There are a number of board games out there that are played co-operatively, but did you know there is also a board game being developed that is intended to be a fun way to learn more about co-operatives themselves? It’s called Co-opoly, and they’re hoping to release it in time for the winter gift-giving season (a.k.a “Christmas”) and, of course, for 2012 as the International Year of Co-operatives.

If you’d like to support their development efforts and their ability to produce it, please consider making a donation to the Co-opoly project through Kickstarter (ends October 3rd). Or, if you are a co-op or organization rather than an individual, you can sponsor the project directly on their website and receive proportionate benefits at various levels of sponsorship (ends November 1st).

The current version of the game is about worker co-operatives, but they have plans to create new card-packs for other versions later. The board will remain the same, so these would be add-on packs of cards tailored to the different kinds of co-ops: consumer co-ops, grocer cooperatives (a.k.a. food co-ops — like The London Co-op Store!), multi-stakeholder (“hybrid”) co-ops, social co-ops, housing co-ops, student co-ops, etc.

The game is designed by The Toolbox for Education and Social Action. They also created a wiki-type site about co-operatives called Cultivate.Coop. Great resources!

And what a great resource Co-opoly appears to be, for learning more about the challenges and rewards and benefits of co-operatives! Check it out!