In the 1970s, the governments of the world faced unprecedented demand for energy, and polluting power plants were built everywhere in order to meet that demand. Year after year, the pollution they generate increases, and nobody has done anything to reduce it. Now, the impact of this pollution has become too great, and humanity is starting to realize that we must meet our energy demands through clean sources of energy. Companies with expertise in clean, sustainable energy are called in to propose projects that will provide the required energy without polluting the environment. Regional governments are eager to fund these projects and to invest in their implementation.

If the pollution isn’t stopped, it’s game over for all of us.

In the game CO, each player is the CEO of an energy company responding to government requests for new, green power plants. The goal is to stop the increase of pollution while meeting the rising demand for sustainable energy and of course profiting from doing so. You will need enough expertise, money, and resources to build these clean power plants. Energy summits will promote global awareness, and allow companies to share a little of their expertise while learning still more from others.

In CO, each region starts with a certain number of carbon emissions permits (CEPs) at its disposal. These CEPs are granted by the United Nations, and they must be spent whenever the region needs to install the energy infrastructure for a project or to construct a fossil fuel power plant. CEPs can be bought and sold on a market, and their price fluctuates throughout the game. You will want to try to maintain control over the CEPs.

Money, CEPs, green power plants that you’ve built, UN goals you’ve completed, company goals you’ve met, and expertise you’ve gained all give you victory points (VPs), which represent your company’s reputation and having the best reputation is the goal of the game in addition to saving the planet, of course.

This new totally re-designed edition of CO features a completely new iconography, an entirely new rulebook with lots of 3D pictures for easy comprehension of the rules, more balanced gameplay, a new events deck, improved and streamlined mechanisms, and upgraded wooden components for the power plants instead of the cardboard tokens in a game with a shorter play length. This version also features a co-operative mode of play as well as solo play based on goals.

PLAYER COUNT: 1-4

RECOMMENDED AGES: 12+

PLAY TIME: 60-120 mins

CO2 Second Chance is the second edition of CO2. It is a worker placement/order fulfilment game that sees you taking the role of the CEO of an international company, in a world dying from pollutants. The game has been significantly improved from the original. The rulebook has been rewritten and features new iconography for ease of play. The game has been rebalanced and streamlined, it includes a new events deck and upgraded components. It also comes with a solo mode and a cooperative mode. The cooperative mode highly being recommended as the best way to play.

In CO2 you will be utilising your money, workers, and market manipulation skills over CEPs to construct renewable energy power plants. These power plants will be built in the continents you decide on, and each area will have randomised stipulations. You will send your workers to work in your constructed power plants, gain knowledge in the different renewable energy sources and send them to energy summits to promote global awareness of the issues the world is facing. While engaging in these activities you will be checking off the requirements needed to beat the game. The less you have checked off by the end of the round, the more pollution that gets pumped into the atmosphere, and the more pollution that gets pumped out the more likely you are to fail the game.

CO2 has solo, cooperative and semi-cooperative modes of play. The set-up is randomised at the start of the game making every game of CO2 feel like a different puzzle in need of solving in order to win.

Contents include: 1 x Double-sided game board 4 x Player boards 4x Two-piece player aids 1 x Start player token 1 x 3-player co-op token 9 x Knowledge, score, and action markers in each player’s colour 8 x Infrastructure tokens in each player’s colour 5 x Control markers in each player’s colour 8 x Control cubes in each player’s colour 1 x Action marker in each player’s colour 4 x Scientist meeples in each player’s colour 50 x Carbon Emission Permits (CEPs) 1 x CEP market price marker 1 x Team score marker 30 x Tech cubes 1 x Decade marker 1 x Operations phase marker 2 x Global CO2 pollution level markers 50 x Coins 25 x Power plants (5 of each colour) 25 x Project tiles 30 x Fossil fuel tokens 8 x Regional agenda tiles 18 x Energy summit tiles 47 x Environmental goal tiles 1 x Bag 7 x Event tiles 36 x Lobbyist cards 2 x Configuration and victory epitaph cards 45x UN goal cards 16 x Cooperative goal cards 10 x Company private goal cards