Coexist Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
  • Games with 2, 3, or 4 players
• Overview
• Game Turn
  • Mission
  • Conservation Center
  • Training
• Applying Effects
  • Effects list
• Conservation Center Board
  • A: Center Spaces
  • B: Reputation Track
  • End of turn
• Specialty
• Animal Faunas
• End of Game
  • End of Game Example
• Example Turns

Components

• 124 Resource tokens:
  • 28 "Congener" Caretaker tokens
  • 24 "Food" (Water/Food) Caretaker tokens
  • 20 "Protection" Caretaker tokens
  • 20 "Habitat" Caretaker tokens
  • 32 Survival tokens
• 1 first player token (double-sided, front and back)
• 4 Training cards (double-sided, FR/EN)
• 40 Caretaker cards
• 4 animal Faunas, one deck of 20 cards per Fauna, each containing 10 Animal cards and 10 Caretaker cards (40 Animal cards in total)
• 1 Mission board (double-sided, different illustrations)
• 4 Conservation Center boards, with their specialties (double-sided, FR/EN)

Setup

1. Place the Caretaker tokens and Survival tokens in 5 separate piles to form the supply.
2. Each player sits on either side of the Mission board and chooses a Player board (their Conservation Center) with its associated Specialty. They also take a Training card.
3. Take the animal Fauna cards related to your specialties, and shuffle them to form the draw pile. In the setup example below, you will be playing with all the cards.
4. The last person to have seen a wild animal in its natural habitat takes the first player token.
5. Draw 5 animal Fauna cards, and place them face up on the Mission board.

Example for 4 players: the printed setup example shows four Conservation Center boards, the Mission board in the centre with five Fauna cards face up, the Caretaker and Survival token supply, the first player token, and the draw pile, with the training cards placed beside each player.

Games with 2, 3, or 4 players

For a 2-player game, take the 2 animal Faunas sets of 20 cards related to the Specialties of the chosen Conservation Center boards. For each additional player, add the deck of 20 cards related to their Conservation Center board.

Overview

In Coexist, you are in charge of an animal welfare organization, whose role is to ensure the survival of as many species as possible in their natural habitat.

To do this, you benefit from the help of caretakers in charge of different areas: congener, food, habitat, and protection. Caretakers vary in number and experience depending on their area of expertise. Those specialized in the relationship with congeners are the most numerous, while habitat specialists are the most difficult to recruit. The Survival tokens are used to mark the disappearance of a species in its natural habitat.

Each time you place an animal in the common protected area, you also place Survival tokens on your Reputation track that will penalize you during and at the end of the game. When a player releases their 5th animal from captivity, gameplay keeps going on until the end of the current round, and the player with the most victory points wins the game.

Game Turn

During your turn, you will have to choose between one of these 3 options:

• Mission
• Conservation Center
• Training

The Conservation Center board and Training options are only available from your 2nd turn.

Mission

Choose one of the two following options (you must have enough space to accommodate them):

• A: Recruit all or part of the caretakers. For each discarded caretaker card, take the corresponding caretaker token and place it on your Conservation Center board, in one of the free spaces or one of the spaces occupied by tokens of the same color (see "Center Spaces" below).
• B: House 1 animal or more. House one or more animals from the Mission board to your Conservation Center board. The cumulative capture value must not exceed 10 points (excluding specific bonuses or penalties), regardless of the animals already present in your Conservation Center.

Conservation Center

You can perform all these actions, in any order, and as many times as you want during your turn:

• A: Place an animal in the common protected area. Discard an Animal card from your board. No caretaker must be placed on it. Then, obtain the Caretaker and Survival tokens indicated on the card as white symbols (see "Reputation track" below).
• B: Assigning and moving caretakers.
  • Assign available caretakers to an animal by placing them on the relevant card (only if your animal is able to receive them).
  • Move one or more caretakers from one animal to another that can receive them.
  • A caretaker assigned to an animal can also return to a free space or to a space occupied by caretakers of the same color.
• C: Release an animal from captivity. Once all the necessary caretakers are placed on an animal, it will earn you at the end of the game as many victory points as its conservation value, found in the top left corner of the card. Put the animal under your Conservation Center board and put the Caretaker tokens back in the supply. You then benefit from the effects of the card (see "Applying Effects" below).

Tip: It is possible to perform other actions on your Conservation Center board after releasing an animal and applying the card's effect. If the effect allows you to recruit caretakers, you can directly assign them to another animal.

Training

Train caretakers not assigned to an animal by trading them with others taken from the supply, following the diagram below. Caretakers must be able to reach a space that is either free or occupied by caretakers of the same color.

Training diagram (as printed):

• 2 Congener → 1 Water/Food
• 2 Water/Food → 1 Protection
• 2 Protection → 1 Habitat
• 1 Habitat → 1 Protection, OR 1 Water/Food, OR 1 Congener
• 1 Protection → 1 Water/Food, OR 1 Congener
• 1 Water/Food → 1 Congener

The printed strip beneath the diagram orders the four caretaker types as: Congener < Water/Food < Protection < Habitat.

Applying Effects

To apply the effect of an animal, you first have to release it from captivity. Applying the effect of a card is always optional.

A colored spot on the effect indicates at which step the effect can be applied: Beginning of the turn, Mission, Conservation Center, or Training.

