Evolution: New World
Evolution: New World Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
In Evolution: New World, you create animals and give them traits essential to surviving in an ever-changing environment. Over the course of six Epochs, your successful animals evolve and procure food, while poorly adapted species become extinct or fall prey to predators. At the end of the game, victory points are awarded for your surviving animals and the traits they possess. The player with the most points wins the game.
Components
- 96 Evolution cards
- 20 Area cards
- 4 Player Aids
- 1 First Player token
- 15 Blue tokens
- 10 Yellow tokens
- 20 Red tokens
- 5 Green tokens
- 1 Six-sided die
- 1 Rulebook
- 1 Reference Guide
- 2 Trait Reference sheets
Setup
Areas. Shuffle the Area cards (landscape on the back). Deal 6 cards face down on the table in a stack. Then, deal Area cards equal to the number of players face up in a row on the table. Return all remaining Area cards to the box without revealing them — they won't be used this game.
- During the game, the rightmost Area cards in the row will be discarded and new cards will be added from the Area stack to the left side of the row.
Token supply. Place the food, fat, and shelter tokens near the row of Area cards.
| Token | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Red token (berry) | Common food |
| Blue token | Special food |
| Yellow token (drop) | Stored fat |
| Green token (turtle) | Shelter |
- These symbols are used to depict the tokens on cards and in the rules.
Evolution deck. Shuffle the Evolution cards (lizard on the back) and deal 6 cards face down to each player. Then, place the remaining deck face down on the table, leaving space for a discard pile.
- You may look at your cards, but never show your cards to other players. Each opponent knows only how many cards are in your hand.
First Player. The youngest player decides who will be the first player and gives them the First Player token. Alternatively, you can roll the die to see who goes first.
The die is also used during the game to determine the effects of the Running and Horned traits.
Epochs
The game lasts for 6 Epochs (rounds), corresponding to the 6 cards in the Area stack.
Each Epoch consists of four phases: Development, Areas, Feeding, and Extinction.
1. Development Phase
In the Development phase, players take turns playing 1 card from their hand, starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise. The Development phase continues in this manner until all players have passed.
On your turn, place 1 Evolution card from your hand on the table in front of you, either face down or face up. This is how you create a new animal or add a trait to an existing one.
If you cannot or don't want to play an Evolution card, you must pass (this forfeits all your remaining turns until the end of the Development phase). When all players have passed, the Development phase ends.
Creating a new animal
You play 1 Evolution card FACE DOWN on the table. This creates a new animal with no traits.
- When you create a new animal, place the card on the table vertically with the lizard's head pointing towards the center of the table.
- The owner of the animal may look at the traits printed on the front side of the card, but other players may not look at them.
- Always arrange your animals in a single row. At any point on your turn during the Development phase, you may freely change the locations of your animals within the row. However, animals linked by paired traits must remain adjacent to each other.
- You may have an unlimited number of animals in your row.
Adding new traits to animals
You play 1 Evolution card FACE UP under one of your played animals. This gives your existing animal a new trait.
Each Evolution card has two traits: a Main trait and a Short trait. The only difference between them is that the descriptions of Short traits are provided in the Reference Guide, not on the card. From a gameplay perspective, there is no difference between Main and Short traits.
The Evolution card shows:
- Main trait. Name, illustration, and description. A symbol explaining the card's effect may be present next to the card's name. There are 23 Main traits.
- Short trait. Name. See descriptions of the Short traits in the Reference Guide. There are 6 Short traits.
When adding a new trait to your animal, you choose whether to use the Main or Short trait. Place the Evolution card under the animal so that only the chosen trait is shown. The other trait on the card no longer exists and has no gameplay effect.
- A paired trait must be played to two adjacent animals at the same time. Place the paired trait on top of the lower parts of the two animals it will affect.
- An animal may not have two of the same trait. Exceptions: Fat Tissue and paired traits that are linked to two different adjacent animals.
- You may only add traits to your own animals. Exception: adverse traits that are added to opponents' animals.
- You may not exchange or discard played traits of your animals, except by using the effects of other traits, such as Metamorphosis, Repelling, Hibernation, or Tail Loss.
