A peak in the production of petroleum products in the late 1960s contributed to a worldwide energy crisis in 1973, resulting in severe gasoline shortages across the United States and in many other countries. Consumers remained worried throughout the decade and another energy emergency, triggered by unrest, war, and petroleum cutoffs in the Middle East, happened in 1979. Like other waves and ripples in mainstream culture, these events inspired a board game. Weldon Productions of South Caroline manufactured Energy Quest in 1977. The game is a variant of Monopoly, but the winner is the player who, by gathering energy resources in the forms of raw materials or power sites, can generate the most electricity. The world's reliance on petroleum began to diminish in the following decades, perhaps games such as Energy Quest helped inspire new thinking about sources of energy.