Game of Energy
Game of Energy Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Solo Rules and Other Things
While this game will also have a solo option available for play, this has yet to be implemented fully into the game pieces or into the art of the game board itself. As such, the rules for solo play have been omitted (mostly) from the rules because we want to test this thoroughly to make it as fun as the multiplayer experience!
So please enjoy the game as it currently is, for 2-4 players. And we know you will!
2 players is a great game. 3 players is a stupendous game. 4 players is an awesomely energetic game!
And be sure to have a lot of fun with the Captains of Industry cards! But also know that they are a bit unbalanced! Testing on rebalancing these cards will be finished soon, but for now, just enjoy them as they are! You will be one of the few to ever play with these cards! :)
Components
- Game Board
- Industries: Biofuel (15), Fossil Fuel (15), Hydroelectric (16), Nuclear (4), Solar (18), and Wind (18)
- Investment (10), Captains of Industry (10), and Tip Cards (8)
- Grid Cards inside Cardholder
- Energy Cubes (30 of each color)
- Energy Credits (currency): €50, €10, €5, €5 DEBT
- D12 Countdown Die, D6 Territory Die, and Wooden Discs (16 — 4 of each color)
Initial Setup
(see the picture on the next page)
The game board should:
- be unfolded and placed in the center of the table,
- the grid cards placed into the cardholder which is placed into the hole at the top of the board, and
- two of each color wooden disc placed at the "0" of the TWh score track, and also two of each color on the "0" of the energy credit score track.
The player designated as the energy broker (like a "banker" in other games) then:
- places each stack of industries within reach (make number of nuclear equal the number of players),
- likewise places the 3 denominations of energy credit currency (and the debt) nearby.
Each player receives:
- energy credit currency of 2x €50 and 1x €10, for a total of €110,
- 2 tip cards (1 Flatlands/Tundra and 1 Mountains/Shoreline),
- their color of 30 energy cubes, and
- 2 Captains of Industry cards; one is chosen before the game begins, the other is discarded.
Youngest player goes first. The game is now ready to play!
Game Overview
Each player must make optimum use of their resources and the available hexagonal areas on the board to not only achieve a victory with generating enough TWh (the "points" needed to win), but must also generate more TWh than their fellow players. In every round of play, each player will take a single turn in clockwise order—so play always passes to your left. During this turn, you will draw a card, be "paid" in energy credits which allows you to "permit" (buy) more industries, allowed to roll the territory die that selects the zone in which you are allowed to permit, and either permit industries or take an investment beforehand. If you ever wish to end your turn early, you may draw another grid card. This will end your turn. However, you MUST still pay any pending fines/costs, taking debt from the bank, if necessary. You cannot purchase industries while holding debt.
When drawing a grid card, keep it secret, as it can be your secret weapon against your fellow players! Place them face-down in front of you, or play them immediately. You can play as many cards as you want during your own turn, but you are only allowed to have at most 2 cards in your possession at the end of your turn. If you have more than 2, then you MUST PLAY cards until you reach 2 cards—you may not simply discard them.
Because you get paid every turn, try to maximize your energy credit return early on in the game so that you can permit multiple, higher TWh industries quicker by amassing enough energy credits. You can only permit, at most, any combination of 5 industries per turn (special case: but only a maximum of 1 nuclear per turn + 4 of any other industries), so make them count! Of course, as you'll see when you play the game, this plan can be easier said than done.
For an added twist, each player has a unique and special ability with which they can use during the course of the game. This ability is granted by the Captain of Industry card each player selected at the beginning of the game. Use your ability to your advantage and out-maneuver your opponents! Only one player can win the United Nations Contract!
And if you optionally play with the countdown die, you'll not only be racing other players, but racing time as well… This also makes solo play possible!
When a player reaches the TWh threshold, the current round of play is finished, and the player generating the most TWh wins Game of Energy!
A Game Turn
Play will proceed to the left of each player (clockwise). A round begins with the player who was chosen to go first—the youngest—and a round ends immediately before that player is allowed to play again. On each turn:
- Draw a grid card and either place it face down in front of you or play it immediately.
