Over the past two years Playa Viva has been actively supporting the evolution of a game called WordTrails, which just arrived on the market in December. 

Prototypes have been out on the table here at Playa Viva multiple times during the long stays of its creator, Scout Wilkins. Many of the elements in the game emerged right here, through interactions with other guests and community members.

There are many commonalities, between Playa Viva and WordTrails… Both carry the Playa Viva soul vision of “disconnect to reconnect” helping people slow down, listen deeply, and synch up with place, people, and the magic of life. 

Both take a little time to enter and relax into a flow, which deepens over the days. Key conversations emerge from engaging. And both are a beautiful mix of comfort and new, weaving things together as you go along.

Now the game is printed and in circulation, and Scout wants to return the support she has been such a grateful recipient of, and help Playa Viva and the turtles.

There are 1,500 copies in the initial “Founder’s Edition.” 5 % of the sales from this edition will come back into our watershed, to help fund the Playa Viva’s community watershed regeneration initiative, ReSiMar which includes Scout’s beloved turtle conservation project, La Tortuga Viva.

If this sounds intriguing to you, we hope you will consider buying a copy!

To purchase WordTrails: https://wordtrails.myshopify.com/

To learn more about WordTrails, visit:  https://wordtrails.com

To learn more about Scout and her deep connection to nature and her family here at Playa Viva listen to this podcast, recorded during her most recent stay at her second home, Playa Viva

A description of WordTrails:

WordTrails is a game where players create paths together using word chips and action cards. There’s just one rule: no explanations allowed! As players take turns adding to the trails, everyone holds a few special trinkets. When someone plays a word or action that feels true or meaningful to you, you can place your trinket on it – a quiet way of saying “that matters to me too.”

The magic happens when all the trinkets have been placed, and the game moves to its next level. These special pieces – the ones that touched different players – are brought together and each player gets a turn to form their own pattern or story with those chips. Once you have built your own pattern, you are free to share its story, or just let the pattern speak for itself.

As 8-year-old Presley puts it, “I can tell people how I’m feeling without having to say it.” It’s a game that lets everyone share what’s real for them while discovering what matters to others – in a space where no one (including you) can ask for an explanation why.

Other things that could be said:

WordTrails offers the chance to slow things down together. Everything is back on the table: all the possibilities, all the questions, and all the actions that might be taken. Players get to re-enter the world as it is right now, with all options reinstated.

What is new in the WordTrails version of the world is the absence of explanation. 

Suddenly, there is space enough and time enough for taking it all in. For walking together, listening carefully, considering things, taking next steps and exchanging trinkets of appreciation. 

WordTrails feels like getting to talk with a trusted friend where there is no such thing as shame or judgment.