Vital Lacerda Game Overview

I played my first Vital Lacerda game in 2012 while living in NYC. While CO₂wasn't my first "heavy" game I'd played, it was certainly the first with that level of depth in its strategies. My wife and I immediately like it and were ushered into a new level of games. Now a-days, I will back any Lacerda game on Kickstarter without even reading the promo materials!

Lacerda's games are gamers' games. They are rules heavy, deeply strategic, and not for the causal gamer. A typical teach of Lisboa (one of my favorites) will take 45 to 60 minutes. And then it will take a new player several 3-hour plays to fully understand it and execute well formed strategies.

I have played and taught almost every game on this list. So, because I like his games so much and get asked about them fairly often, I though I'd share some of my knowledge about his games.

Lacerda games have a lot in common:

• Most of Lacerda games are centered around the work placement mechanic. You move your worker to an action spot and the resolve the action. In addition, you usually get very few actions during the game; in Vinhos you only get 13 actions the entire game! It's really hard to build an engine in so few turns, so understanding how to create action-combos to maximize your turn is critical.
• Usually, his games don't have a linear path that all players must follow at the beginning of the game. For example, in Agricola (one of my top 3 games) growing your family is so critical early in the game that players are forced to vie for those actions in the first few rounds. However, Lacerda games usually have 2 or 3 paths players can follow from the start, but then will all converge later. This reduces the race for certain action spots at the beginning of the game and allows for better engine building.
• They are expensive. Most of his games will cost you between $110 and $150 new.
• They almost all come in large, rectangular boxes. Also, most of them come with detailed component storage trays.
• Many of his games have Ian O'Toole as the art designer. O'Toole's work is utterly spectacular; he is truly one of the best game-art designers of modern board games.

So, without further ado, here is an overview of his games in order of their release dates.

Vinhos (2010) & Vinhos: Deluxe Edition (2016)

Vinhos was Lacerda's first hit. In it, you are cooperation looking to build up a winery empire by building winery estates in Portugal (Lacerda's home country) and using the wines produced for profit and points. It is an economic game where your actions are very few, so efficiency and action-comboing is critical to success.

In 2016, Lacerda released the Deluxe Edition which modified some of the market and wine fair rules, but left the core game largely in tact. In fact, the Deluxe Edition box contains both versions so you can play either ruleset, though most people tend to stick to the one they like best. Personally, I like the 2016 rules better.

Viticulture by Jamie Stegmaier is the other well-known, wine making game. If you're interested, I wrote this article where I compare the two.

Expansions
There are a handful of small expansions that were released at the same time as the Deluxe Edition. Conveniently, they all work with either edition. However, they have become harder and harder to find.

• Tasting Room Expansion Pack
• Islands Expansion Pack
• Experts Expansion Pack
• Connoisseur Expansion Pack

CO₂ (2012) & CO₂: Second Chance (2018)

CO₂ was Lacerda's second game. You are a global power company building power plants all over the world. As your company's technology advances, you are able to build plants that produce less greenhouse gasses. The game is semi-cooperative, too, in that you must work together to build the plants and to keep technology advancing so they the ones you build produce less and less carbon dioxide. Because if it gets too high, like in the real world, all players loose. Otherwise, the player with the most points win.

CO₂ went all in on the tech-track mechanic and that really drives your game. It was also bold in terms of art design. When art design for games was still on the cartoony side, CO₂'s was fresh and beautiful.

I had never played a semi-cooperative game before and found the mechanic very interesting. However, in my opinion, marred the game play. If a player wouldn't work with other players to build power plants, then the game would stagnate. Further, a player who was loosing could sabotage the game, forcing the CO₂ to rise above the threshold and, thus, making everyone loose. I know this, because I had a hyper-competitive friend who would do this and it led to unsatisfactory conclusions.

In 2018, Lacerda released CO₂: Second Chance. While the game is largely the same, he split the game into two rule sets: one for coop and one for competitive. This solved the sour-grape-player issue the original game had. It was fairly well received, but not like his later games. In 2025, Giochix reprinted Second Chance and released it in the now-standard, Lacerda-sized box.

Expansions
The original version had a single, mini-expansion called the Arctic Expansion. The Second Chance version has a few small expansions that were part of its Kickstarter stretch goals as well as an updated version of the Arctic Expansion.

• Arctic Expansion
• CO₂: 2^nd Chance - Limited Pack Expansion and Upgrade

Kanban: Driver's Edition (2014) & Kanban EV (2020)

Most modern software developers might be surprised to learn that Kanban was originally a manufacturing methodology developed by Toyota back in the 1950s. As such, these two games are about the design, manufacture, and testing of cars: gasoline powered and electric, respectively. You take actions in the 5 areas of the car plant with the goal of being the biggest braggart during the Weekly Meetings (scoring rounds). It is a very convincing implementation of corporate culture. Probably the most fun (and annoying realistic) mechanic is Sandra, the middle manager who is checking up on your work and dinging you if you aren't performing (think: TPS reports).

