Animal Advocacy: Rescue & Rehabilitate

This card game centers on animal rescue, rehabilitation, and advocacy. Here’s a more detailed breakdown:

Core Concept

Players work as a team of animal welfare advocates managing an animal rescue organization. Your goal is to successfully rescue, rehabilitate, and rehome animals who have experienced abuse or neglect.

Components

• Animal Case Cards (40-50): Each depicts a different animal with their story, specific needs, and recovery timeline
• Resource Cards (60): Medical care, shelter space, food, enrichment, transport, training
• Specialist Cards (15): Veterinarians, behaviorists, foster families, legal advocates
• Challenge Cards (30): Unexpected situations like medical emergencies, funding shortages
• Community Support Cards (20): Donations, volunteers, adopters, educational campaigns

Gameplay

Setup

1. Each player receives a role (Veterinarian, Behaviorist, Shelter Manager, Outreach Coordinator, etc.)
2. Create decks for Animals, Resources, and Challenges
3. Set up tracking boards for shelter capacity, available funding, and public awareness

Round Structure

1. Intake Phase: Draw new Animal Case Cards that enter your shelter
2. Resource Allocation: Assign available resources to animals in your care
3. Challenge Phase: Draw and resolve Challenge Cards
4. Rehabilitation Progress: Track each animal’s recovery using progress tokens
5. Adoption Phase: Successfully rehabilitated animals can be matched with forever homes
6. Community Outreach: Players can invest in prevention programs and education

Animal Cards

Each animal has specific needs based on their situation:

• A dog from a fighting ring needs medical care, behavioral rehabilitation, and legal advocacy
• A cat from a hoarding situation needs medical attention, socialization, and proper nutrition
• A horse from a neglect case needs specialized veterinary care and nutrition rehabilitation

Educational Elements

• Cards include factual information about recognizing signs of animal abuse
• Challenge Cards reflect real-world obstacles in animal welfare work
• Success stories based on actual rescue cases
• Information cards about animal welfare laws and reporting procedures

End Game

The game ends after a predetermined number of rounds. Players tally:

• Number of animals successfully rehabilitated and rehomed
• Community awareness level reached
• Prevention programs established
• Resources remaining

Winning

Successfully rehabilitate and find homes for 8 animals before the shelter becomes full.

Example Turn

1. Draw a new Animal Card: “Max, a dog rescued from a fighting ring”
2. Play Resource Cards to help Max (Medical Care, Special Training)
3. Draw Challenge Card: “Shelter Overcrowding” – must make room or lose resources
4. Check if any animals have met all their needs and can move to adoption

Expansion Ideas

• Legislation Expansion: Add mechanics for advocating for stronger animal protection laws
• Wildlife Rescue: Incorporate cases involving wild animals and conservation
• International Cases: Address animal welfare challenges across different cultures and regions

The game strikes a balance between showing the reality of animal abuse while focusing on the positive impact of intervention, creating a challenging but ultimately hopeful experience that educates players about this important issue.