Archeos Society Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
  • Contents
  • Advanced Setup Options
• Playing the Game
  • Start a New Season
  • Playing a Season
  • Gain 1 Card
  • Monkey Cards
  • Play an Expedition
• Season End
• Game End
• Frequently Overlooked Rules
• Credits
• Parts Replacement
• Leader Roles
  • The Botanist
  • The Cartographer
  • The Curator
  • The Guide
  • The Linguist
  • The Mercenary
  • The Patron
  • The Photographer
  • The Physician
  • The Pilot
  • The Professor
  • The Student
• Archaeological Sites
  • Chichén Itzá
  • Rapa Nui
  • Ta-sekhet-ma'at
  • Tantallon Castle
  • Uluru
  • Ur

Setup

Archeos Society includes a variety of different roles and regions. During each game, you will use some (but not all) of the content, providing many interesting interactions and combinations that will keep players coming back for more! If you are playing the game for the first time, keep reading to learn how to set up the game for an ideal first play experience. For all future games, you can use the advanced setup options below, which open up full access to the game's many options.

1 Prepare Archaeological Sites: Each site board represents one region (red: North America; green: South America; blue: Europe; yellow: Africa; pink: Asia; and purple: Oceania) and shows an important archaeological site from that region on each side. Place each site board in the center of the table with the compass side faceup. The diagram shows an example of how to place them, but the exact arrangement doesn't matter.

For your first game, flip over the red board so the advanced side is faceup (Chichén Itzá).

2 Choose Roles and Prepare Deck: Select 6 roles to use for this game, then gather all the expedition cards corresponding to the chosen roles and shuffle them together to form the deck. Return cards for all other roles to the game box; they will not be used this game.

For your first game, you will be using the following 6 roles.

3 Choose Player Colors and Prepare Tracks: Each player chooses a color and takes the 9 vehicles matching that color. Place the score track face up near the site boards. Then each player places 1 vehicle in the leftmost space of each site track, and their player token (with the "100" face down) on the score track.

Note: For your first game, the remaining 2 vehicles will not be used and can be returned to the box. These vehicles are used when the Linguist role or the Ta-sekhet-ma'at archaeological site are used.

4 Perform Role- and Site-Specific Setup: Depending on which roles are in the game, you may need to perform additional setup steps.

For your first game, only the additional setup for the Botanist role is needed, after which you will be ready to play.

A Botanists: Place the Botanist frame near the site boards.

B Curators: Each player takes 1 museum board and 6 relic tokens (1 of each color).

C Linguists: Place the Linguist track near the site boards. Each player places 1 vehicle on space "0".

D Professors: Place the 6 Professor tokens (numbered 1 through 6) near the site boards.

E Ta-sekhet-ma'at: Each player places 2 vehicles on the leftmost space of this site instead of 1.

Contents

• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Score Track
• 6 Double-Sided Archaeological Site Boards
• 159 Cards
• 54 Vehicles (9 of each in 6 shapes and colors)
• 6 Player Tokens
• 1 Botanist Frame
• 1 Linguist Track
• 36 Relic Tokens (6 of each in 6 colors)
• 6 Museum Boards
• 6 Professor Tokens

Advanced Setup Options

After playing your first game (the Chichén Itzá scenario), you can enjoy more variety by choosing one of the following setup options.

Scenario Setup: Choose from the 6 combinations below, using the roles shown and flipping the site shown on its advanced side (leaving all others with their compass side faceup).

The six preset scenarios are: Chichén Itzá, Tantallon Castle, Rapa Nui, and Ta-sekhet-ma'at, each paired with a set of six role icons shown on the scenario banner.

Random Setup: Using 1 copy of each role card, shuffle them and randomly choose 6 to use this game. Shuffle all site boards and randomly choose 1 to use its advanced side.

Draft Setup: Gather 1 copy of each role, shuffle them together, and randomly deal 6 facedown to the first player, placing the rest nearby in a facedown pile. They choose 1 role and place it faceup for all to see, and pass the remaining 5 cards to the player on their left. That player then draws the top card from the facedown pile and adds it to the 5 they received. The process of choosing a role, passing the cards, and drawing a new card continues until 6 roles have been chosen.

Next, give all 6 site boards to the player who would have chosen next. They randomly choose 1 board and decide whether to use the compass side or advanced side, placing it on the table with the chosen side faceup. Then they pass the remaining boards to the player on their left. The process of randomly choosing a board and selecting a side continues until all site boards have been placed on the table.