For more information, see Traits and the Reference Guide.
2. Areas Phase
In the Areas phase, a new Area appears, and common food and shelter are placed on the face up Area cards. This shows how much food and shelter are available to animals during the current Epoch. Perform the following steps in order:
Step 1: Add a new Area. Place the top card from the Area stack face up on the left side of the Area cards row. There will now be one more Area card in the row than the number of players.
- When the last card of the Area stack has been placed, it means that the current Epoch is the last round, and the winner will be determined after the Epoch ends.
Step 2: Place common food and shelter on each Area. Place 1 token on each symbol of every face up Area card.
- Some Area cards are divided into two parts. For these Double-area cards, tokens are placed on the symbols for both the upper and lower parts of the card.
If unused common food and shelter remain on Area cards from the previous Epoch, simply add tokens until all food and shelter symbols are covered.
For more information on Double-area cards and Swamps, see Areas.
Area cards
- Area name.
- If the card is a Double-area card, the lower Area is available to all animals. However, the upper Area is only available to animals that possess the specific trait listed under the Area name. For example, Caves are only available to animals with the Nocturnal trait. The lower Rocks part of the card is available to all animals.
- The symbols on the cards indicate which tokens are placed during the Areas phase. Place the tokens directly on the printed symbols.
3. Feeding Phase
Feeding is the most critical phase of the game — during this phase, you will try to feed your animals. Animals feed from the Areas, and Predators may attack other animals. Animals that are not fed will die during the Extinction phase.
The Feeding phase starts with the first player and continues clockwise until all players have passed. During your turn, you must perform one of three basic actions:
- Search for shelter
- Feed from an Area
- Attack with a Predator
In addition to these three basic actions, certain traits may give you the ability to perform other actions on your turn (see Additional Action).
General Principles
- An animal can only gain common food and shelter from Areas they have access to.
- To attack an animal, a Predator must be able to overcome the target's protective traits.
- Only hungry animals can gain food or attack other animals (see Hungry and Fed Animals).
- An animal may not take more food than it needs. Any extra food is left on the Area or in the token supply.
- Common food, special food, stored fat, and shelter resources are not finite. If you run out of tokens in the supply, use a proxy.
Pass
If you are unable to perform any of the three basic actions, you must pass.
You may not pass if any of the three basic actions are available to be performed.
Once you have passed, all your future turns in the current Feeding phase are forfeited — you may not take another action, even if common food emerges in a Swamps Area or a valid target appears for your Predator.
However, your animals' traits are still triggered by opponents' actions after you have passed. For example, you may use traits to protect against a Predator's attack or use Scavenger to gain special food.
When all players have passed, the Feeding phase ends.
Basic Action: Search for shelter
Select one of your animals and take 1 shelter from an Area it has access to. Place the shelter directly on the animal's card.
- An animal may only have 1 shelter.
- Predators may not attack animals with shelter.
Shelter gives complete protection from Predators. There are no traits that allow Predators to ignore shelter.
Hungry and Fed Animals
An animal is considered fed if its food requirement has been met (food tokens are on its card). All animals start with a requirement of 1 food. Each common food or special food token represents 1 food.
However, some traits increase an animal's food requirement and are marked by "+1" or "+2" on the card before the trait name. To determine an animal's food requirement, these numbers are added to the basic food requirement of 1. Any combination of common food and special food may be used to satisfy the animal's food requirement.
Animals gain common food from Areas and take special food from the supply by using certain traits.
Animals that do not have their food requirement met are considered hungry.
- In the Feeding phase, you may not pass if you have a hungry animal and food is available.
- For example, if you have a hungry Predator and the only possible action is to attack another of your own animals, then the Predator must attack.
- Fed animals stop feeding. The only exception is if an animal has the Fat Tissue trait, which allows it to store food in excess of its food requirement (see the Reference Guide).
- Hungry animals die during the Extinction phase (but may use Hibernation, Fat Tissue, or other traits to avoid death).
Basic Action: Feed from an Area
Select one of your hungry animals and take 1 common food from an Area it has access to. Place the common food directly on the animal's card.
