How to Play from Settlers of a Green Future on Vimeo.
You can download the full Rule Sheet from the Downloads page, but here is an overview of how to play.

Step 1: Set up the board 

Figure 1. Starting set-up

Start by having each player choose which Settler they want to represent along with the corresponding color (red, blue, green, or yellow) and game pieces.  To set up the board, we recommend you follow the suggested set-up (Figure 1) available in the Rule Sheet if you are new to the game.Place the circular number tokens on top of the designated tiles.

Finally, arrange starting political capital and sustainable settlements for each player. The settlements marked with an “asterisk” in the setup provide players with their initial allocations of green policy cards.

Step 2: Let’s play

Each turn starts with the roll of the dice, which determines which Green Policies will be generated that round.

Figure 2. Investment costs card.

Green policies are the basis for building political capital, sustainable settlements, eco-cities, and eco-cooperatives (explained below), as well as for investing in domestic Development cards.

During each turn, each player can choose to: build toward a green future, whether individually or cooperatively by forming alliances and partnerships; negotiate trades of green policies (for example, if your neighbor has developed a policy for wind farms and you need that to construct an eco-city); or invest in personal Development cards that can help you in the game.

Eco-cooperatives: Can working together help you win the game faster?

While Settlers of a Green Future relies on the basic game mechanics of Catan, the major twist is the ability to work with others to build “eco-cooperatives.”  They require that two players have enough green policies for two sustainable settlements plus an additional combination of any 4 policy cards in one turn (Figure 2).  If a third player wants to join in later, they’ll need to have the requisite cards for a sustainable settlement, plus all 3 players will need to invest in a combination of 4 distinct policy cards (Figure 4).

Figure 3. An example of an eco-cooperative.

Beware of 7

If a 7 is rolled, the fossil will be activated.  Fossil growth wipes out green policies if you have too many – so any player that has more than 7 green policy cards on hand, the player must return the half to the stacks. Whoever rolled the 7 also moves the fossil to a hex of choice and can take a green policy card from a player who has a settlement adjacent to the hex.  That hexagon then does not generate any further green policies until moved again.

Figure 4. An eco-cooperative with 3 players.

Step 3: How to win the game.

10 or more green points will win the game. What this means is that one player alone can win, or multiple players can win collectively.  Which strategy do you think will get the Settlers to a Green Future faster?  Individually or cooperatively?