Evergreen Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
  • Board setup
  • Common Area Setup
• Game Overview
• The Game Round
  • 1. Draft
    • 1.1 Create the drafting pool
    • 1.2 Pick cards
    • 1.3 Clean Up
  • 2. Actions and Powers
    • 2.1 Perform your Action
    • 2.2 Activate your Power
  • 3. End of Round Cleanup
• End of the Season
  • 1. Collect Light
    • 1.1 How to count Light Points
  • 2. Biggest Forest
  • 3. Change Season
• End of the Game
• Single Player Mode
• Icon Summary
• Credits

Components

• 45 Sprouts
• 55 Small Trees
• 60 Big Trees
• 20 Bush pawns
• 20 Lake pawns
• 4 Sun markers
• 36 cylinder markers
• 1 First Player token
• 4 Planet boards
• 42 Biome cards (6 for each Biome)

The seven Biomes are: Grassland Biome, Flowers Biome, Wheat Biome, Rock Biome, Swamp Biome, Snow Biome, and Wild Biome.

Setup

Board setup

• Give 1 Planet board to each player. Place your Planet board in front of you.
• Place 1 cylinder marker at the beginning of each Power Track at the top of your board (A), i.e., in the spaces with a green background.
• Place 1 cylinder marker at the beginning of the Score Track surrounding your planet (B) and 1 cylinder marker at the beginning of the 50+ Points Track at the top-right of your board (C).
• Place 1 cylinder marker in the topmost space of the Season Track at the bottom-left of your board (D).
• Place 1 Sun marker in the half-circle space at the top of your board (E). The players can agree to have the sun start from a different position.
• Randomly determine a first player. They receive the First Player token.
• Starting with the First Player and going clockwise, each player gains points based on their turn order position, as shown below. Track these points by advancing the cylinder marker on your Score Track.

Turn order	Points
1st	0 Pt.
2nd	1 Pt.
3rd	2 Pt.
4th	3 Pt.

Common Area Setup

• Shuffle the Biome cards and place them as a face-down deck in the middle of the table, in reach of all players (F).
• Reserve an area near the Biome Deck to place a discard pile (G).
• Reserve another area of the table visible to all players for the Fertility Zone (H): cards placed there during the game will determine the final scoring (see End of the Game).
• Reveal cards from the top of the deck until at least 5 Fertility icons are present among them.
• Put the cards with Fertility icons face up on the table in the Fertility Zone (H). Keep these cards in separate stacks, one for each Biome, making sure that all Fertility icons on each card are always visible.
• All the other cards, that is the ones without Fertility icons, must be shuffled back into the deck.

In this example, after the 3rd card is revealed, only 4 Fertility icons are shown on the cards, so you need to keep revealing cards. The 4th card only shows an Aridity icon, while the 5th has 2 Fertility, bringing the total to 6 Fertility. The threshold of 5 has been exceeded, so you must stop revealing cards. Cards 1, 3 and 5 are moved to the Fertility Zone (H), while cards 2 and 4 are shuffled back into the Biome deck.

Game Overview

A game of Evergreen is played over 4 Seasons, each divided into a fixed number of rounds which decreases from Season to Season: 5 rounds in Spring, 4 rounds in Summer, 3 rounds in Autumn, and 2 rounds in Winter.

Each round is composed of 3 phases:

1. Draft: During this phase, you will pick a Biome card from the pool to determine which Biome and which Power you will be developing this round.
2. Actions and Powers: During this phase, you will perform your Action for the round; additionally, you will activate the Power determined by your Biome card.
3. End of Round: During this phase, you will verify if another round must be started, or if the current Season is over.

At the end of each Season, you earn points for the amount of Light collected by your Trees and for the size of your biggest Forest (see End of the Season), then you prepare for the next Season.

At the end of the last Season, the game is over. You calculate your score for that Season, then you also calculate your end game score by adding the points obtained for the Fertility of the Biomes on your Planet (see End of the Game).

The player with the most points is the winner!

The Game Round

1. Draft

1.1 Create the drafting pool

Draw a number of cards from the deck equal to the number of players +1, then place them face up on the table next to each other, to the right of the deck. This will be the drafting pool for the current round.

In a game with 3 players, you must draw 4 cards from the Biome deck during the Draft Phase.

Empty Deck

If at any time the Biome deck is empty, shuffle all the cards from the discard pile and form a new Biome deck.

NOTE: Do not remove any cards from the Fertility Zone, nor any of the cards from the player areas while doing so.

1.2 Pick cards

Starting with the first player and going clockwise, each player picks 1 card from the drafting pool and places it in front of themselves.

After picking their card, the first player must also place the First Player token on the leftmost card of the drafting pool, the one that is closest to the deck.

If you pick the card with the First Player token on it, you also take the token and get to be the first player for the next round. If no one picks the card with the First Player token by the end of the Draft Phase, the token goes back to the current first player.