Playing the Game

Archeos Society is played over a number of seasons, depending on the number of players. When playing with 2-3 players, you will play 2 seasons; when playing with 4-6 players, you will play 3 seasons.

Start a New Season

To start a new season, follow these steps:

1. Deal Starting Hands: Shuffle the deck and deal 1 card to each player.
2. Create Display: Deal cards from the deck equal to the number of players plus 2 (e.g., with 5 players, deal 7 cards), and place them faceup on the table as the display. The order of the cards in the display does not matter.
3. Prepare Deck:
   1. Split the remaining deck into 2 stacks of similar size.
   2. Shuffle the 3 monkey cards into one of the stacks.
   3. Then put the stack WITHOUT the monkey cards on top of the deck WITH the monkey cards.
4. Determine First Player: If this is the first season, the player who most recently visited an archaeological site is the first player. Otherwise, the player who drew the third monkey card in the previous season becomes the first player.

Playing a Season

Players take turns, starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise.

On your turn, you must do ONE of two actions: Gain 1 Card, or Play an Expedition.

Gain 1 Card

EITHER take 1 card from the display OR draw 1 card from the deck. Players keep their hand of cards hidden from the other players.

• After taking a card from the display, do not replace it with another one.
• After drawing a card from the deck, draw 1 extra card if the display is empty.

IMPORTANT: You cannot have more than 10 cards in your hand. If you have 10 cards in hand, you cannot gain more cards, and you must play an expedition. If you have 9 cards in hand when the display is empty, you can draw a card from the deck, but you do not draw an extra card.

Monkey Cards

If you draw a monkey card, you must immediately reveal it. Place the card on the table for all players to see, then draw another card and resume play as normal. Follow this process if you draw another monkey card.

The first 2 monkey cards have no effect, but when the third monkey card is revealed, the season immediately ends (see "Season End" on page 6). The player who drew the third monkey card places it in front of them as a reminder that they will be the first player to start the next season.

Play an Expedition

An expedition is a set of cards played from your hand. Each card has two traits:

• the color of the region, indicated by the background art and the textured pattern and color along the top of the card,
• the role, indicated by the character art, the icon, and the effect symbol.

Cards in an expedition must all share either the same color or the same role.

To play an expedition, choose 1 card from your hand to be the expedition leader. Then, choosing 1 of that leader's traits (either color or role), you may play any number of cards from your hand (or none) matching the chosen trait, adding them to this expedition and increasing its size. Played expedition cards are placed faceup in front of you in a column, with the top portion visible, behind the leader (as shown below).

Played expeditions stay in front of you and are scored at the season end.

The leader's traits are Yellow (Africa) and Linguist. This expedition is legal as all cards share the Linguist trait.

The leader's traits are Green (South America) and Photographer. This expedition is legal as all cards share the Green trait. Note: You may have identical cards in the same expedition, such as the two Green Photographers.

The leader's trait are Blue (Europe) and Guide. One of the cards behind the leader is Blue, the other is a Guide. This expedition is NOT legal, as ALL cards in an expedition must share the SAME trait (either color or role).

Once all cards for the expedition have been played, you may resolve the effects of your leader's traits. Both effects are optional and may be resolved in either order.

• Color: If your expedition size is large enough, you may advance your vehicle at the site matching your leader's color. Check the threshold number to the right of your vehicle's current space. If the size of the expedition just played is equal to or greater than the threshold, advance your vehicle to the next space. You can never move more than one space with a single expedition.

Note that you can play an expedition even if you do not meet the size requirement shown for the next space on the site. If the expedition is not large enough, you simply don't advance your vehicle.

To advance on this track, you need an expedition containing 3 or more cards. With this 5-card expedition, you may advance to the next space.

• Role: You may use the effect of the leader's role (see details on page 8).

Finally, you MUST return all cards still in your hand to the display.

With this hand you could play any of the following:

• A 2-card Pink expedition led by a Physician.
• A 2-card Pink expedition led by a Patron.
• A 2-card Green expedition led by a Botanist.
• A 2-card Blue expedition led by a Botanist.
• Any 1-card expedition

Any unused cards would be returned to the display.

Season End

Players continue taking turns until the third monkey card is drawn, which immediately triggers the season end. Then, all players follow these steps:

1. Return Unplayed Cards: Return all cards in hand and in the display to the deck (with no effect).
2. Resolve "Season End" Role Effects (depending on the roles being used for this game; see details on p. 8). In the example on the right, the player with the Botanist frame gains 2 points and returns it to the center of the table, near the site boards.
3. Gain Points from Sites: Players gain the number of points shown in their vehicle's space on each archaeological site. Vehicles are not reset and remain on their current spaces.
4. Gain Points from Expeditions: Using the chart shown below, players gain points for each expedition they played based on that expedition's size. After scoring all expeditions, return the cards to the deck (unless this was the final season).