When an animal with a Hoofed, Communication, or Cooperation trait takes common food from an Area, those traits are triggered.
Communication and Cooperation allow you to take more than 1 food token for your animals in a single turn.
Hoofed allows you to reduce an Area's remaining food tokens. Tip: This trait should only be used when your animals are fed and not at risk of being hungry.
For more information about these traits, see the Reference Guide.
Basic Action: Attack with a Predator
Any animal with the Carnivorous trait is a Predator. This trait is more common than other traits and significantly affects the in-game ecosystem.
Hungry Predators may take food from Areas or attack other animals and consume them.
A Predator may not perform more than 1 attack per Feeding phase. When your Predator attacks, rotate its Carnivorous card 45 degrees to the right to show that it has already attacked this round.
To attack with a Predator, perform the following steps in order:
Step 1: Select a Target. Choose one of your hungry Predators and select another animal as the target. If the animal has protective traits or shelter that prevent it from being attacked, you may not select it as a target.
- For example, an animal with Camouflage may not be attacked. However, if your Predator has Sharp Vision, this trait allows it to ignore Camouflage, and an attack is possible.
Step 2: Attack. Rotate the Carnivorous card to perform the attack. Any of the target's traits that trigger during an attack are now resolved. These traits may save the animal from the attack and may even cause the Predator to die.
Step 3: Result. If its traits have not saved the target, the attack is a success. The Predator consumes the target and takes 2 special food from the supply. The target animal and all its traits (including paired traits) are discarded.
For more information, see the Reference Guide.
- If an animal is killed by a Predator's attack (either the target or the Predator), Scavenger traits and the Swamps Area are triggered (if present).
- A hungry Predator may choose to not attack if there is food in an accessible Area, or if the player has other basic actions available. However, if no other options are available and a suitable target is present, the Predator must attack.
- For example, your Predator may be forced to attack an animal with the Poisonous trait or one of your own animals.
- A fed Predator with empty Fat Tissue may attack, but is not required to attack.
- A Predator may attack another Predator.
- A Predator may not attack itself.
- A Predator may not attack an animal with shelter.
4. Extinction Phase
In the Extinction phase, animals either survive to the next Epoch or become extinct. Perform the following steps in order:
Step 1. Beginning of the phase. If any animals have traits with "In the beginning of the Extinction phase," resolve their effects:
- Poisonous — Predators that have consumed Poisonous animals die and are discarded (including all traits).
- Full Fat Tissue — Hungry animals with Fat Tissue may use stored Fat tokens to meet their food requirement.
- Hibernation — Hungry animals with Hibernation may discard their Hibernation trait to become fed.
Step 2. Extinction. All hungry animals die. Discard each hungry animal and all of its traits (including paired traits).
If the Swamps Area is present, place 1 common food on the card for each animal that dies during the Extinction phase. A maximum of 4 common food are placed.
In the 6th Epoch, skip the remaining steps and proceed to End of Game and Final Scoring. If this is not the 6th Epoch, complete Step 3 and Step 4.
Step 3. Renewal. Remove all common food, special food and shelter from all animals. Unused stored fat tokens are not removed.
Discard the rightmost Area card.
Return all rotated traits back to the vertical position.
Step 4. Drawing cards. Starting with the first player, each player draws cards from the Evolution deck equal to the number of animals they have, plus 2 additional cards. For example, if you have 3 animals, then you would draw 5 Evolution cards.
After all players have drawn, any player with more than 6 cards must discard to have no more than 6 cards in their hand. The player chooses which cards to discard.
If none of your animals have survived the Extinction phase, draw cards until you have 6 cards in your hand.
- If the Evolution deck is empty, shuffle the discards to create a new deck.
Step 5. New First Player. Pass the First Player token to the next clockwise player.
End of Game and Final Scoring
After 6 Epochs, the game ends, and there will be no more Area cards left in the Area stack.
To determine the winner, each player counts their victory points:
-
+3 victory points for each of your surviving animals;
-
+1 victory point for each trait possessed by your surviving animals.
