Carbon City Zero
Carbon City Zero Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
How to Win
Carbon City Zero: World Edition is a collaborative deck-building game in which players are city mayors striving to create carbon neutral cities. You are in this together — either everyone wins, or everyone loses. You win by getting the carbon level to 0 before you run out of time (reaching 'Time's Up' on the Round Counter).
Game Setup
- Find a suitable token (e.g. a coin or button) and place it at 50 on the Carbon Tracker. Find a second token and place it on the space marked 9 on the Round Counter. First-time players may want to start at 10 on the Round Counter, while those looking for more of a challenge should place their token on 8.
- Create a Draw Deck for each player with the following 9 pink Start Cards (which have the Starter symbol on them): 5 Budget, 2 Stock Exchange, 1 Poor Housing Stock, and 1 Poor Transport. Return unused Start Cards to the game box.
- Gather the 6 'collaborative/solo' Global Cards (Global Collaboration, Global Funding, Global Opportunities) and return the 6 'competitive' Global Cards to the game box.
- Add the Global Cards to the Market Deck and shuffle the cards. Place the Market Deck face down in the centre of the play area.
- Draw the top five cards from the Market Deck and place them face up to create the Marketplace. If you draw any Snag Cards, place these in the Discard Pile and draw again until there are five cards face up in the Marketplace.
- Each player shuffles their Draw Deck and places it face down in front of them. They each draw five cards from their Draw Deck and place those cards into their hand.
Playing the Game
The game is played over multiple rounds during which each player takes a turn (playing in clockwise order). The player who arrived at the venue using the most sustainable means of transport goes first. A player's turn has three phases (following the steps listed in strict order): 1. Action, 2. Recycle, 3. Draw.
1. Action
i) Play all the cards in your hand in front of you.
ii) Activate special rules in any order. Special rules may only be activated once per card. Players may choose not to activate special rules. If a special rule allows you to discard a card, put that card in the Discard Pile. If a special rule brings a card into play, you may use its special rules in the same turn.
iii) Calculate Income. This is determined by totalling the Income symbols in the bottom left of your cards in play.
iv) Using your Income, you may purchase cards from the Marketplace one at a time. Costs are indicated by the Cost symbol toward the top left of each card. Place purchased cards face up on your Recycle Pile (you may not use their abilities this turn). Replenish the Marketplace immediately on purchasing a Market card. If the Market Deck runs out, shuffle the Discard Pile to create a new Market Deck.
v) Adjust Carbon level. Total the Carbon symbols from your cards in play. Add or subtract bonuses granted by link abilities. Decrease/increase the Carbon level by this number by moving the token on the Carbon Tracker. If the Carbon level is at 65 at the end of a player's turn (the maximum Carbon value), move the token on the Round Counter one space down the track. If the Carbon level reaches 0, the game ends immediately.
2. Recycle
Place all played cards onto your Recycle Pile.
3. Draw
Draw 5 cards. Whenever your Draw Deck runs out of cards, shuffle your Recycle Pile to make a new Draw Deck and continue to draw from that deck.
Once each player has taken a turn, one round is over. Move the Round Counter token one space down the track. If the Round Counter moves onto the 'Time's up!' space, the game ends and the players have lost.
The Cards
(The source shows an annotated card diagram here. Note: the illustrated card is different from the Charging Points card that appears in the game and has been modified for illustrative purposes.)
Sectors
Each card belongs to a sector:
- Starter
- Domestic
- Industry
- Government
- Global (competitive)
- Global (collaborative/solo)
- Snag
Cost
The Cost of each card is indicated toward the top left of the card.
Special Rule
Some cards have special rules that can be activated during the Action phase. These are always optional and can be activated in any order of the player's choosing. Some will bring new cards into play — if this happens, any special rules revealed may be used immediately. Others will allow you to discard cards in play — if this happens before you have used that card's special rule, the special rule is no longer available.
Frequency
This indicates how many of each card are in the Market Deck. Each pip indicates one card, i.e. if there are two pips, then there are two copies of this card in the Market Deck.
Carbon
Carbon levels will be decreased (or increased) each turn by the total Carbon value of a player's cards in play. The value appears in the black diamond toward the bottom left of the card.
Link
Link abilities can only be used if you have another card of the same sector in play (the card with which it links does not need to show the link symbol). If you have two or more cards of the same sector in play, you may use the link ability on each card once.
Income
The amount you may spend each turn is determined by the total Income shown on your cards in play. Income is calculated by totalling the Income symbols in the bottom left of each card. Any Income remaining at the end of a player's turn is lost. The only exception to this rule is if you have the Global Funding card in play, which allows you to place one unspent Budget card into the hand of any other player.
Start Cards
Each player begins the game with an identical deck of 9 pink cards: 5 Budget, 2 Stock Exchange, 1 Poor Housing Stock, and 1 Poor Transport. Some special rules might allow you to discard these cards on future turns. If this happens, place them face up in the Discard Pile.
Global Cards
Global Cards represent the decisions and actions of the world at large. There are two sets of 6 Global Cards in the game: 'collaborative/solo' and 'competitive'. Only one set will be used each game. If you draw a Global Card from the Market Deck, place it face up above the Marketplace. Its special rules come into play immediately. They apply to all players and remain in effect for the remainder of the game. There are 3 different Global Cards, and it is possible to have all three in play. If there is already a Global Card of the same name in play, place the duplicate card into the Discard Pile. Draw another card to replenish the Marketplace.
Snag Cards
These cards represent some of the challenges you will face in working to reduce your city's carbon level. If you reveal a Snag Card when replenishing the Marketplace, place it face up in your Recycle Pile. Draw another card to replenish the Marketplace.
Rules Variant – Friendly Rivalry
Each player finds their own token and places it on the Carbon Tracker on 40. Gather the 6 'competitive' Global Cards (New Building Regulations, Increased Funding, Behavioural Change) and return the 6 'collaborative/solo' Global Cards to the game box. The aim of the game is to be the first to reach 0 on the Carbon Tracker (rounds are not counted, and Carbon levels stop at 65). When a player's token reaches 0 on the Carbon Tracker players who have not yet taken a turn that round may take a turn after which the game ends. If more than one player has reached 0 at the end of the round the winner is determined by totalling the Carbon value of all of the cards in the players' decks: the player with the lowest Carbon value wins.
Rules Variant – Solo Play
Carbon City Zero: World Edition works well as a solo game — it'll just generate less conversation! Play using the standard rules with a single player controlling 2 Draw Decks.