Limit to Emit is a fast-paced, strategy-based card game where players compete to build carbon-neutral sets while strategically managing your emissions and disrupting opponents’ plans. The first player to achieve three complete carbon-neutral sets wins!

How to Win

Be the first player to collect 3 Carbon Neutral sets.

Or

At the end of 60 minutes, be the player with the most carbon neutral sets.

How to Play

Set Up

  1. Shuffle and deal 5 cards, face down, to each player. 
  2. Put the remaining cards face down in the centre. This is your deck.
  3. Look at your cards, but don’t show them to anyone else.
  4. Player to the left of the dealer plays first. Play continues clockwise.
  5. Set the carbon limit as 10 ktCO2

On your turn

  1. Draw two cards by picking one card at aata time from the deck and add them to your hand. Later in the game, if you have no cards left in hand, pick up five cards and play.
  2. Play at least one and at most three cards from your hand onto the table in front of you. Play your three cards in any combination of the following: A, B, or C, in any order.

A: Put money/action cards into your own bank

    • Build up a ‘Bank’ pile in front of you, using Money cards or Action cards that act as money. If you put an Action card into your Bank, it cannot be used as an Action card for the rest of the game. If you are dealt an event card, you must use it as money. If you use either of these cards to pay another player, they must go straight into their bank and cannot be used for its Action or event implications.

B: Put down properties into your own collection

    • Lay Asset cards down in front of you to build up your Asset sets.
    • Each card shows how many Assets you need to collect to make a colour set.
    • Add carbon-negative Assets to your regular Assets to increase chargeable rent and create carbon-neutral sets that are protected from hostile takeovers.
    • Collect as many Assets as you want, but you need 3 full carbon-neutral colour sets to win the game. You can only charge rent for your assets or sets if the total emissions of all your Assets is less than the carbon limit at that time.  
    • You can only move around your Assets on your turn. Each Asset move counts as one play.  

C: Play Action Cards into the centre

    • Action cards allow you to do things such as charge other players rent, takeover their assets, and propose deals!
    • If you pick up an Action card on your turn, you can play it right away as one of your three cards or use it later.
    • Action cards can also be put into your bank as money. Their value is shown in the corners.
    • Read the information on each card.

3. If you draw an event card, Flip it instantly

  • Event cards impact the carbon limits of the round and the collective values of players’ assets.
  • If you are dealt an event card at the beginning of the game use it as money. If you draw an event card from the deck, you must flip and follow it immediately. 
  • Flipping an Event card counts as a card picked but not as a card played.

End your turn

  1. You cannot have more than 7 cards in your hand at the end of your turn.
  2. If you’ve run out of cards, take 5 at the start of your next turn.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q – How many cards are there in a Limit to Emit deck?

A – There are a total of 114 cards in the Deck.

Q – What happens if I run out of cards in my hand?

A – If you run out of cards during your turn, you can pick up 5 cards on your next turn. Until then, you have no cards in your hand to defend what you have on the table in front of you!

Q – Do I have to play all 3 cards during my turn each time?

A – No, you do not have to play all 3 cards if you don’t want to. You must play at least one card and at most 3 cards. You cannot have more than 7 cards in your hand at the end of your turn. If you have more than 7 cards in your hand, you have to play all 3 card plays to get down to 7 cards in your hand. 

Q – Can you play cards other than money into your bank? 

A – Yes and no. You cannot lay Asset cards in your bank. But you can play action cards, rent cards, and of course money cards in your bank. These cards will have their monetary value on the corner of the card stating what they are worth as money in your bank. 

Q – What happens when the deck runs out of cards when playing?

A – Shuffle the discard pile and flip it over face down. This is the new deck.

Q – Can I ever put cards back in my hand?

A – No, a card laid is a card played. All cards on the table must stay on the table.

Q – Who chooses what you pay with when playing? Can I choose what cards to pay with?

A – You choose what you pay with. You can choose to pay with cards from your bank, Asset cards, or a combination of all in any order. You cannot pay with any cards in your hand.

Q – If I have to or want to pay with an Asset card, does the other player pick the Asset?

A – No, the player who is paying decides what they want to pay with.