-
Paired traits are only counted as 1 victory point.
Players gain additional victory points for traits that increase an animal's food requirements (marked by "+1" or "+2"):
- +1 victory point for each Carnivorous, High Body Weight, Detrimental Mutation, and Stasis trait;
- +2 victory points for each Parasite trait.
The player with the highest number of victory points is declared the winner. In case of a tie, the tied player with the most surviving animals wins. If still tied, the victory is shared.
Score calculation (example)
At the end of the game, you have 4 animals. 4 x 3 = 12 points.
The total number of traits possessed by your animals is 10. + 10 points.
Traits marked as "+1" bring 1 additional point each. + 3 points.
In total, you have 25 points.
Game Variants
Game Duration
A standard game lasts for 6 Epochs, which corresponds to the number of cards in the Area stack. During the setup, you can use a different number of cards in the Area stack to play either a shorter or longer game.
Unlimited Hand Size
In Evolution: Origin of Species, players could have more than 6 cards in their hand — you may apply this rule to Evolution: New World. This allows you to accumulate cards and create animals in the last Epoch with maximally efficient sets of traits.
Evolution: Random Mutations Variant
Game Setup. Setup the game as usual. Instead of giving each player a hand of cards, deal each player 6 cards face down in a stack. Each player's stack is their gene pool, and they may not look at the cards.
Development Phase. During your turn, you either pass or announce how you will use the top card of your gene pool: as a new animal or as a new trait.
- New animal. Place the top card from your gene pool face down to the right of your existing animals (you may not look at the card).
- New trait. Select one of your animals. Then, reveal the top card in your gene pool and add it to the selected animal as a trait. You may choose between the Main trait and Short trait. If neither of the traits can be added to the selected animal, the trait is added to the player's next animal to the right. If this is also not possible, the card is flipped face down and placed to the right to create a new animal.
- Adverse traits may only be added to your animals — you may not add them to other players' animals.
- You may only change locations of animals in your row before playing a card.
Extinction Phase — Drawing Cards. Players place drawn cards face down on their gene pool without looking at them. If a player has more than 6 cards in their gene pool, they discard down to 6.
Evolution: Cataclysm Variant
Volcanic eruptions, falling meteorites, and ice ages can create catastrophic environmental changes and cause entire classes of living organisms to become extinct. For example, the Cretaceous cataclysm resulted in the extinction of dinosaurs, while the great Permian extinction event killed 90% of species inhabiting the Earth at that time. In the aftermath of such disasters, surviving animals gain new development opportunities, and new ecosystems transform the face of the Earth.
The Evolution: Cataclysm variant is intended for experienced players. On the verge of a catastrophic cataclysm, you must take a giant last leap to enable your animals to survive.
The game lasts for only 1 Epoch, and the winner is determined after the single Epoch has been played.
Game Setup. Do not create an Area stack. Shuffle the Area cards and place cards face up in a row equal to the number of players +1. Return the remaining Area cards to the box. Place common food and shelter on the Area cards as usual. Shuffle the Evolution cards and deal 20 cards face down to each player. Return the rest of the cards to the box.
Development phase. Players take turns playing 1 card as normal. However, they must play at least 18 of their 20 cards during the Development phase. No more than 2 cards may be left in a player's hand (these cards may be used in the Feeding phase for animals with Metamorphosis).
Areas phase. This phase is skipped.
Feeding and Extinction phases. These phases are played as normal. Hibernation may not be used during Extinction because this is the last Epoch.
Areas
Swamps Area
Swamps are different from other types of Areas. They accumulate food and preserve it during the transition from one Epoch to another.
During the Areas phase, leave all accumulated common food from previous Epochs on the Swamps card. If it has no common food, place 1 common food on the card.
- Whenever Swamps enters the game, place 1 common food on the red symbol. The dark printed symbols may only be filled when animals die during the Feeding or Extinction phases.
Every time an animal dies for any reason (eaten by a Predator, extinct from hunger, poisoned, or killed by an animal with Horned), place 1 common food on the Swamps card, up to a maximum of 4. Any excess is not placed.
