We're Green!

I’ll never forget adopting a whale with my favourite cousin Krystal when we were 12 and 13. We did up my crawlspace clubhouse with sponge paint and rainforest wallpaper, and spent hours leafing through eco-pamphlets, discussing how we were going to save the earth.  I vowed to save all of the ocean animals, and she planned to take on the domestic pets, starting a giant farm where all the shelter animals could come instead of being put down. We turned our back on companies that tested on animals and sent hate-mail to companies clear-cutting forests.  It was a “hemp-wearing hippie movement” back then, definitely not as PC or – dare we say… cool, as it is today.

Now, this tree-hugging, whale-adopting eco-gal plots murder for a living. Go figure! But my ideals have remained the same.  We’re still committed to operating in the most environmentally-friendly means. An instant download means no shipping, saving clients from paying extra shipping costs and eliminating the impact of planes, ships and trucks involved with shipping.

Although we have explored having our games manufactured into boxed mystery party games, we can’t do so while keeping in line with our environmentally-friendly mandate. The materials needed to produce a game, create the boxes, the ink used for printing, the polution created by the manufacturing establishment and other processes involved have more of an impact than most people realize.

The instant-download format only has one environmentally unfriendly aspect, and that’s the printing. However, in our print kits we encourage all of our clients to use recycled paper to print their game. We have also now officially launched our tree planting initiative, in which we have partnered with a number of local and overseas companies in order to allow us to plant a tree for each game sold, offsetting both the paper used and any environmental impact involved with the printing – and then some! Each game purchased goes toward helping in the fight against global warming.

Trees are planted twice per year, either in Central America/Africa/Asia or locally here in Ontario, where I (and anyone crazy enough to come out with me) plant trees in the conservation areas. When the trees are planted, each customer receives an email to let them know their tree is in the ground and thriving!

2010 marked the launch of The Earth Hour Murder, a mini-murder mystery game designed to be played in about an hour, in the dark during Earth Hour. This game will also be released as Murder In the Dark in the coming months. With The Earth Hour Murder, we were able to spread the word about Earth Hour to some who don’t usually participate and join the ranks of numerous other businesses hosting events that are making a difference. Read about The Earth Hour Murder in The Villager HERE!

We’re proud of our environmental initiatives, and are excited to say that we’ll be rolling even more out in the future. In the meantime, YOU can take pride in purchasing a mystery game, knowing that you are making a positive choice for our earth.