There are two kinds of effects, indicated by these symbols:

• Single use immediate effect (lightning bolt symbol)
• Permanent effect (infinity symbol)

Effects list

• Permanent, at the beginning of your turn (before choosing an option): recruit a caretaker of the indicated color.
• Permanent, Mission: increase the maximum cumulative capture value of animals on the Mission board by the number indicated on the effect.
• Immediate: discard the indicated number of Survival tokens in your Reputation track, from right to left.
• Immediate: recruit 2 caretakers of the indicated color from the supply.
• Immediate: house one animal from the Mission board.
• Immediate: recruit any number of the caretakers present on the Mission board.
• Immediate: discard the rightmost Survival token on your Reputation track. Then, recruit a caretaker of the indicated color.
• Permanent: unlock a new space in your Conservation Center (cards and tokens for this new space are placed on the right side of your board).
• Permanent: when you move an Animal to the common protected area, double the retrieved caretakers of the indicated color.
• Permanent: when you move an Animal to the common protected area, ignore taking a Survival token.
• Permanent: train the caretakers in the indicated colors at a rate of 1 to 1.

Conservation Center Board

A: Center Spaces

A space can contain:

• An animal in the process of being released from captivity (with or without caretakers).
• A maximum of 3 Caretaker tokens of the same color (caretakers of the same color can occupy several spaces).

Space restrictions: If, at the end of your turn, all of your spaces are occupied and you have too many caretakers and/or animal cards after performing your actions on your Conservation Center board, you will have to discard the excess. When you place an animal in the common protected area or apply the effect of an animal, you can exceed these limitations as long as your turn is not over.

B: Reputation Track

When you decide to place an animal in the common protected area, you cannot release it back into its natural habitat. This notion is represented by the Survival tokens. Survival tokens are placed in your Reputation track to represent your loss in reputation by deciding to not release an animal back into the wild. You must place them from left to right, without skipping any space.

Your decrease in reputation has two negative impacts:

1. It limits your animal capture value on the Mission board. In the example printed on page 5, two Survival tokens are placed, and the animal capture value represented by the icon is down to 9.
2. It limits your reputation at the end of the game. In the same example, the first icon is covered. At the end of the game, reputation will provide you victory points depending on the yellow spaces that remained visible, in this example: 3+2+1=6.

If your Reputation track is filled with Survival tokens, you can no longer place animals in the common protected area.

Some animals need a Survival token to be released from captivity. In this specific case, you can remove a token from the track (starting from the rightmost one) to complete the release of your animal (action C of the Conservation Center).

End of turn

When your turn is over, refill the Mission board if necessary so that the next player starts their turn with 5 cards on display.

Specialty

Each player starts the game with a Specialty for a specific animal type by choosing their Conservation Center board. Each Specialty has a benefit that will provide additional victory points at the end of the game.

An icon on the top right of each "Animal card" indicates its specialty.

Animal Faunas

• Forest Fauna: gain 1 victory point per animal released from captivity by any player.
• Air Fauna: gain 1 victory point per animal placed in the common protected area.
• Sea Fauna: gain as many victory points as the conservation value of an animal of your choice remaining on one of the Conservation Center boards.
• Savannah Fauna: gain 1 victory point for each Survival token on the Reputation track of the player who has the most of those.

End of Game

The end of the game is triggered when a player releases their 5th animal or when the last card from the draw pile is revealed. Players keep playing until the end of the round, so that each of them plays the same number of turns. It is possible for a player to release more than 5 animals from captivity.

The winner is the player who has the most victory points, by adding:

• Points related to Conservation, indicated at the top left of Animal cards.
• Points related to Reputation (those not covered by Survival tokens), indicated on the Reputation track.
• Points related to Specialty, indicated at the left of the Conservation Center board.

In case of a tie, the player with the fewest Survival tokens wins the game. If there is still a tie, the victory is shared.

End of Game Example

• Galaad: Conservation 19, Reputation 3, Specialty 8 (Galaad counted the conservation value of the gazelle remaining on Isaac's board). Galaad scores a total of 30 victory points.
• Alexandre: Conservation 21, Reputation 6, Specialty 6 (6 animals of the Forest Fauna were released from captivity by all players). Alexandre scores a total of 33 victory points and wins the game!
• Isaac: Conservation 15, Reputation 10, Specialty 6 (Alix has the most Survival tokens). Isaac scores a total of 31 victory points.
• Alix: Conservation 22, Reputation 1, Specialty 4 (4 animals of the Air Fauna have been placed in the common protected area). Alix scores a total of 25 victory points.

Example Turns

1. During her turn, Alix decides to go to the Mission board to recruit caretakers. She already had an animal from a previous turn.
2. During this new turn, Alix goes back to the Mission board and decides to house 2 animals. Their cumulative capture value is 9, which is OK since Alix's Reputation track allows her a maximum value of 10.
3. For this turn, Alix decides to go to her Conservation Center. She starts by placing the zebra in the common protected area (discard pile). She obtains the Caretaker and Survival tokens marked on it in white symbols.
   • 3b. In the same turn, she decides to assign her caretakers. To complete the fox's release from captivity, she adds a Survival token from her Reputation track.
   • 3c. Alix just released her first animal! She uses its power, which allows her to immediately take the caretakers from the Mission board, and thus gains 1 "Protection" and 1 "Habitat" caretaker. Alix decides to assign her caretakers again to her last animal, but it will not be enough to release it this turn. Her turn is over, and she refills the Mission board.