Basil is the first player and chooses the Wild Biome card. Then, he must place the First Player token on the Snow Biome card, which is the leftmost card still on the table.

1.3 Clean Up

Once each player has taken their Biome card for the round, exactly 1 unchosen card will be left in the pool. Depending on the type of icon shown at the top of this card, perform one of the following:

FERTILITY: Place the card in the Fertility Zone. Remember to keep the cards in separate stacks, one for each Biome, making sure that all Fertility icons on each card are always visible. The sum of all icons in a stack will determine the Fertility of that Biome at the end of the game (see End of the Game).

ARIDITY: Flip the the latest card added to the stack of the corresponding Biome in the Fertility Zone and place the Aridity card on top of it. The face-down card no longer contributes to the Biome Fertility. If there is no card to be flipped, just place the Aridity card in the Fertility Zone and no other effect is triggered.

NO ICON: Place the card in the discard pile.

During the Draft Phase, a Snow Biome Aridity card is left unchosen (A). The latest card added to the Snow Biome stack in the Fertility Zone (B) must be flipped and the Aridity card must be placed on top of that stack (C).

2. Actions and Powers

During this phase, all players simultaneously perform their Action for the round and may use a bonus Power. The card you picked during the Draft Phase will tell you which Biome you must perform your Action in and which Power you can activate.

2.1 Perform your Action

You must perform 1 Action each round. Your Action must be applied to the Biome shown on the card that you picked during the Draft Phase.

There are 4 possible Actions, each consisting of a different combination of these 2 effects:

Plant Sprout: Place 1 Sprout treeple from the pool in an empty space on your Planet board.

Generic Growth: Replace either a Sprout treeple on your Planet board with a Small Tree treeple from the pool (A) OR a Small Tree treeple on your Planet board with a Big Tree treeple from the pool (B).

IMPORTANT! You can never directly grow a Sprout into a Big Tree, or replace any Tree with a Sprout.

The available Actions are:

A (Plant Sprout, Plant Sprout, Plant Sprout): Apply up to 3 Plant Sprout effects.

B (Generic Growth, Generic Growth): Apply up to 2 Generic Growth effects in different spaces of your Planet board (so you can't grow a Sprout into a Small tree, then immediately grow that Small Tree into a Big Tree).

C (Plant Sprout, Generic Growth): Apply up to 1 Plant Sprout effect AND up to 1 Generic Growth effect in different spaces of your Planet board (so you can't plant a Sprout, then immediately grow that Sprout into a Small Tree).

D (Plant Sprout / Generic Growth / Anywhere on the Planet): Ignore the Biome restriction of the card you picked during the Draft Phase and apply either 1 Plant Sprout effect OR 1 Generic Growth effect on any 1 space of your Planet board.

You can find a reminder of the available Actions in the lower right corner of your Planet board.

IMPORTANT! If you picked a "Wild" Biome card, each single effect of your Action may be applied anywhere on your Planet board (even in different Biomes).

INFINITE TREES

Sprouts, Small Trees, and Big Trees are to be considered infinite. In the unlikely event that you find yourself with no treeples in the pool, feel free to use substitute items.

CREVICES

There are four Crevice spaces on your Planet, identified by a dashed border. You cannot place any pawn on these spaces. Crevices are considered regular spaces only during the Light scoring for distance purposes (see How to count Light Points).

2.2 Activate your Power

Each Biome card shows a special Power in its lower right corner. Powers grant 1 or more bonus effects that can be applied anywhere on your Planet during the round, regardless of the Biome shown on your card.

Powers are represented by the 6 Power Tracks shown at the top of your Planet board. The current strength of each Power is indicated by the position of the corresponding cylinder marker on the track (they all start at "zero strength").

You can activate your Power at any time during the round (before or after your Action). To activate your Power, you must follow these 2 steps, in order:

• Upgrade the Power: Move the cylinder marker on the Power Track corresponding to the icon shown on your Biome card to the next space to the right. If the cylinder is already in the final space of its track, ignore this step.
• Apply the Power Effects: Apply the effect granted by that Power 1 or more times, up to the value indicated by the position of the cylinder marker on the track after the upgrade.

There are 6 possible effects granted by Powers:

Plant Sprout: Place 1 Sprout treeple from the pool into an empty space of your Planet board.

Small Tree Growth: Replace 1 Sprout treeple on your Planet board with 1 Small Tree treeple from the pool.

Big Tree Growth: Replace 1 Small Tree treeple on your Planet board with 1 Big Tree treeple from the pool.

Plant Bush: Place 1 Bush pawn from the pool into an empty space of your Planet board. Bushes don't collect Light, but will count as Trees when calculating points for your biggest Forest (see Biggest Forest).

