Copper Country

About this board game

Copper Country is a competitive board game for 2–4 players that plays in about 60 minutes. Set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in 1840, it casts players as mining companies competing to produce the most copper during America’s first mining boom.

To extract copper, hire miners and assign them to mine sites. Each miner’s productivity is measured in shifts. During each shift, reveal a card from the production deck and choose an outcome by playing capital card resources from your hand, placing your miner at risk, or combining both approaches.

Building your company is essential to success. Construct company houses to increase miner loyalty and safety, then expand your mining empire with shaft houses and hoist houses to raise your copper production.

• Compete as a unique mining company.
• Hire miners and manage their productivity in shifts.
• Use capital cards and calculated risk to resolve production.
• Build company houses, shaft houses, and hoist houses.
• Adapt as poor rock changes the mine sites and industry track.

Every copper production also creates a byproduct: poor rock. When it is removed from the industry track and dumped onto a mine site, it reduces the shifts available nearby for all players. As more poor rock is removed, local businesses open, historical events occur, and Copper Country advances through new eras of production.

The game ends when the last poor rock is dumped onto a mine site, depleting the region’s mineral wealth. The winner is the company that has produced the most copper, making every production decision, construction project, and risk taken along the way count.