Expedition Size	1	2	3	4	5	6+
Points	0	1	3	5	8	12

Note: Points are scored on the score track using the player tokens. If a player goes over 100 points, the token is flipped to show the +100 side.

If you have just finished the final season (2-3 players: second season; 4-6 players: third season), proceed to game end. Otherwise, prepare for the next season by following the steps in "Start a New Season" on page 4.

The White Zeppelin player scores 10 points from sites: 2 in Machu Picchu, 0 in Chichén Itzá, 0 in Great Zimbabwe, 0 in Grotta Azzurra, 2 in Nan Madol, and 6 in Sigiriya.

Game End

The game ends after the final season. The player with the most points wins!

In case of a tie, the player with the largest-size expedition during the final season wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players continue comparing their next-largest-size expeditions until a single winner is determined. In the exceedingly rare event that the tied players have exactly the same number of expeditions with exactly the same sizes, go online and assert your bragging rights about how astronomically improbable the statistical likelihood this occurrence is!

The Brown Half-Track player scores 8 points from sites: 2 in Machu Picchu, 1 in Chichén Itzá, 3 in Great Zimbabwe, 4 in Grotta Azzurra, -2 in Nan Madol, and 0 in Sigiriya.

This player scores 27 points for expeditions: 12 for the 6-card expedition, 8 for the 4-card expedition led by a Photographer (this is counted as a 5-card expedition due to the Photographer's "Season End" effect; see p. 8), 5 for the 4-card expedition led by a Botanist, and 0 for the 1-card expedition. They also gain 2 points for having the Botanist frame. The frame is put back near the site boards for the next season.

Frequently Overlooked Rules

• 2-3 players = 2 seasons; 4-5 players = 3 seasons
• Shuffle the monkey cards into the bottom half of the deck.
• There is a handsize limit of 10 cards. If you have 10 cards in hand, you cannot gain a card and must play an expedition.
• An expedition can be played even if the number of cards required to advanced on this site board is not met.
• Vehicles can advance maximum 1 space for each expedition played, regardless of the size of the expedition itself.
• After playing an expedition, you must return all unplayed cards to the display, where all players will now have access to them!
• Vehicles are used in the game to mark progress on various tracks. Vehicle progress is retained for the duration of the game — do not "reset" vehicles at season end, unless a site effect specifically says otherwise!
• When resolving an expedition, only the leader's traits matter (color and role).
• All Mercenary cards are removed from expeditions at season end, immediately before scoring expedition points (see details on p. 8).
• When a Student is an expedition leader, you don't advance your vehicle at the site, regardless of expedition size (see details on p. 8).

Credits

Paolo Mori, the designer, was born in Parma, Italy, in 1977, where he has lived his entire life. He is often found discussing methods of game design with his fellow designers during breaks between his creations, in order to receive inspiration as well as for the joy of sharing with others.

John McCambridge, the illustrator, was born on the north coast of Ireland. After university, he worked in many different countries. Now settled just outside Cambridge in the UK with his wife Sarah and son Fergus. He continues his passion for illustration alongside teaching digital art to the next generation of aspiring artists.

Game Design: Paolo Mori Game Development: Paolo Mori and the Space Cowboys team Artwork: John McCambridge Graphic Design: Sebastien Lopez and the Space Cowboys team Rules Writing: Steven Kimball and the Space Cowboys team Edition: Scott Lewis and the Space Cowboys team

Special thanks to David Preti and the CMON team for their amazing work on Ethnos, from which this game originated.

Finally, we would like to thank all the players who helped us test and improve Archeos Society throughout development, as well as to all those who will enjoy it in the years to come.

Parts Replacement

This product has been manufactured with all possible care. However, if a component is missing or damaged, don't hesitate to contact the Customer Service department of our distributor, Asmodee, and they will assist you promptly. corporate.asmodee.com

Game published by SPACE Cowboys – Asmodee Group 47 rue de l'Est – 92100 Boulogne-Billancourt – FRANCE © 2023 SPACE Cowboys. All rights reserved. Follow Archeos Society and SPACE Cowboys at www.spacecowboys.fr, SpaceCowboysFR, space_cowboys_officiel and SpaceCowboys1

Leader Roles

This section explains what each leader role does, as well as the effect's timing: IMMEDIATELY (resolved when the expedition is played), ONGOING (a passive effect that always applies), SEASON END, or GAME END. Restrictions are mandatory; all other effects are optional.

