Play
Trash Tycoon
The first “upcycling” game on Facebook that aims to teach how to turn trash into cash.
Trash Tycoon is an upcycling social network game developed by Guerillapps. The game applies traditional social gameplay features to highlight real-world issues such as waste, water, and “green” activities. Gameplay includes cleaning trash, recycling, and constructing products and decorations out of recycled material. The game shares a number of partnerships with real world companies, including TerraCycle, Carbonfund.org, TreeHugger, and Kraft Foods.
In Trash Tycoon, players collect litter in a city covered in trash and upcycle waste into valuable, environmentally friendly products. You can create a variety of items such as jewelry, toys and furniture, which you can either keep for yourself or sell for “profit”. The game’s production processes reflect the goals and activities of sponsor and partner TerraCycle, a company that provides solution programs for waste that is typically non-recyclable. The 23 million people who participate in TerraCycle’s recycling programs and Trash Tycoon earn points in the game for every piece of waste they collect and return to TerraCycle in real life. These points convert to special bonuses including in-game money, special decorative items, or exclusive badges that allow players to show in-game friends their “Greenness“ habits outside of the game.
Developer: Guerillapps
Funder: Guerillapps
Press: Mashable, Gamezebo, Face Gamers, AppSauna
Trailer:
Screenshot:
Review the Game
Trash Tycoon is a thoughtful spin on the tried and true (and occasionally tired) Facebook game framework. Players of the Green social network game are tasked with the cleaning of a city overrun by garbage in the not to distant future. However, in addition to simply cleaning junk, the trash that you find around town will make up your production stockpiles–it is a primary resource. The plastic and glass bottles, paper, and wrappers collected around the city can be transformed into useful products (via "upcycling") and decorations to make your city a brighter (and more eco-friendly!) place. There is a lot of content available, and developer Guerillapps is frequently releasing new material (like their current and festive winter-themed goal set) for users. The only problem I have run into thus far is one of building area. It can be a bit difficult to juggle enough of the production machines necessary for efficient upcycling AND creatively decorate your town in the initial space provided. However, this dissipates as you unlock more neighborhoods (and more space), but it can make the early game feel a little slow. However, minor qualms aside Trash Tycoon is packed full of quality lessons about recycling and waste, but it never feels heavy-handed. It is first and foremost a truly enjoyable game, and deserves looking into!
Review the Game