Q – If you pay with an Asset card, does that Asset go into your opponent’s bank?

A – No, Asset cards always go into the Asset section face up on the table in front of each player. If you pay with an Asset card, that Asset goes into your opponent’s Asset section.

Q – If a player pays me with an Action card, can I use it as an Action card?

A – No, if the Action card was in your bank, it is considered money and goes directly into your bank. You cannot use the Action card.

Q – What if I don’t have the exact amount of money to pay another player? Do I get change?

A – No change is given. If you do not have the exact amount, the opponent gets to keep the remaining!

Q – Can I put the cards that people pay me with into my hand?

A – No, once a card is laid on the table, it remains on the table. You can never put cards back into your hand.

Q – When playing, what if I don’t have enough money or Assets to pay another player? Am I in their debt?

A – There is no debt in Limit to Emit. You pay the opponent everything you can up to the required amount. If you do not have enough, the opponent only gets what you can give them from the cards on the table in front of you and they are out the remaining amount.

Q – What if I have no money or Asset to pay? Will I need to pay when I acquire money or Assets?

A – There is no debt in Limit to Emit. If you have no cards in front of you, you do not pay anything.

Q – Does the multicolour Asset wildcard or the carbon-negative asset card need to be played with something else?

A – No, you can lay the  multicolour Asset wildcard or the carbon-negative asset card down on the table at any time. However, you can only charge rent against the multicolour Asset wildcard if it is played with another Asset card.

Q – Can I take the multicolour Asset wildcard in a hostile takeover?

A – Yes, you can play a hostile takeover card and take the multicolour Asset wildcard that is on the table as long as it is not part of a completed carbon neutral  set.

Q – When charged Rent can I pay with the multicolour Asset wildcard?

A – Yes, you can pay with a multicolour Asset wildcard.

Q – Can I move multicolour Asset wildcards and  carbon-negative Asset cards already on the table around to different Asset sets?

A – Yes, you  can move wildcards and carbon-negative Asset cards around as many times as you want as long as it is done during your turn. Each reshuffle counts as a turn. Once your turn is over, you  cannot move your cards around. The only exception is when a player plays a Hostile Takeover card and steals one of your Assets, then you must give said Asset to the player.

Q – Can I play a rent card against the multicolour Asset wildcard if it is not played with another Asset card? 

A – No, in order to charge rent against the multicolour Asset wildcard, it must be played with another Asset card.

Q – When charged Rent can I pay with a carbon-negative Asset card?

A – Yes, you can use a  carbon-negative Asset card to pay rent.

Q – Can I take a carbon-negative Asset card in a hostile takeover?

A – Yes, you play a hostile takeover card and take the carbon-negative Asset card that is on the table as long as your total emissions are zero or less, and the card in question is not part of a completed carbon neutral set.

Q – Can you charge rent when only one of your Asset sets is under the carbon limit? 

A – No. You can charge rent only if your total emissions from all your Assets are under the carbon limit.

Q – Can I use more than one Pass Go in a single turn?

A – Yes, but you can only have up to 7 cards in your hand at the end of your turn so you have to pay attention to how many cards you have and how many cards you can lay during your turn so that you do not go over the allowed 7 cards.

Q – How do Rent Cards work? What are the rules for Rent Cards?

Rent cards must be laid into the discard pile to be played and you must have properties down on the table in front of you to charge rent. You can only choose one Asset colour to charge rent against for each rent card played. 

Q –  Can I charge rent for two separate sets of properties with the same rent card?

A – No, a rent card can only be played against one colour of Asset card(s). So you must choose which Asset colour you would like to charge rent against. 

Q – Is Rent always collected from all players? 

Yes and No – The answer depends on the Rent card played. If a player plays a dual colour rent card, they collect rent from all players. If a player plays a multicolour rent card, then they only collect rent from one player that they choose.

Q – Can I use a Just Say No card against a Just Say No card?

Yes, you can Just Say No to a Just Say No. There are no rules to the maximum number of times this card can be played during a single play. 

Q – Does a Just Say No card count as a card played (i.e. one of your three turns)?