- If two Swamps cards are present, place common food on both cards for each death.
Double-Area Cards
Some Area cards contain two Areas instead of one. The lower Area is available to all animals, but the upper Area is only available to animals with the specific trait listed under the Area name.
The lower and upper Areas are considered separate, including for the resolution of Communication and Hoofed traits.
- Savannahs are only available to animals with High Body Weight (lower Area: Deserts).
- Caves are only available to animals with Nocturnal (lower Area: Rocks).
- Lakes are only available to animals with Swimming (lower Area: Reed Beds).
- Glaciers are only available to animals with no traits, including paired traits (lower Area: Tundra).
In this manner, animals with High Body Weight, Nocturnal, or Swimming traits, or having no traits at all, have feeding advantages when a suitable Area is present.
- Animals with Cosmopolitan may feed from all Areas (including Glaciers).
Traits
- Traits are normally used during the Feeding phase (except for Hibernation, Poisonous, and full Fat Tissue, which are resolved at the beginning of the Extinction phase).
- Traits are resolved automatically, without player choice (except for Carnivorous, Piracy, Metamorphosis, and traits with descriptions that include the word "may").
- Each trait's card may only be used once per player's turn.
- For example, an animal with Communication takes 1 common food from an Area; Communication is triggered and the paired animal also takes 1 common food. This trait may not be triggered a second time (i.e. in the opposite direction) during the same turn.
Golden Rule
Every time the trait description conflicts with the basic game rules, follow the trait description.
Trait Resolution Order
When multiple traits of an animal are triggered simultaneously, its owner decides the order in which to resolve them (ex. when a Predator attacks).
Additional Action
The Piracy and Metamorphosis traits give a player additional actions.
- On your turn during the Feeding phase, you may perform an additional action either before or after the basic action. Important: the basic and additional actions may affect different animals.
- If no basic actions are available to you, you may activate Piracy or Metamorphosis to perform an additional action instead of passing.
- You may only perform one additional action each turn.
- Each Piracy or Metamorphosis trait may be activated only once during each Feeding phase. When you perform an additional action, rotate the card 45 degrees to the right.
Paired Traits
Paired traits are added to two of a player's animals at the same time.
- When played, the paired trait card is placed between two adjacent animals in the player's row so that it overlaps both animals. As with other traits, only the upper section of the card is active.
- You may swap locations of your animals before adding a paired trait to them. However, you may not break an existing paired trait that links two animals.
- A paired trait belongs to both of the animals it connects.
- Player's animals are arranged in a row. Accordingly, an animal may be linked by paired traits with a maximum of two animals (located on its left and right). These paired traits may be the same or different.
- An animal may only have two identical paired traits if each trait is linked with different animals.
- For example, you may have a chain of 3 or more animals linked together by the same paired trait. These chains can be critically important for survival!
- If an animal dies, all of its paired traits are discarded.
- At the end of the game, each paired trait gives its owner 1 victory point.
Adverse Traits
Stasis, Detrimental Mutation, and Parasite are adverse traits that increase an animal's food requirement and make its survival more difficult.
- Adverse traits are easily recognizable — their names are printed on a light purple background.
- The Detrimental Mutation and Parasite traits may only be added to animals that belong to other players.
- The Stasis trait may be added to either your or another player's animal.
- An adverse trait belongs to the animal possessing it (not to the player who added the trait).
- At the end of the game, adverse traits of surviving animals give their owner additional victory points.
Quick Reference Guide
The game lasts for 6 Epochs (game rounds). The Sixth Epoch begins when you reveal the last card in the Area stack. Each Epoch consists of four phases:
1. Development Phase
Starting with the first player, players take turns playing 1 Evolution card from their hands to either create a new animal or add a trait to an existing animal.
- Creating a New Animal: Place a card in front of you face down.
- Adding a Trait: Place an Evolution card under your animal face up with the desired trait visible.
- An animal may only have 1 copy of any trait (except for Fat Tissue and paired traits that are connected to different animals). Positive traits are added to your animals, while adverse traits (names on a light purple background) are added to an animal belonging to another player.