Place Lake: Place 1 Lake pawn from the pool into an empty space of your Planet board. Immediately apply 1 Generic Growth effect on up to 2 different spaces orthogonally adjacent to that Lake.

Bud: Immediately gain a number of points equal to the number shown by the position of the cylinder marker on the track.

Remember

• Each single effect of your Power may be applied anywhere on your Planet board, even in different Biomes.
• You must use all the effects of your Power either before or after your Action, you can't split your Action.
• The effect of a Power can be applied to the same space where you previously applied the effect of your Action this round, and vice-versa.

Daisy must perform her actions for the round. She can perform an Action and activate a Power based on her chosen card (Swamp Biome with Plant Sprout Power). Daisy decides to start with her Power. She upgrades her Plant Sprout Power and can place 2 Sprouts anywhere on the planet. She chooses positions A and B. Then, she performs her Action in the Swamp Biome, as determined by her Biome card. She performs a B action, growing the Sprout into a Small Tree (C), and the Small Tree into a Big Tree (D).

Oliver chooses a Wheat Biome card with the Place Lake Power. He decides to start with his Action and applies 3 Plant Sprout effects in the Wheat Biome. Then, he activates his Power. He upgrades his Place Lake Power and can now place a Lake anywhere on his Planet. Lakes grant 2 Generic Growth effects in adjacent spaces, even if they are in different Biomes, so Oliver grows the 2 Sprouts in the spaces to the left and right of the Lake into Small Trees.

3. End of Round Cleanup

When all players have performed all of their Actions, the round is over.

Count the Biome cards you have in front of you (the one you picked this round, as well as those you picked during previous rounds of this Season).

If their number is equal to the maximum number of rounds for the current Season, as shown in the lower left corner of your Planet board, then the Season is over: follow the End of Season procedure (see End of the Season). If not, start a new round in the current Season.

End of the Season

The End of Season procedure consists of the following steps:

1. Collect Light
2. Biggest Forest
3. Change Season

1. Collect Light

The position of the Sun around your Planet board determines the direction Light is coming from. Each Tree casts a shadow in the same direction. Trees still cast their shadow even when they are in the shadow of another Tree.

Each Tree that is hit by Light collects points. Trees are not hit by Light when they are in the shadow of Trees of equal height or taller (hence a Tree in the shadow of a smaller Tree is hit by the light anyway).

Depending on their height, Trees cast shadows of different length, and are worth a different number of points during the Collect Light step.

NOTE: Sprouts, Bushes, and Lakes do not collect Light, and they don't cast any shadows either.

SHADOW SIZES

• Small Trees cast a 1-space shadow
• Big Trees cast a 2-space shadow

TREE POINTS

• Small Trees are worth 1 point when hit by Light
• Big Trees are worth 2 points when hit by Light

Update your score with the points you earned for the Light collected by your Trees by advancing the cylinder marker on the Score Track surrounding your Planet.

Small Trees cast a shadow on 1 orthogonally adjacent space behind them, opposite the Sun, overshadowing a Small Tree (A), but not a Big Tree (B).

Big Trees cast a shadow on the 2 orthogonally adjacent spaces behind them, opposite the Sun, overshadowing both Small Trees and Big Trees in any of those spaces.

1.1 How to count Light Points

We suggest you count one line at a time, always starting from the spaces nearest to the Sun.

A The 1st Tree casts a 1-space shadow. Even though it is in the shadow, the 2nd Tree is taller, so it is hit by Light. Being a Big Tree, it casts a 2-space shadow, overshadowing the 3rd and 4th Trees. The last Tree is not in the shadow of any other Tree, so it is hit by Light. (1 Pt., 2 Pt., 0 Pt., 0 Pt., 2 Pt.)

B The 2nd Tree is overshadowed by the 1st because they have the same height. The Bush does not collect Light, but it does not cast any shadow either, so the 3rd Tree is hit by Light. (1 Pt., 0 Pt., 1 Pt.)

C Even if it is overshadowed by the 1st Big Tree, the 2nd Big Tree still casts its own 2-space shadow, overshadowing both the 3rd and 4th Trees. (2 Pt., 0 Pt., 0 Pt., 0 Pt.)

D Crevice spaces (identified by a dashed border) are counted when you consider the length of the shadows cast by Trees. The 2nd Tree in this line is hit by Light, while the rightmost Small Tree is overshadowed by the 2-space shadow of the Big Tree. (1 Pt., 1 Pt., 2 Pt., 0 Pt.)

E The Small Tree to the left is hit by Light, because Lakes do not cast any shadow. The 2nd Small Tree also collects Light because Sprouts do not cast any shadow either. The other Small Trees are all overshadowed by the Tree that precedes them in the line. (1 Pt., 1 Pt., 0 Pt., 0 Pt.)

