Carbondale is a tile-laying game played with standard playing cards. Players have just moved to the small town of Carbondale, and lay cards in a grid representing the social and business networks they are working to develop. By playing clubs, they can win hearts; by buying spades, they can gain diamonds. The winner is the first to have in their networks three hearts and seven diamonds, or three diamonds and seven hearts. If a card in a player's network is not sufficiently protected, it is vulnerable to take-over by opponents. Players will need skill in tile-laying to advance quickly and safely, and will have to carefully manage their hand to balance cards for offense, defense, and building. The only equipment required is standard decks of cards. —description from the designer