- Pass: If you are unable or don't want to play an Evolution card, you must pass. The Development phase ends after all players have passed.
2. Areas Phase
Reveal the top card in the Area stack and place it face up on the left side of the row. Place common food and shelter on all printed symbols of each Area card.
3. Feeding Phase
Starting with the first player, players take turns performing 1 basic action each. There are 3 basic actions:
- Search for Shelter: select an animal in your row without shelter. Take 1 shelter from an Area it has access to. Place the shelter directly on the animal card. This shelter protects your animal from Predators.
- Feed from an Area: Select an animal in your row that is hungry. Take 1 common food from an Area it has access to. Place the common food directly on the animal card. Some Areas require that an animal has specific traits (listed under the Area name) to be able to access the Area.
- An animal needs 1 common food or special food to be fed. Traits with "+1" or "+2" before the trait name increase the animal's food requirement. A hungry animal must feed if there is available food. Hungry Predators must feed or attack if a suitable target is available.
- Attack with a Predator: Select your hungry Predator (an animal with the Carnivorous trait) and a valid target (its traits can be overcome by your Predator). Rotate the Carnivorous card (if the card is already rotated, the Predator cannot attack). If the attack is successful, the Predator takes 2 special food, while the target and all of its traits are discarded.
- Pass: If you cannot perform an action, you must pass.
The Feeding phase ends after all players have passed.
4. Extinction Phase
Fat Tissue, Hibernation, and Poisonous traits are resolved. Any animal that remains hungry becomes extinct — discard their animal card and all of their traits.
Remove common food, special food and shelter from all animal cards (do not remove stored fat) and return any rotated traits to the vertical position. Discard the rightmost Area card.
Draw Evolution cards equal to the number of animals in your row, plus 2 extra cards. If you have more than 6 cards, discard down to 6. If you have no animals, draw cards until you have 6 cards in your hand.
Pass the First Player token clockwise.
End of Game
The game is over when the Sixth Epoch ends. Players calculate their victory points: 3 for each surviving animal, 1 for each trait possessed by their animals, and additional victory points for traits marked with +1 or +2.
The player with the most victory points wins. In case of a tie, the tied player with more animals wins. If still tied, the victory is shared.
Reference Guide: Trait Descriptions
Transcribed from the official Evolution: New World Reference Guide (Rightgames, 2022), which is included in the game box and describes every Short and Main trait. The Guide's real-animal natural-history notes are omitted here.
Symbols on trait cards
Symbols printed next to the card name:
- Rotating arrow — Some traits may only be activated once during each Feeding phase. When you use one of these traits, rotate the card 45 degrees to the right. In the third step of the Extinction phase, it is rotated back to the vertical position.
- +1 — Animal's food requirement increases by 1.
- +2 — Animal's food requirement increases by 2.
- Double arrow — Paired trait.
Symbols present in trait descriptions: animal (lizard), red token (common food), blue token (special food), yellow token (stored fat), green token (shelter).
Short Traits
Carnivorous
+1: Food requirement increases by 1
Carnivorous is the most common trait in Evolution: New World and ensures the self-regulation of the natural ecosystem.
An animal with Carnivorous is called a Predator.
Similar to other animals, a Predator may take food from Areas. In addition, a Predator can attack any other animal.
Attacking with a Predator is described in greater detail in the main Rulebook. This Reference Guide addresses the resolution of various traits during an attack.
Step 1. Choose one of your hungry Predators (with Carnivorous not rotated) and select a target (the animal your Predator is going to attack). If an animal has shelter or protective traits that your Predator is unable to overcome, it may not be selected as a target.
To overcome High Body Weight, Swimming, or Nocturnal protective traits, the Predator must possess the same trait as the target (note that Swimming imposes extra restrictions on the Predator). Sharp Vision enables the Predator to ignore Camouflage. A Predator cannot directly overcome Burrowing, Partnership, or Transparent traits.
However, if the Predator has Pack Hunting or if the target has Detrimental Mutation, the Predator may ignore one of the target's protective traits for the duration of the attack. Shelter provides absolute protection from a Predator's attack.
