The name “koala” is derived from the Dharug word “gula” or “gulamany” meaning “no drink”. Koalas don’t often need to drink water because they get enough moisture from the eucalyptus leaves they eat. However, koalas are increasingly being seen drinking water to try and survive heatwaves, deforestation and bushfires. Other Aboriginal names are: Kaola, Koalo, Colah, Coola, Colo, Coloo, Koolewong and Koobor.

We want to raise awareness about the current problems of our Australian national iconic animal, which was recently re-listed as an endangered species.

We used the design thinking process to develop our game. We interviewed the GISS community about their views and knowledge of koala endangerment. We discovered that people are genuinely concerned about the koala but don't know what to do about it. They want to help but don't know how. People feel sad and hopeless about the koala being endangered.

We brainstormed ideas for fun products that we could sell to help people and koalas. We wanted to make a game because it is a fun way to learn about the problems that koalas face. We would like to produce and sell our game and donate the profits of the game to help koalas.

We made our first prototype, which we tested with our classmates. We have been developing our game with help from our industry advisor, Steve, from Tin Star Games.

We pitched our idea to the GISS General Manager, Kristian Wold, for start-up capital of $60, which we invested in face paint and tattoo materials and earned $100 profit at the GISS flea market. We used our profit to buy working prototypes from Launch Tabletop.

Koala Rescue is a 1 - 4 player game for players aged 4 and up. The object of the game is to be the first to get your four koalas safely home, avoiding the leaf obstacle tiles along the path. If you land on a leaf, you need to take an action card.

We are currently looking for a partner to work with us to help us produce and sell our game. We want to work with a partner that loves koalas like we do. We recently pitched our idea to Julia Erben, Partnership Manager at WWF, who loved our idea and we are hoping that we will be able to work with them on further developing our game.

We have begun testing our working prototype and it is already successful with most gamers proclaiming it as “really fun!”.

It has been a really fun and rewarding experience and we have learnt a lot about how the game board industry works.

We hope that we will be able to publish our game and donate some profits to help save koalas.

Ryo, Chloe S. & Alice from Year 6 supported by Corryne Keller, Social Entrepreneurship AG Teacher from Enterprising Kids