Kyoto Protocol

About this board game

Kyoto Protocol is a card game for 2–7 players that takes about 30 minutes, challenging power companies to meet energy production quotas while avoiding pollution fines.

Across three rounds, players draw resource cards from the table into their hands, then play sets of matching resources onto the table as production. The more cards a company has played, the more energy it produces when the round is checked.

The shared deck contains a fixed supply of five resource types, ranging from the most common to the rarest:

• Coal
• Oil
• Natural gas
• Wood
• Uranium

Meeting the market’s required production is essential. If a company cannot produce enough energy, it receives a fine for failing to uphold its contract. Players must also compare their resource use: whoever has used the most of each resource type is fined for pollution.

Pollution can be managed through a difficult choice. Players may turn production cards face down so they are not counted as pollution, but doing so requires valuable turns. This creates a shared race to produce enough energy while deciding how much effort to devote to mitigation.

In Kyoto Protocol, success depends on balancing production, resource use, and timing. At the end of the game, the company that produces the most energy while avoiding production fines through clever card play wins.