- When a Predator with Pack Hunting attacks an animal with Detrimental Mutation, the Predator may ignore two of the target's protective traits for the duration of the attack.
Step 2. Rotate the Predator's Carnivorous card and attack. If the target has any of the following traits, they are triggered when the Predator attacks: Running, Horned, Repelling, or Tail Loss.
If the target has two or more of these traits, its owner determines their resolution order (see "Trait resolution order" in the Rulebook).
If the effect of a triggered trait ends the Predator's attack, the rest of the protective traits are not resolved and have no effect.
Step 3. If its traits have not saved the target, the attack is a success. The Predator takes 2 special food from the supply (the second special food is not taken if the first special food fulfills the Predator's food requirement, but it may be converted to stored fat if the Predator has empty Fat Tissue). The target animal and all its traits (including paired traits) are discarded.
The following traits are also triggered: Poisonous (if possessed by the target), Voracious (if possessed by the Predator), and Scavenger (if possessed by any animal in the game). In addition, the special feature of Swamps (food accumulation) is resolved.
Regardless of the attack results, the Carnivorous card remains rotated until the end of the Feeding phase (unless the Voracious trait was successfully resolved).
Fat Tissue
An animal may have an unlimited number of Fat Tissue cards.
This trait is resolved differently depending on whether stored fat is present on its card (filled Fat Tissue) or not (empty Fat Tissue).
Empty Fat Tissue becomes filled during the Feeding phase. A fed animal with empty Fat Tissue may optionally continue to feed by taking common food from Areas and using traits to take special food. In these cases, the common food or special food is immediately returned to the supply and replaced by stored fat. The stored fat is placed on the Fat Tissue card.
- Only one stored fat may be placed on a Fat Tissue card.
- A fed Predator with empty Fat Tissue may attack, but is not required to.
- When an animal takes common food to fill empty Fat Tissue, its Hoofed, Communication, and Cooperation traits are triggered.
You are not required to perform a basic action (Feed from an Area or Attack with a Predator) to fill empty Fat Tissue, and you may pass if no other basic actions are available.
Filled Fat Tissue is triggered at the beginning of the Extinction phase. A hungry animal may use stored fat to survive. Remove stored fat from one Fat Tissue card and place 1 special food from the supply on the animal card. Check whether the animal is still hungry and whether it has more Fat Tissue cards with stored fat. A fed animal carries over unused stored fat into the next Epoch.
High Body Weight
+1: Food requirement increases by 1
High Body Weight animals may take common food from both commonly accessible Areas and from Savannahs.
To attack an animal with this trait, a Predator must also have High Body Weight.
Nocturnal
Nocturnal animals may take common food from both commonly accessible Areas and from Caves.
To attack an animal with this trait, a Predator must also have Nocturnal.
Parasite
Adverse trait
+2: Food requirement increases by 2
Parasite may only be added to another player's animal.
This trait does not cause any beneficial or adverse effect other than the higher food requirement.
At the end of the game, the Parasite trait scores 3 victory points for the animal's owner (1 point for the trait itself and 2 points for the higher food requirement).
Swimming
Swimming animals may take common food from both commonly accessible Areas and from Lakes.
To attack an animal with this trait, a Predator must also have Swimming.
A Predator with Swimming may only attack other animals with Swimming.
Main Traits
Burrowing
Card text: If this animal is fed, it may not be attacked by a Predator.
If this animal is fed, it may not be attacked by a Predator.
- The Fat Tissue of a Burrowing animal may be either empty or filled — it does not affect whether the animal is fed or hungry.
Camouflage
Card text: To attack this animal, a Predator must have Sharp Vision.
To attack this animal, a Predator must have Sharp Vision.
- Camouflage protects an animal from any Predator that does not have Sharp Vision. However, traits such as Pack Hunting or Detrimental Mutation enable the Predator to ignore Camouflage or another of the target's protective traits.
Communication
Paired trait
Card text: When this animal takes common food from an Area, its linked animal also takes common food from the same Area.
When this animal takes common food from an Area, its linked animal also takes common food from the same Area (if common food remains on the Area).
