Papilio

Papilio is a card game that recreates the life of butterflies in a fun and didactic way. It combines the fun of an enjoyable game with the discovery of the world of butterflies and some of the most common species in the Mediterranean area.

The aim of the game, fun apart, is to build the richest habitat, and this is achieved by gaining the maximum number of points: completing butterflies, attracting them with plants, trying to make them breed, or catching them (with final penalisation). You also have to ensure that neither predators nor changes in the weather nor human intervention have a negative influence in the strategy of each player.

The game is designed for 2-5 players of all ages, and especially from 6 years old to an adult public. We have devised three levels of difficulty so that the learning process is gradual until dominating all the aspects of the game.

The game has a total of 66 cards, and 40 of them represent butterflies, 17 are actions by the players and 9 refer to the weather. The butterflies chosen represent more or less the variety of diurnal species in the area and the majority are grouped by colours, an approximation to the different families.

Papilio is a game of simulation yet it is also competitive. This means that the dynamic of the game is agile and with continuous toing and froing, and at the end establishes a score in points that in some way is related to the concept of biodiversity and the biological cycles of these insects.

Thus there are more points for the butterflies that are free than those caught with butterfly nets. The diversity of the butterflies is also rewarded and the number of species of the same group. Finally, points are scored for the combination of plants and reproduction cards (caterpillars). Moreover, given the vulnerability of these insects, the game includes three species of protected butterflies, rare or in danger of extinction, species that in the game cannot be caught with butterfly nets.