A – No, a Just Say No card does not count towards your 3 card plays per turn.

How numbers work in the game

This section shows how we take real-world business data and turn it into the simple numbers you see on Limit to Emit cards. If you’ve ever wondered ‘How did they get these numbers?’ – this is your answer.

The Big Picture

Every card in Limit to Emit represents a real business or asset (like a hospital, factory, or airport). Each card shows three key numbers:

  • Sale Value: How much the business is worth if sold
  • Revenue: How much money it makes per year
  • Carbon Emissions: How much CO2 pollution it creates per year

But here’s the thing: real businesses have huge, messy numbers. A cement company might be worth $39 billion and emit 59 million tons of CO2! Those numbers would be impossible to use in a card game.

So, we use a mathematical process to shrink these massive real-world numbers down to simple game numbers like 1, 2, 3, or 4.

How we convert real numbers to game numbers

Think of it like converting miles to inches – we use a ‘conversion factor’ to make the numbers manageable.

Example: Ultratech Cement Company

Real-world numbers:

  • Sale Value: $39.5 billion
  • Revenue: $7.9 billion
  • Carbon Emissions: 59.3 million tons

Game card numbers:

  • Sale Value: 10
  • Revenue: 2
  • Carbon Emissions: 15

The conversion factor for Ultratech Cement is: 3.95 billion

Here’s the formula we use:

Real-World Value = Game Card Number × Conversion Factor

So, if you want to know what the game numbers represent in real life:

  • Sale value of 10 = 10 × 3.95 billion = $39.5 billion ✓
  • Revenue of 2 = 2 × 3.95 billion = $7.9 billion ✓
  • Carbon of 15 = 15 × 3.95 billion = 59.3 million tons ✓

Our Step-by-Step Process

Step 1: Research Real Companies

We look up actual data for each type of business:

  • How much is a typical cement company worth?
  • How much revenue does it generate?
  • How much CO2 does it emit?
Step 2: Group into card sets

We organise similar businesses into sets (like ‘Food Companies’ or ‘Tech Companies’). In the actual game, you need to collect full sets and make them carbon neutral to win.

Step 3: Choose revenue as our ‘Anchor’

Revenue becomes our reference point. We decided that different sets should have revenue values of 1, 2, 3, or 4 on their cards.

Step 4: Calculate the Conversion Factor

Here’s where the math happens. Let’s use a simple example:

Example with Two Sets:

Business Real Revenue

(millions)

 Real Sale Value

(millions)

 Real Carbon

(thousand tons)
Food Company Set
Lord of the Fries $40 $200 10
Nacho Business $20 $100 5
Tech Company Set
Applause $100 $300 30
Flamazon $150 $350 50

What we want on the cards:

  • Food Company Set: Revenue = 2
  • Tech Company Set: Revenue = 1

How we calculate it:

  1. Find the range: Highest revenue ($150M) to lowest ($20M) = $130M range
  2. Divide by 4 possible values: $130M ÷ 4 = $32.5M per step
  3. Create conversion factors for each revenue level:
    • Revenue 1 = $32.5M
    • Revenue 2 = $65M
    • Revenue 3 = $97.5M
    • Revenue 4 = $130M
  1. For each company, divide the target by actual revenue:
    • Lord of the Fries: Want revenue 2 ($65M), actually has $40M → Factor = 65÷40 = 1.625
    • Applause: Want revenue 1 ($32.5M), actually has $100M → Factor = 32.5÷100 = 0.325
  1. Apply this factor to ALL values (sale, revenue, carbon) for each company
  2. Round to nice, playable numbers
Step 5: Create the Final Cards

After all the math, we get simple numbers that are easy to use in gameplay but still represent realistic proportions from the real world.

See the complete list of Conversion Factors here.

Why This Matters

This system ensures that:

  1. Cards are realistic: The numbers reflect actual business proportions
  2. Gameplay works: Numbers are small enough to use easily
  3. Learning happens: Players get a sense of real-world business impact
  4. Balance exists: No single card type dominates the game

Want to Check Our Work?

You can verify any card by using this formula:

Real-World Value = Card Number × Conversion Factor

Try it with any card in your deck!