- The bank pays you energy credits you're currently earning (displayed on the energy credit score track).
- Pay back all debt possible and remove the corresponding debt from your possession.
- You may now roll the territory die. See either the "Permitting" or "Investing" sections for details.
- Increase your markers on the TWh and energy credit tracks the appropriate amounts.
Immediately after rolling the territory die, you may instead draw another grid card to end your turn prematurely. However, you may still only have 2 grid cards in your possession at the end of your turn.
At turn end, if you have more than 2 grid cards in front of you at turn's end, PLAY cards until 2 or less remain.
After all players have had a turn, subtract 1 from the countdown die if you've chosen to play with it.
Permitting
On the territory die, there are 6 sides: 4 are territory emblems, and 2 are energy credit symbols. Let's talk about the territory emblems first.
If you roll the territory die and it results in either Flatlands, Mountains, Shoreline, or Tundra (this order shown in picture on right), then you can ONLY permit in one of those locations on the board for this turn. Take the Mountains, for example: there are 3 different areas on the board that have this emblem. You may pick ONE of these in which to permit industries for this turn. In other words, you can't permit an industry on one of the Mountain territories, and then permit an industry on another Mountain territory on the same turn.
To permit an industry onto the board, consult the corresponding tip card for the territory you have rolled to find the costs and benefits of each industry. The first column of numbers shows how much each industry will cost you in order to permit it onto the board; the second column shows how many energy credits you'll earn each turn; and the third column shows how many TWh you'll generate (this is the important one!). Looking at the Flatlands tip card for an example, we can see that Biofuel will cost 40, Fossil Fuel 100, etc. These costs change depending on which territory you permit them. The other columns DO NOT CHANGE based on the territory—each industry built is just as capable no matter where you permit, and has the same benefits no matter the location!
Tip card reference
The tip card tables below are reproduced from the rules document's illustrations of the Flatlands and Mountline tip cards. Columns: cost to permit (€ with red down arrow), energy credits earned per turn (€ with green up arrow), TWh generated (TWh with blue up arrow). The other tip cards (Tundra, Shoreline) are not reproduced in this document.
Flatlands
| Industry | Cost | Energy credits per turn | TWh |
|---|---|---|---|
| BioFuel | 40 | 30 | 50 |
| Fossil Fuel | 100 | 10 | 275 |
| Hydroelectric | 80 | 30 | 100 |
| Nuclear | 140 | 10 | 425 |
| Solar | 20 | 20 | 25 |
| Wind | 40 | 20 | 25 |
Mountline (Mountains tip card, as illustrated in the rules document)
| Industry | Cost | Energy credits per turn | TWh |
|---|---|---|---|
| BioFuel | 60 | 30 | 50 |
| Fossil Fuel | 100 | 10 | 275 |
| Hydroelectric | 60 | 30 | 100 |
| Nuclear | 140 | 10 | 425 |
| Solar | 40 | 20 | 25 |
| Wind | 20 | 20 | 25 |
You can permit up to 5 industries per turn. There are no restrictions on what combinations of industries you permit (3 biofuel + 2 wind, or 1 hydroelectric + 2 fossil fuel, or 4 solar + 1 biofuel, etc.), except for a single restriction: you may only build 1 nuclear industry, at most, each turn. This means that 1 nuclear + 4 solar is a valid play, but 2 nuclear + 3 solar is not. However, you can always permit another nuclear industry on your next turn, as long as there are still nuclear industries available, of course.
After you have decided which industries to permit, pay the bank the required amount of energy credits. Then, take those industries and place them on the board, using your energy cubes to declare ownership on each industry. Whether the industry is small like Wind or large like Fossil Fuel, just a single energy cube is enough. The last thing to do is to move your score discs along their tracks to an increased number representative of your gains for the turn. See "Scoring".
