TRACE Building Material Cards

A fast-play format for younger players or quick sessions.

1. Shuffle the 20 cards and deal them equally between players.
2. The player to the dealer's left starts by selecting a category from their top card.
3. All players reveal that category on their top card.
4. Best value wins: lowest Carbon or Climate Factor, OR highest Lifespan or Reuse & Recyclability.
5. The winning player takes all the cards and places them at the bottom of their deck.
6. The winner of each round selects the category for the next round.
7. The game continues until one player holds all the cards.

A more strategic format for older players. You are designing a building.

1. Choose one material card for each role: Structure, Insulation, Roof Finish, and Wall Finish.
2. Select cards with the best environmental value — consider lifespan, reuse potential, and climate factor.
3. Look at all your selected materials together. Will some need replacing over the building lifetime? What matters most in construction?
4. Collect carbon credits (wooden cubes) corresponding to each card's environmental performance.

You need 21 cards total to play: 5 structure, 5 insulation, 4 roof finish, 3 wall finish, and 3 windows & doors options.

This expansion round uses the QR codes on each card. The building you designed is now imagined at 60 years old. Some materials may be original; others will have been replaced during the building lifetime.

1. Scan the QR code on the back of each of your selected cards — or use this page — to access the material's passport at 60 years.
2. The passport tells you the material's age, condition, and likely end-of-life route at this point.
3. Take notes on what happens to each material and its game score for this round.

Important: The 60-year scenario is about the building reaching 60 years, not every material literally being 60 years old. Where a material has been replaced during the building's lifetime, the passport states the material age and notes that it was replaced.

After scanning each card's QR code or checking the passport view, record the points gained or lost for each material's end-of-life route:

Count all carbon credits at the end. Which team or player has the most?