E Lele Games

08/02/2026

It’s Seabird Sunday! 🌊🐦☀️

Meet Pākalakala (PAH-kala-kala), the Grey-backed Tern 🐦

Outside breeding season, Pākalakala may stay in continuous flight, not touching land for years at a time.

They often forage alongside ʻEwaʻewa and ʻUaʻu Kani, feeding by plunge-diving or dipping the surface mid-hover.

Like many seabirds, both parents share incubation duties and feeding the chick once it hatches.

A conservation win: Pākalakala recently returned to Palmyra Atoll, thanks to habitat restoration and social attraction projects. Pākalakala had been absent from the atoll for decades, likely due to invasive rats. Rats were eradicated in 2011, and beginning in 2020, conservationists used decoys and audio broadcasts of bird calls. In 2023, a newborn gray-backed tern chick was discovered on North Barren Island, and another was discovered the following year, marking the beginning of a newly reestablished colony of Pākalakala.

Every bird card in E Lele! teaches a real fact like this while you play.

Habitat Restoration and Social Attraction are two special Protection cards in the deck.

E Lele! is live on Kickstarter — pledge to fledge today 👉

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elelegames/e-lele-go-fly-hawaiian-seabird-card-game?ref=eyrkbt

📸 Photo: Cameron Rutt

08/01/2026

10 days in, 70% funded, 80+ backers — Mahalo! 🐦🎉

We're getting closer every day to bringing E Lele! to life. Every pledge, share, and comment is helping us build something real for Hawaiian seabird conservation education.

If you haven't backed yet, now's a great time to join in.

Pledge now on Kickstarter 👉

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elelegames/e-lele-go-fly-hawaiian-seabird-card-game?ref=eyrkbt

07/30/2026

In honor of July being Habitat Month at NOAA Fisheries, we wanted to share some of the seabird Habitat cards featured in E Lele! 🌊🐦

Every seabird needs the right habitat to nest.

E Lele! Includes 8 native Hawaiian habitats — here are 6 of them:
• Moku Liʻiliʻi (Islet)
• Pali Kai (Sea Cliff)
• Puʻu One (Dune)
• Mauʻu Kahakai (Coastal Grassland)
• Pā Awāwa (Gulch Wall)
• Papa Pele (Lava Field)

The other two — Lua Uluhe (Fern Burrow) and Kiwikā (Urban) — round out the full range of places Hawaiian seabirds call home.

How are seabirds connected with fisheries? Fishers have long followed seabirds to find the locations where predatory fish are pushing schools of prey fish up to the surface, where the fish and the birds both feed. Several species of seabirds may gather together where they plunge-dive or pluck small fish and squid off the surface. Where the birds are diving reveals exactly where the fish are.

For nearshore fisheries, seabird colonies fertilize nearshore waters with guano rich in nutrients brought in from the open ocean. Research has found reefs next to seabird colonies had measurably higher nutrient levels, supporting the fish that feed both reef ecosystems and local fisheries.

Every game of E Lele! raises awareness about the relationship of seabirds with their habitats.

Pledge now on Kickstarter 👉

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elelegames/e-lele-go-fly-hawaiian-seabird-card-game?ref=eyrkbt

07/26/2026

It’s Seabird Sunday! 🌊🐦☀️

Meet ʻAkēʻakē, the Band-rumped Storm Petrel, the smallest and rarest seabird that breeds in Hawaiʻi. As an endangered bird, it’s a 4-point card.

ʻAkēʻakē nest in burrows or natural cavities across high-elevation, inland habitats like Papa Pele - lava fields. But their nests are extremely elusive, according to DOFAW researchers. ʻAkēʻakē don’t leave behind guano or feather traces at their nests, which are often hidden under shelves of lava. Researchers use bioacoustics, seabird-sniffing dogs, and game cameras just to locate them. Less than 20 nests are known on the slopes of Mauna Loa — the result of years of searching. Finding them matters: only by knowing where they are can we use tools like trapping and fencing to protect them from predators like feral cats.

