Description

From the publisher:

Action to stop climate change came too little and too late. Geoengineering, although dangerous and unproven, is now on the table. A world like this has no winners, but can you minimize the hardship your regions face?

In Geoengineering 101, you're one of two to four world leaders, and you have two parallel but sometimes competing goals: One is to minimize the hardship your regions endure from heat, drought, or flood. The other is to fully decarbonize the world economy. Only by eliminating all fossil fuel use can climate change be slowed and the game won. However, in the meantime, the air conditioners and pumps running on fossil fuels can shield you from the some of the impacts.

A world where climate change has gotten so bad that geoengineering is on the table is one without winners, only those that lose less. There's only one way to "win" in Geoengineering 101: have the least amount of Hardship when all Carbon Tokens are finally removed. There's plenty of ways to lose: having all regions destroyed by the climate going off the charts, or when all the players suffer a total of 100 Hardship - which in a typical game, is only 10-15 turns away.

In Geoengineering 101, you'll take turns with other players to carry out geoengineering programs or acts of deep green resistance. There's a time delay to your actions, though: the program you initiate now doesn't come up until your next turn. In between, other players' programs happen and if uncoordinated, can trigger side effects that cause hardship, randomize the sequence of future actions, or shift global rainfall patterns.

The game takes inspiration from real climate science and geoengineering ideas, as well as the political implications of different nations unilaterally or cooperatively meddling with the weather. Enjoy the game, but let's hope that carbon emissions can be stopped before we ever have to play it for real.