INSTRUCTIONS
HOW TO PLAY Rising Tides?
TUTORIAL
PLAYERS/INSTITUTIONS
In Rising Tides, each player represents one of five institutions with a unique role in fighting climate change. Each institution has special abilities and a goal to reduce CO2 emissions while competing for influence.
SCIENCE
You are pioneering new green technologies, but to do so, you need to build laboratories. You are tasked with making as many discoveries as possible. Through these discoveries, you are able to accumulate funds to expand and institute new and sustainable research structures.
BUSINESS
You want to maximize your bottom line, disrupting markets and building more cost-effective supply chains, your growth allows you to build more factories. But climate change poses a threat to continued growth as a company, disrupting supply chains and causing recessions.
GOVERNMENT
Your job is to create policies and appease the masses. While the people are hesitant to accept green infrastructure, imminent environmental disasters will cause greater unrest. You are tasked with staying in office by gaining as many votes as possible, therefore being able to institute and expand new structures.
Environmental Activist
You are preserving diverse ecosystems, and creating natural carbon capture methods, and trees! But there are many protests about the land you take and poachers who threaten your carnivores. You are tasked with reforesting areas, repopulating wildlife, and saving the environment.
CONSUMER
You want goods easily accessible to consumers, building malls and distribution centers around the continent. But you know climate change will disrupt supply chains and the wallets of consumers. You are tasked with building fulfillment distribution centers and shopping malls as a method of accumulating funds to institute more sustainable structures.
Resource Cards
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Structure Resource Cards: Used to build structures. Three of these cards allow the construction of one structure, adding points to the game's modifier. 24 per player.
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Green Resource Cards: Used to turn a structure to a green (eco-friendly) structure, reducing the game's emissions and modifier. Two of these cards allow the construction of one green structure, reducing points to the game's modifier. 20 per player.
Structures:
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Science: Labs and Green Labs
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Government: Districts and green districts
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Environmental Activist: Conservation and Green Conservation
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Consumer: Malls and Green Malls
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Business: Factories and Green Factories
Each player starts with a deck of these cards, drawing five at the beginning of the game.
Map/Places
The game world is divided into four countries, each containing four cities:
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Players build their structures in these cities to promote green living and reduce emissions.
Terraviva
Aerolithica
Hydronia
Solargaea
Fertile land, great for green agriculture and geothermal energy.
Known for its high winds, suitable for wind energy.
Dominated by water, perfect for hydropower.
A sun-rich region ideal for solar energy projects.
Institution Cards
Institution cards offer special actions based on the player's role, such as:
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Government Policies: Enact policies to reduce emissions or gain resources.
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Scientific Inventions: Discover new green technologies.
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Consumer Demands: Influence market demands for green products.
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Business Products: Develop and market sustainable goods.
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Environmental Protests: Mobilize actions to protect the environment.
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These cards can drastically alter the game's progress and players' strategies.
Emissions Bar
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Modifier Bar: Shows the immediate impact of your actions on the environment. Building structures increases the modifier, while greening them reduces it.
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Emissions Bar: Shows the overall impact you actions on the environment. It starts at 100. The goal is to reduce this to 0 by making eco-friendly decisions. The points on the modifier bar are added to the emissions following the completion of a round.
Both bars are critical for tracking progress towards winning the game and avoiding environmental disaster.
Disasters
Disasters are triggered when the emissions bar hits certain thresholds, representing the consequences of neglecting environmental health:
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Minor Disasters: Such as strikes or political unrest, remove specific structures from the board.
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Major Disasters: More severe events like earthquakes or floods, have a larger impact, removing multiple structures.
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-A major threshold is reached every 150 points, starting at 250 on the emissions bar. A major threshold means you have to draw from the major disaster deck.
-A minor threshold is reached every 50 points starting at 150 on the emissions bar. A minor threshold means you have to draw from the minor disaster deck.
The major and minor thresholds are independent of each other, and are tracked separately while both start at 100.
Logic of the Game
The game progresses through rounds where players draw resource cards, build structures, and play institution cards to advance their objectives while collaborating to reduce the emissions bar to zero. Players face both minor and major environmental disasters triggered by reaching specific thresholds on the emissions bar, which can set back progress and require strategic responses.
01
Start of the Game
Players are assigned their roles, draw their initial resource cards, and place their starting structures on the map.
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Disasters
Triggered by specific levels on the emissions bar, disasters require players to adapt their strategies and sometimes work more closely together to mitigate impacts and continue towards their goals.
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Gameplay Actions
Players can build structures, use institution cards, or activate special abilities defined by their roles. Strategic decisions must balance the immediate benefits of construction and expansion against the long-term goal of environmental sustainability.
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Winning the Game
The game is won by successfully reducing the emissions bar to zero, requiring cooperative efforts to build green infrastructure and implement sustainable practices across the map, while also navigating the competitive elements of the game.
Players must navigate the complexities of environmental policy, technological innovation, consumer behavior, and business strategy in a changing world, making "Rising Tides" a dynamic game of strategy, cooperation, and competition in the face of global climate challenges.