Every bird card in E Lele! teaches a real seabird fact while you play.

E Lele! fledges on Kickstarter — pledge today 👉

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elelegames/e-lele-go-fly-hawaiian-seabird-card-game?ref=eyrkbt

📸 Photo credit: Annie B. Douglas .org

07/26/2026

Seabird conservation to the rescue! ✅

This is how Protection cards work in E Lele! Play Pahele Iki (Small Trap) to remove a predator threat like Pōpoki (Cat) — both cards are discarded, and your bird pair's points are restored.

From colony → to threat → to protection: every step in E Lele! mirrors real conservation work happening across Hawaiʻi's seabird colonies.

Pledge now on Kickstarter 👉

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elelegames/e-lele-go-fly-hawaiian-seabird-card-game

07/25/2026

Oh no! A predator is on the prowl! 🐱⚠️

This is how Threat cards work in E Lele! A predator like Pōpoki (Cat) can affect a colony in a vulnerable habitat. Place it across the nesting pair of another player, and the bird points won’t count if the threat is still there at the end of the game.

Feral cats are one of the biggest real threats to Hawaiian seabirds, preying on eggs, chicks, and adults at nesting colonies across the islands.

(Fun fact: That's our own cat, Pueo — Heidi caught her mid-yawn, but she looked so fierce we put her on the threat card. 😹)

Stay tuned — next up, we'll show you how to remove the threat and protect the colony. 🪤

Pledge now on Kickstarter 👉

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elelegames/e-lele-go-fly-hawaiian-seabird-card-game

07/24/2026

Big mahalo to Hawaiʻi Public Radio and Maddie Bender for having us on The Conservation to talk story about E Lele! 🎙️

Jay Penniman from Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project joined as well to share about Hawaiian seabirds and how the game can contribute to seabird awareness and protection.

Give it a listen, and please share with family, friends and colleagues who love birds, Hawaiian language or gaming!

Join in on Kickstarter

https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/the-conversation/2026-07-23/go-fly-with-a-new-game-dedicated-to-hawaiis-native-seabirds

Local game designers, in collaboration with the Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project, unveil “E Lele!,” a crowdfunded card game that raises awareness of Hawaiʻi’s seabirds.

07/23/2026

07/23/2026

Here's how to lay down a "set" in E Lele! 🐦

Instead of four matching cards like regular Go Fish, you need:
• A mated bird pair (♀ + ♂)
• Their matching nesting habitat

Match the pair to a habitat they can nest in, and you've built a thriving colony!

Here, ʻAkēʻakē can nest in Papa Pele or Lava Field.

Each habitat card has a capacity (top right, 2–4) — the number of pairs it can hold. Once you lay the first pair, keep adding more up to that limit.

There's no single "right" way to arrange your colonies — some players stack pairs in rows, others spread them out to show off the habitat art (each one based on a real Hawaiʻi location). Half the fun is building your own island ecosystem and enjoying the beauty of the cards.

Kickstarter is live! Pledge now 👉

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elelegames/e-lele-go-fly-hawaiian-seabird-card-game

📸 Photo credit: Annie B. Douglas .org

07/23/2026

30% funded in our first 24 hours — mahalo nui to our launch-day backers! 🌊🐦

The goal of E Lele! is to raise awareness — through a fun and interactive game — about the real conservation work happening in the field by dedicated organizations like , , , and .higov

Like those working to protect the ʻakēʻakē — band-rumped storm petrel — the smallest and rarest seabird that breeds in Hawaiʻi, who nest in burrows or natural cavities in high-elevation, inland habitats.

If you love Hawaiʻi's seabirds and appreciate their importance to our island ecosystems, you can help spread the word about this crucial work — by backing E Lele! on Kickstarter and sharing our campaign with someone who cares.

📸 Photo credit: Annie B. Douglas .org

Pledge now 👉 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elelegames/e-lele-go-fly-hawaiian-seabird-card-game