2. Biggest Forest

Each group of Trees (Small or Big) and Bushes that are orthogonally adjacent to each other on your Planet board is called a Forest. Of all the Forests on your Planet, the one that contains the highest total number of Small Trees, Big Trees, and/or Bushes is your Biggest Forest.

You gain 1 point for each Small Tree, Big Tree, and/or Bush that is part of your Biggest Forest. Even if they don't collect Light, Bushes can be extremely useful, allowing you to merge different Forests into a bigger one without requiring any additional growth effects.

Update your score with the points you earned for your Biggest Forest by advancing the cylinder marker on the Score Track surrounding your Planet.

There are 4 Forests in the example above. The biggest one is D, with 5 spaces (including a Bush). Note that it could be merged with A with just a single Bush. B and C could be merged by growing the Sprout that separates them into a Small Tree, too. Merging them all into a single Forest would then just require another Bush (or Tree).

3. Change Season

Before starting the next round (and the new Season), follow these steps:

1. Move the cylinder marker on the Season track of your Planet board to the next space. It will remind you of the number of rounds you will play during the next Season.

   NOTE: If the cylinder marker was already on the last space of the Season track, the game is over. Ignore the following steps and move directly to the End of Game procedure (see End of the Game).

2. Discard all of the Biome cards you picked during the Draft Phases of this Season.

3. Move the Sun marker to the next space going clockwise around your Planet board. Light will now come from that direction during the next Season, so be sure you are ready when it is time to Collect Light again!

Now you're ready to start a new round!

End of the Game

When the 4th Season ends, the game is over. It's time to calculate your final score by checking the points you get from your Biomes.

The number of points you get from each of your Biomes depends on its Fertility value and the number of Big Trees it contains.

For each Biome:

1. Calculate the Fertility value of the Biome: add up the Fertility icons shown on all cards matching that Biome in the Fertility Zone;
2. You get points equal to the Fertility value of the Biome for each Big Tree that is in that Biome.

Update your score with the points you earned for your Biomes by advancing the cylinder marker on the Score Track surrounding your Planet.

When all players have updated their Score Tracks with the points they obtained from Biomes, the final score is set. The player with the most points is the winner!

In case of a tie, the winner is the tied player who comes first in turn order, based on the final position of the First Player token after the last round.

In this example, the Fertility values are 0 for the Snow and Swamp Biomes, 5 for the Flowers and Wheat Biomes, 3 for the Rock Biome, and 2 for the Grassland Biome (A). With the values above, thanks to the Big Trees she grew on her Planet (B), Lily earns a total of 29 points (C):

Fertility	Big Trees	Points
0	x1	0 Pt.
0	x1	0 Pt.
3	x0	0 Pt.
5	x1	5 Pt.
5	x4	20 Pt.
2	x2	4 Pt.

Single Player Mode

The solitaire mode of Evergreen allows you to play the game against an A.I. player who is not building their own Planet, but only removing cards from the drafting pool to make your drawing choices interesting even without a real adversary. The core rules of the game basically remain the same, with a few changes to the Draft Phase.

Turn order is determined by the position of the First Player token, like in a regular game. At the beginning of the Draft Phase, draw 3 cards and place them face up on the table, next to each other, to the right of the deck. When its turn comes to pick a card from the drafting pool, the A.I. player will always follow this priority list:

• If a Wild Biome card is present, it always picks it.
• If no Wild Biome is present, it chooses the Biome card showing the most Fertility icons.
• If no Biome card shows any Fertility icons, it chooses the card with an Aridity icon whose Biome has the least Fertility icons in the Fertility Zone.

When in doubt between two or more cards, it chooses the leftmost card among them.

Solo points	Status
0 - 120 Pt.	Broccoli
121-135 Pt.	Bonsai
136 - 150 Pt.	Olive Tree
151 - 160 Pt.	Holly
161 - 170 Pt.	Birch
171 - 180 Pt.	Pine
181 - 190 Pt.	Oak
191 - 200 Pt.	Baobab
+ 200 Pt.	Legendary Sequoia

Icon Summary

BIOMES: Snow, Swamp, Rock, Flowers, Wheat, Grassland, Wild

ACTION EFFECTS: Plant a Sprout, Generic Growth, Anywhere on the Planet

FERTILITY VALUE: Fertility, Aridity

SEASONS AND SCORING: Light Scoring, Forest Scoring, Season Rounds

POWER EFFECTS: Small Tree Growth, Plant a Sprout, Big Tree Growth, Bud, Place Lake, Plant Bush

Credits

• Game Design: Hjalmar Hach
• Artwork: Wenyi Geng
• Project Manager: Carola Corti
• Game Development: Carola Corti, Lorenzo Silva
• Art Direction: Lorenzo Silva
• Graphic Design: Noa Vassalli, Fábio Frencl
• Rulebook: Carola Corti, Alessandro Pra'
• Editing: William Niebling, Alessandro Pra'

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