While Driver's Edition is still highly ranked, its re-implementation Kanban EV has become one of Lacerda's most popular games. I never did play Driver's Edition, but Kanban EV is an excellent marriage of theme and mechanics. The board, artwork, and workflow of the game work so well with the actual game mechanics that is almost easy to learn despite being one of his heavier games. Personally, I think Kanban EV is Lacerda's best game yet.

Expansions
The original version never had an expansion. The Kanban EV Kickstarter edition came with a small upgrade pack that contained single, small expansion called the Super Charger. I've played with it, but don't think it's necessary. One of the best aspects of Kanban EV is how important turn order is to action resolution. Super Charger reduces that and, IMO, makes it less fun to play.

• Kanban EV: Upgrade Pack

The Gallerist (2015)

In The Gallerist you are an art gallery owner who is trying discover new artists, buy their art, market it to increase its value, then sell it for big money. There's a good dose of market manipulation which I find a lot of fun. You are using your workers to do all of this across the beautifully designed board. The mechanics and the art-gallery-dealer theme are very well matched making for well-rounded game that has an easier teach.

Whilst not his heaviest or longest game, I find it one of his most fun to play. There's real tension in which player is going to which action first because there is the now-well-known "bump bonus" a player gets if his/her meeple is bumped off an action spot. Played right, this is a great way to get extra actions in an otherwise action-poor game.

Because of all of this, The Gallerist is one of my favorite Lacerda games and I often use it as an introduction to Lacerda-level games.

Expansions
The Gallerist has two very minor expansions. One gives new scoring tiles and the other was a small KickStarter stretch goal.

• Scoring Expansion
• Stretch Goal Pack

Lisboa (2017)

I Kickstarted Lisboa way back in 2016 and it was the first Lacerda game I got really good at. In fact, I learned it so well that I authored the Easily Overlooked Rules and Other Clarifications thread on BGG. Therefore, Lisboa holds a special place in my heart.

It's theme is the rebiulding of Lisboa (i.e. Lisbon, Portugal) after the great earthquake of 1755. You take actions from the 3 main nobles during that time: The Marques, the builder, and, of course, The King. The game play is well balanced and rewards efficiency of actions. Furthermore, each player can go his/her own direction at the beginning of the game meaning there is less fighting over particular actions. In the end, all players will end up doing all things, but probably in different sequences.

Lisboa is truly one of Lacerda's best games yet. However, its theme and artwork, while beautiful, is a bit abstracted from the mechanics. For example, area of the board considered to be downtown Lisbon is just a grid of squares and it doesn't really look like the city. Nevertheless, it is worth learning by anyone who loves heavy games.

Expansions
There is a super-micro expansion for Lisboa that is literally 2 cards and a rule card. However, it significantly changes the strategy surrounding Decrees (end-game goal cards). Lacerda has stated that, while it's not a fix, any game of Lisboa should be played with it.

• Queen Variant - Read my review of it here

Escape Plan (2019)

Escape Plan is the only Lacerda game I've not played, so I can't say much about it. It is highly rated and well liked by others. In it, players are a group of thieves who have performed a robbery and hidden the money. While laying low, the authorities have solved the crime and are now looking for you. So, you must collect as much money as you can and get out of town before you are caught. Each thief has an asymmetric role to help them escape with the most cash.

Escape Plan is a departure from of Lacreda's typical heavy, worker placement games. Instead, Escape Plan is a bit lighter and focuses on racing around the board using asymmetric powers.

Expansions
Escape Plan doesn't have any functional expansions, but it does have an upgrade pack that includes metal tokens, wooden meeples, and the like.

• Upgrade Pack

On Mars (2020)

On Mars is probably Lacerda's most popular game and, in my opinion, has O'Toole's must visually stunning design. It's art was on the next level combining bold colors and a Mars-like realism. And, while Escape Room was well liked, On Mars was a power return to Lacerda's well known heavy, worker placement style since it had been 3 years since Lisboa's release.

In it, you are among the first settlers on Mars and are there to set up colonies. One of the most interesting mechanics of the game is you are either taking actions on the surface of Mars or in orbit. And because you can't just bounce between the two of them, you must do everything you need in one before traveling to the other. So it takes a fair amount of planning and a strategy which also includes predicting what other players are going to do because it's a race to the best spots on the board.

I really like On Mars and not just because I grew up watching Space Shuttle launches and wishing I was an astronaut, too. It's a well balanced game with a great theme-to-mechanic ratio. The race upon the planet's surface to expand your settlement adds a real tension to the game. That said, vying for Blueprints becomes a bottleneck early on and if you don't get enough, you will stuggle winning the game.

