Play a Game, Save a Rainforest

Fairyland is a different kind of Facebook game. Unlike other farming games, Fairyland's garden is small; approximately eight inches long and three inches high. Pots are placed on the grass like pretty maids all in row. Garden owner plants a seed, waters the pot, waits for it to mature and harvests when ready. The tricky part for me is to know when plants go from growing to fully grown to ready for harvest. Like a watched pot, I am constantly checking ~ is it done yet?

Impatient, that is me. The only way to move up levels is by harvesting required seeds. Seeds take one or more days to fully grow. With level-ups players gain another pot spot, more pot styles and seed choices. Gardens are peaceful places to be, so why am I in such a hurry to level up in a garden game?

There is plenty to do while waiting. One activity is to Find Gold. Check back every 3 hours and your gold will be ready to pick up. Next up is checking friends' for gold. The timing on picking up that gold varies depending upon how active the neighbor has been. My nephew was last there "652 days ago"; he was recovering from a hang-over; likely Christmas party time; his garden is "frozen" meaning no one can water it. The scene is snow covered fir trees.

Note that only one friend will be able to get their gold. Link on Find Gold page advises when gold will next be available at your friends' gardens. This can help you plan your next visit to the game. After checking for friends' gold, you can visit their gardens. While at friends' gardens, you might choose to water a plant. If lucky, a wildlife creature will appear. Spot Hidden Wildlife is a big part of the game.

Players are not limited to spotting wildlife on their own or friends' gardens. Humans and their fairies post a message when they visit your garden. There is a link on their post which will transport you instantly to their garden to return the favor.

You can also check News or All Gardens to find more gardens to visit; fierce competition there with "someone beat you to it" messages aplenty. Flower pots can only be watered if five minutes have elapsed since last "splash" as seasoned players call watering. Why the rush to water gardens and spot wildlife? If you spot a creature you earn diamonds; the rarer the creature the more diamonds you win.

The way to attract wildlife to your garden is to place food on feeding tables. There is a high table and low, on the ground table. Players can only have two tables of any combination in the garden at any time. Visit the Wildlife Guide to figure out the best combination of food and plants to attract the wildlife you want to spot. When the food is all gone, collect your diamonds and refill your tables.

Why earn diamonds? The plants and pots do not come free, you see, but there is more. When you water a garden it costs a diamond. Diamonds are also buy diamond or fruiting dust, used as a super fast grow on your plants or to sprinkle on pots at gardens you visit. Gold dust will revive dead plants and is purchased with, of course, gold.

Other things to do while waiting for your garden to grow is play mini games. There is a snail race and pick the magic mushroom. Players purchase the games with game money so visitors who do not bring wildlife out of hiding have a chance to win diamonds. Winning a race or finding a diamond is always fun. There is more to do when playing the game than mentioned in this review. I am still learning.

The best aspect of Fairylandis players are helping to save a rainforest. Each level up adopts a square foot of rainforest. The developers adopt these square feet with a donation to the Nature Conservancy's Adopt An Acreprogram.. They earn the donated money from advertisers and any diamond or gold purchases made by players using real money.

Rainforests helped by Fairyland donations are in Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica. My garden was "born" a week ago and I have already saved 22 square feet of rainforest. Play a game, save a rainforest, how cool is that?

Play and Connect Ltd, released Fairyland in January 2008 and have adopted 725 acres of rainforest through June 2010. Fairyland gets 5 stars for ease of loading, simplicity of playing, colorful graphics, fun and caring about earths future.