Rules for "Footprint Island."

Summary.
Imagine that you and the other players go to live on an island that no people have ever lived on before. Can you manage the resources you have so that you can live in comfort? Can you avoid mismanaging resources so that you can no longer live at all?

Requirements.
The game requires you to act as the moderator, and some paper and pens. We found it useful to have wall space to hang our island map upon. Our game flowed well with 5 players, but it may work well with anywhere from 3 to 12 players. Depending on how you play and how many are playing, it can take from 1-4 hours to complete a year on your simulated island.

Setup.
First, prepare the LANDS. Cut out 10 paper circles (5 or 6 inches in diameter works well) for each player: 8 green, 1 light green or yellow and 1 gray or tan. The green circles represent GOOD soil, the light green are FAIR soil, and the gray circles are POOR soil.

Each LAND has a natural state of vegetation. In our game, GOOD circles were forest, FAIR circles were covered in scrub oak, and POOR circles were dune grass. All LANDS are in a natural state at the start of the game.

Now, prepare the LAND USES. Cut out a good
supply of paper circles to represent land uses:
GARDENS and FARMS (purple)
HOMESTEADS and BUILDINGS (blue)
PASTURES and RANGELAND (brown)
MINES and OTHER HUMAN ACTIVITIES (red)
If necessary, you can use one color for all LAND USES, and label each circle.

Prepare the ISLAND; get a piece of brown paper
big enough to easily hold all the LANDS for all players.

We also had the OCEAN: blue paper big
enough to easily hold the ISLAND.

Set out PENS of many colors, so that players can label the features on their island and note what each LAND USE is.

You'll also need a chalkboard or something so that you can do the calculations at the end of each year.