Investment
Now, let's look at the 2 energy credit symbols on the territory die. These symbols mean that you have an investment opportunity! You are not required to take the investment opportunity—you may instead draw another grid card this turn and end your turn early. Otherwise, you may choose to draw a card from ANYWHERE in the investment deck. You may even have a player shuffle the cards before you draw and pick a card from them spread before you. After drawing, you will either lose a sum of energy credits (40% chance) or gain a sum of energy credits (60% chance). Either way, you may now turn the territory die to your desired emblem and begin permitting there as if you rolled that result originally. See "Permitting" prior. At the end of your turn, replace your drawn investment card back into the stack to be shuffled.
Scoring
Looking at the second numbers column of your tip cards, when you permit an industry onto the board, you will move your score disc along the energy credit score track to reflect your increase in energy credits return. Likewise, you will do the same for the TWh score track, except you will use the third numbers column of your tip cards. So for example, if you permitted 3 biofuel and 2 fossil fuel in a single turn, you would increase your energy credit score track by 110 (3*30 + 2*10) and increase your TWh score track by 700 (3*50 + 2*275).
Reading the score tracks may not be immediately familiar, but are fairly simple to read once you get used to it:
Starting on the left, the TWh score track shows 1000 + 725 = 1725. If the score was, instead, 2500, there would be a marker on 2000 and another on 500.
For the energy credit score track, it shows 300 + 45 = 345. If the score was, instead, 125, there would be a marker on 100 and another on 25.
Card Types
All cards in the game can be understood merely by the symbols/colors they use and the industry names present. Obviously, it is important to know what these symbols are to speed up gameplay, and how to use them to clear up any misunderstandings between players.
Below are the non-obvious card symbols. Others, like what are found on the investment cards, you can figure out… The game's designer believes in you. Don't disappoint him!
- Keep – Cards with this symbol are immediately played face-up. Effect ends when chosen to discard on card owner's turn.
- Multiplayer – These cards affect everyone that fits the stipulations on the card.
- Target Player – Whoever plays this card will target a specific player to abide by the card effect.
- Scope – Up to how many industries of each player will endure the effect. In this case, it would be up to 10.
- Color –
- Green: any gains come from the bank.
- Yellow/Orange: player gives energy credits to the person playing the card.
- Red: any losses go to the bank.
- Fact – Besides a fact, gives €10 energy credits to the player when played.
- Conditions – The symbols present are what the card can target, and the magnitude of the effect. In this example, to be affected by this card:
- The player must have at least 1 of biofuel, fossil fuel, OR hydroelectric,
- they have it in Shoreline, Mountains, Tundra, OR Flatlands, and
- they will lose €20 energy credits as a result.
- If the card also had the Scope symbol, it would be €20 each!
End Game – Determining a Winner
The moment a player reaches the TWh threshold (see the table in "Game Layout and Quick Reference Table"), the current round of play is finished. For example, if you were #2 in the turn order and reached the threshold first, only players 3 and 4 would get another turn. This ensures that everyone has had the same number of turns in the game so that nobody gets an unfair advantage over the first player to reach the threshold.
However, if you were to go into debt before round's end, another round is played. Why? Because you were the one to declare the threshold had been hit! The U.N. Contract will never be given to someone showing a lack of energy credits!! You must be out of debt at the end of the round for the game to end.
At this point, whoever has the most TWh is the winner! In the event of a tie, the tied player with the most energy credits wins! In the event there is still a tie, play another game, because you're a statistical anomaly…
Alternatively, once the countdown die hits 0, play ends immediately, and if nobody reached the TWh threshold mandated by the U.N. Contract, the world is now devoid of ample energy! That dark day is on your shoulders!
U.N. Contract Terms
| Players | TWh needed | Nuclear on the board | Turns |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Player | 2000 TWh | up to 1 | 4 turns |
| 2 Player | 2300 TWh | up to 2 | 5 turns |
| 3 Player | 2500 TWh | up to 3 | 5 turns |
| 4 Player | 2700 TWh | up to 4 | 6 turns |
Game Layout and Quick Reference Table
The layout diagram in the rules document labels these areas of the table: Energy Cubes, Score Discs, Energy Credit Score Track, Countdown Die, Captains of Industry Cards, Tip Cards, Investment Cards, Territory Die, Grid Cards, Terawatt-hour Score Track, Player Area, Energy Credits, and Industries.