The Botanist

Setup: Place the Botanist frame near the site boards. Immediately: Compare the sizes of this expedition against the expedition with the Botanist's frame. If this expedition's size is equal to or greater than the Botanist frame's expedition, gain 2 points and place the Botanist frame above this expedition. Note: you can take the Botanist frame from your own expedition. Season End: The player with the Botanist frame gains 2 points, and places it near the site boards.

The Cartographer

Immediately: If you advance your vehicle with this expedition, you may immediately play 1 additional expedition from your hand (resolving its effects) before returning your hand of cards to the display.

The Curator

Setup: Place the relic tokens in the center of the table; each player then takes a museum board. Immediately: Place a relic token matching the Curator's color on your museum board (limit 1 relic token of each color on your museum board). Game End: Score points depending on how many different relics you have on your museum board (using the chart below).

Different Relics	1	2	3	4	5	6
Points	1	3	6	10	15	21

The Guide

Immediately: This expedition is considered to have 1 additional card for the purpose of advancing on the site track.

The Linguist

Setup: Place the Linguist track near the site boards. Each player places 1 vehicle on space 0 of this track. Immediately: Advance your vehicle on the Linguist track a number of spaces equal to this expedition's size. For each space showing a linguistic artifact that you stop in or pass through, advance 1 of your vehicles at any site, regardless of expedition size or threshold level. Season End: The player (or tied players) furthest on the Linguist track gains 2 points.

The Mercenary

Restriction: Mercenaries cannot be expedition leaders. If you have 10 Mercenaries in your hand on your turn, you cannot play an expedition and instead must return your entire hand to the display and end your turn. Ongoing: Mercenaries are wild and can be added to any expedition to increase its size, regardless of color or role. Season End: Before totaling expedition points, remove all Mercenaries from your expeditions.

The Patron

Immediately: After returning your hand of cards to the display, draw a number of cards from the deck equal to this expedition's size.

The Photographer

Season End: Score this expedition as if it had 1 additional card.

The Physician

Immediately: Instead of returning your remaining cards to the display, you may keep a number of cards in hand up to the size of this expedition, returning the rest.

The Pilot

Immediately: You may advance 1 of your vehicles at any site (instead of the site matching the leader's color) as long as your expedition size is large enough to pass the threshold on the site you choose.

The Professor

Setup: Place all Professor tokens in the center of the table. Immediately: Take 1 Professor token of equal or lesser value than this expedition's size. Season End: Total the values of each player's Professor tokens. The player (or tied players) with the highest total chooses 1 site and advances their vehicle 1 space. The player (or tied players) with the lowest total (including 0 — if they have no Professor tokens) chooses 1 site (where their vehicle is not on the leftmost space) and moves their vehicle 1 space backward. Then return all Professor tokens to the center of the table.

The Student

Restriction: When the Student is the leader of this expedition, you cannot advance your vehicles at any site, regardless of expedition size. Note: There are twice as many student cards in the deck as there are cards for the other roles, which enables players to create larger expeditions, worth more points at season end and enhancing other leaders' effects.

Archaeological Sites

Chichén Itzá

Vehicle Advances: At the end of your turn, when your vehicle advances on this site, draw up to the number of cards shown next to the threshold number you just crossed. (These cards are drawn from the deck, not taken from the display.) You are still limited to 10 cards.

Rapa Nui

Season End: The player(s) whose vehicle is farthest along this track gains 3 points and their vehicle is reset back to the leftmost space. Other players' vehicles remain where they are.

Ta-sekhet-ma'at

Setup: Each player places 2 vehicles on this track's leftmost space, instead of 1. Vehicle Advances: Choose 1 of your vehicles to advance. Season End: Gain points shown in the space with your vehicle closest to the starting space. Do not gain points for the other vehicle.

Tantallon Castle

Season End: If your vehicle is alone on a space, you gain points equal to the number in the large star. If your vehicle occupies a space containing other vehicles, you gain points equal to the number in the small star.

Uluru

Vehicle Advances: After advancing your vehicle, you may immediately choose to gain points shown in your current space. If you do, reset your vehicle back to the leftmost space at this site. Season End: Do not gain points for the Uluru board during the "Gain Points from Sites" step. You may only gain points from Uluru using the "Vehicle Advances" ability above.

Ur

Season End: When the third monkey card is revealed, in turn order, each player may immediately play a single expedition (resolving its effects as normal). The maximum size of this expedition depends on your vehicle's position on the Ur track.