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Overview

This is a co-operative game in which the players collectively need to work together to sequester more carbon than they produce and then survive an ever-increases number of crises over 6 (or fewer) rounds of play.

Start of game

Players each start as a particular world region/country, each with their own starting values and starting projects. During the game, players can strengthen their projects by adding/stacking cards on their projects.

The goal is to decrease emissions to meet the current sequestered amount. Having too many communities in crisis, too high a temperature, or taking too many rounds can cause game loss.

Stages in a Round

The stages below are followed each round. See each section for what that stage includes.

Global Stage

Crisis Cards: In the first round, draw three crisis cards, randomly putting one face up and other two face down. In future rounds, the number of crises you will draw is determined by the current level on the Thermometer.

Global Project Cards: Draw two Global Project cards, pick one as a group to keep, and discard the other. If there are already four Global Projects out, then discard down to four.

Local Stage

Each player draws five cards and reveals them. Players will take actions at the same time as described below. There is no turn taking.

Start a Local Project

This is a required first step in the first round. It is through local projects that you can effect some of the change required to win the game. Place cards (the number is up to you) into the project area of the board. These are the projects that you will attempt to complete, either with some of your own cards, or with cards shared with you by other players.

This action allows you to play a new card on top of a pre-existing stack. When this happens, the ability of the old card is no longer available, but its symbols remain. (You don't have to meet a card's requirements to play the card, only use to its action.)

Take a Local Action

At this point, you choose to complete the action(s) on the top of one or more of your project cards - assuming you have the correct tags on that project stack that are required to complete the action. Some cards become stronger/more powerful the more of a particular symbol is in their stack, and some cards require certain symbols to be in the card's stack in order to use it.

You may take/use the top action on any stack as many times as you can, even coming back to it later, up to limits on the card. (The game will track this for you, using carbon cubes.)

Note you can use a project's action, cover the old project with a new one, and then use the new project's action in the same round. This allows you to take several actions in one turn with the same stack.

Support a Card

You can tuck a card behind an existing project to simply contribute its symbols. This can be used on Local, Global, and/or Crisis cards. On Local cards, it may make the action stronger. On Global cards, it helps unlock the ability. On Crisis cards, it will reduce or cancel the effect.

End of Stage

This stage ends when all players agree that all actions that the group wants to complete have been done. Players should be mindful of energy supply vs energy demands in each of the territories, the numbers of communities in crisis in each territory, the currently active crisis card, and the Global Project as the determine whether to end the round.

Emissions Stage

Check energy demand and add emissions

First, if any player's Energy Demand is more than their Total Energy count (Clean + Dirty), they must take Community in Crisis Tokens equal to the difference (in BGA, this is automatically done).

Then, each player adds Carbon cubes to the Recent Emissions area equal to their Dirty Energy + Emissions. (This is unaffected by meeting or failing to meet your Energy Demand.) You must count all of your Dirty Energy tokens each round, even if you can meet your demand more efficiently with Clean Energy tokens in BGA, this is automatically done).

Sequester carbon

Remove Carbon cubes from the Recent Emissions area based on the value of Trees, Oceans, and Direct Air Capture (DAC) tokens on the central board (shown on the lower right side in BGA). (DAC tokens are added by certain cards and function exactly like Trees and Oceans in sequestering Carbon.) This is Carbon that was successfully sequestered and will not lead to rising temperatures.

Check for Drawdown

After you Sequester Carbon, if you have 0 Carbon cubes in the Recent Emissions area, and there is remaining unused value in your Trees, Oceans, and/or DAC tokens, you have reached an important milestone: Drawdown!

Continue sequestering Carbon onto the board, but instead of taking cubes from the Recent Emissions area, take them from the Thermometer, breaking Temperature Bands into Carbon cubes as needed. (Removing these cubes may help you survive the Crisis stage later this round.)

If you trigger Drawdown, you only need to survive one final Crisis stage, and then you win!

If you did not trigger Drawdown, adjust temperature

If Drawdown did not trigger, add any remaining Carbon cubes to the thermometer. The Thermometer is filled bottom to top, left to right -- one column per player (for example, in a 3 player game, the rightmost space in each row will be empty).

Note each Thermometer space has room for 5 Carbon Cubes, stacked like a pyramid. When a row is completely filled (i.e. 5/10/15/20 Carbon Cubes) the cubes are wiped off and replaced with a Temperature Band. More temperature bands means more dice rolls, more hazards, and possibly stronger crisis effects. (If you complete a row that shows more Crisis cards, BGA will add a new face down Crisis card to be resolved.)

Crisis Stage

Planetary Die

BGA will roll the Planetary Die once per temperature band, and resolve the die roll by adding a token to the corresponding row. If this token goes on a tipping point (or the row is already full), an additional hazard occurs:

• Change in Major Weather Systems: Draw 2 more Crisis Cards to reveal
• Desertification: Remove 1 tree per player
• Dieback of the Amazon: Add 1 Carbon Cube per player AND Remove 1 tree per player
• Loss of Arctic Sea Ice: Add 2 Carbon Cubes per player DIRECTLY to Thermometer
• Thawing Permafrost: Add 2 Carbon Cubes per player
• Ocean Acidification: Remove 1 Ocean per player

Crisis Cards

Deal with all Crisis cards in order. Examples of Crisis effects:

• All players must discard one card per temperature band (reduced by resilience)
• All players gain 1 community in crisis per temperature band (reduced by resilience)
• All players lose 1 social resilience
• The player with the most pink symbols must discard two cards with them
• Passive: Players may not remove dirty energy (tuck to remove this)
• Passive: No crisis cards may be revealed/forecast (tuck to remove this)

Resolving Crisis Effects

Resilience can be gained through individual local projects. Note each person reduces the crisis effect individually according to their own resilience. Resilience level is not used up when decreasing a crisis's effect.

If you need to lose a card, token, resilience, and don't have one, take a Community in Crisis token instead.

When adding Community in Crisis tokens, add them left to right, top to bottom. A player with 4 or more will draw 1 fewer Local Projects Card, and a player with 8 or more will draw 2 fewer Local Projects Cards.

When discarding a card from your play area, you may choose any card -- not just the top one in a project stack. If you do discard the top one, this allows the newly exposed card (and its effect) it to be usable.

Growth Stage

If you achieved Drawdown earlier and didn't lose during the Crisis stage, then you win!

If not, advance the round tracker (if this was round 6, you lose), Then advance your energy demand based on your society (U.S. & Europe +1, China +2, Majority World +3) (BGA will do this for you, but pay attention to it on your respective country/region scorekeeping areas!

End of Game

Everyone wins during Growth if you reached "Drawdown" and survived the Crisis stage.

Everyone loses if any of the following are reached:

• The Thermometer reaches 8 Bands
• Any country/region has 12 or more communities in crisis
• You haven't won at the end of round 6 (start of round 7)