Expansions
On Mars' only expansion (beyond a promo card) is Alien Invasion which contains four scenarios to be played out in sequence. Two of the senarios are coop, one of them is 1-verses-all, and the last scenario is solo. It turns On Mars into a different game and isn't a required purchase, IMO, if you just like On Mars itself.

• Alien Invasion
• Upgrade Pack
• Beacon Promo Card

Weather Machine (2022)

Weather Machine is Lacerda's second game to focus on climate change after CO₂. In it, you are working for Professor Lativ to build a better weather controlling machine. Not only are you helping operate the original weather machine that has issues, you must help research and build a new, better one.

I really liked how you built out your prototype with bots, machine parts, and chemicals out to the right of your player board. That decision making was fun. But I feel the over game flow is a bit on the "rinse-and-repeat" side making it feel a bit tedious and repetitive as the game progresses. Get a machine part, publish a paper, do R&D, then repeat 2 or 3 more times. Of course, being a Lacerda game, it's not that simple, but the game left me feeling a bit bored by the end.

Game play aside, the art design was another spectacular display of O'Toole's skills. The steampunk-like machines in the games theme were solidly Iincorporated into every aspect of the game. The upgrade kit comes with very cool, metal cogs which brings the components to the next level.

Expansions
Weather Machine doesn't have any functional expansions per se, but it does have an upgrade pack that includes a few additional goal tiles, objective tiles, and the like as well as metal cogs.

• Upgrade Pack

Inventions: Evolution of Ideas (2024)

In it, players work together to turn ideas into reality which ultimately advances human society. The idea is: first there is an idea, then it is invented, and finally, the invention can be improved upon. For a given idea, any player can do one or all of these steps. Thus, there is a bit of the semi-cooperative nature that CO₂ had, but the game isn't driven by it like in CO₂. As inventions become more sophisticated, humanity advances and the game moves forward.

Of all of his games, Inventions is the one I've liked the least. It seemed decision heavy and only for the sake of being so and not because they added much to the game. For example, there are 3 types of progresss tiles that you can add to your board. Of those 3 types, there are 7 different tiles each. Of those 7 different tiles, there are 3 versions of each. That ends up being 63 different tiles to choose from. And that doesn't include the addtional 25 different wealth tiles you can choose from, too. It becomes decision overload just to choose a tile for your player board and if you are prone to AP... fuhgeddaboudit!

Also, because there are so many ways to take a given action beyond the 10 main action spaces, there's little tension in terms of getting the action you need. If someone takes the action space you are on or for some other reason you don't have access to it, there's a high likelihood you can find the same action elsewhere on the board. So, between the verbose diecision making and the lack of tension in action taking, the game feels slow and cumbersome.

Expansions
Inventions doesn't have any functional expansions per se, but it does have an upgrade pack that includes a few additional Knowledge tiles, Private Goal cards, and the like as well as upgraded components. There are a few promo cards out there, too.

• Promo Cards
• Upgrade Pack

Speakeasy (2025)

Speakeasy is Lacerda's latest game and is currently in production. In it you are a mob boss who is operating your own speakeasy empire in Manhattan. It's unknown if there will be an expansions but the Kickstarter does include an upgrade pack. Fullfilment is expected to occur in late 2025.

A Few Meger Stats & Some Final Thoughts

I'm a big fan of Lacerda's games. I love the depth, complexity and art design of them all. While I do have some favorites and some non-favorites, they are all solid games for gamers looking for that next level of difficulty. Easily my two two are Lisboa and Kanban EV and it's hard decide which one is better. I didn't care for Weather Machine much, but would probably play it again if asked.

Any gamer looking for that next level game should definitely try one his. I think The Gallerist or Vinhos are great introductions to the Lacerda family of games. However, I have thrown my gamer friends right into the deep in with Lisboa and Kanban EV.

Honorable Mentions

These are a couple of games that Lacerda was involved with, but isn't the sole designer nor do they match his typical game design.

Bot Factory (2023)

Bot Factory is a reimplementation of Kanban EV by game designer João Quintela Martins. It has simpler rules and a much shorter game time. In it, you design and build robots at a family-friendly level of complexity. And, like Kanban EV, you still have to worry about Sandra! I've never played, but since I like Kanban EV so much, I would probably like it.

House of Fado (2025)

House of Fado is another joint design effort with João Quintela Martins (who is also an accomplished musician). Fado is a traditional Portuguese music that sounds mournful and melancholy whose lyrics are often filled with longing. Some called it "The Gallerist Lite" because it has some similar mechanics, specifically the bump-action when your worker gets displaced. With a much shorter playing time and a MSRP of $60, it, too, is a departure from Lacerda's typical heavy and expensive games.