfunding: from the “Kaleido-kit” for children's scientific experiments, to a gift card for one of Wild Routes' hiking tours in Friuli Venezia Giulia.
For those wishing to give a donation, here's the link to the crowdfunding: https://www.ideaginger.it/progetti/la-biodiversita-del-fvg-in-un-gioco.html.