- If the second animal cannot take common food from the same Area (for example, an animal without Nocturnal may not take common food from Caves), then Communication has no effect.
- Communication cards may sequentially connect several animals in a chain. In that case, each Communication card is resolved only once per player's turn (each animal only takes 1 common food). If a chain is interrupted by any of its members (an animal is already fed or may not access the Area), then the subsequent animals in the chain do not take common food (see "Food chain" in the Rulebook).
Cooperation
Paired trait
Card text: When this animal takes common food from an Area, its linked animal takes special food from the supply.
When this animal takes common food from an Area, its linked animal takes special food from the supply.
- If two animals are linked together by both Cooperation and Communication, when one animal takes common food from an Area, both traits are triggered simultaneously, and the player determines their resolution order.
Cosmopolitan
Card text: This animal may take common food or shelter from any Area.
This animal may take common food or shelter from any Area, including Areas accessible only to animals with certain traits (or no traits): Caves, Lakes, Savannahs, and Glaciers.
Detrimental Mutation
Adverse trait
+1: Food requirement increases by 1
Card text: Detrimental Mutation may only be added to another player's animal. When you select this animal as the target for your Predator, you may ignore one of the target's traits until the end of the attack.
Detrimental Mutation may only be added to another player's animal.
When you select this animal as the target for your Predator, you may ignore one of the target's traits until the end of the attack. For example, you may choose to ignore a trait that prevents your Predator from attacking.
- You may ignore any one trait of the target, such as High Body Weight (your Predator without High Body Weight can now attack), Repelling (the trait is not triggered), or Poisonous (your Predator survives after consuming the target).
- You ignore one trait, not one card. For example, you may ignore both Partnership cards if they protect the target from both sides.
- Shelter may not be ignored because it is not a trait.
Hibernation
Card text: At the beginning of the Extinction phase, you may discard Hibernation from this hungry animal to make it fed. Hibernation may not be used in the last Epoch.
At the beginning of the Extinction phase, you may discard Hibernation from this hungry animal to make it fed.
Hibernation may not be used in the last Epoch of the game.
- At the beginning of the Extinction phase, Hibernation and filled Fat Tissue are triggered simultaneously, and the player determines their resolution order. If the player discards Hibernation, the animal will become fed, and it won't be necessary to spend the stored fat from the Fat Tissue. On the other hand, if one stored fat is sufficient to make the animal fed, it may be a better choice to save Hibernation for a harsher Epoch.
Hoofed
Card text: When this animal takes common food from an Area, you may return another common food from the same Area to the supply.
When this animal takes common food from an Area, you may return another common food from the same Area to the supply.
- When this animal takes common food from a Communication effect, its Hoofed trait is triggered.
- When this animal takes common food to fill empty Fat Tissue, its Hoofed trait is triggered.
Horned
Card text: When this animal is attacked by a Predator, roll the die. If the roll is 5 or 6, this animal survives, and the Predator immediately dies.
When this animal is attacked by a Predator, roll the die. If the roll is 5 or 6, this animal survives, and the Predator immediately dies. The attack ends, and the rest of the target's protective traits have no effect.
- You must roll the die even if your Horned animal is attacked by your own Predator.
- If a Predator attacks a Horned animal and is killed, the Scavenger trait is triggered (the first Scavenger animal clockwise from the Predator takes special food from the supply). It is possible for this to be the Horned animal itself.
- If a Predator attacking a Horned animal is killed, place common food on each Swamps Area.
Metamorphosis
Additional action
Card text: Additional action. Rotate Metamorphosis, and discard 1 of this animal's traits (no adverse traits). Then add 1 trait from your hand to this animal.
On your turn during the Feeding phase, you may use Metamorphosis as an additional action (see "Additional Action" in the Rulebook).
To use Metamorphosis, rotate the card and discard one of the animal's traits (no adverse traits). Then add one trait from your hand to the animal. You may decide to add either the Main or Short trait.
- You may use Metamorphosis even if you don't have cards in your hand or only have cards that cannot be added to this animal (duplicate traits). In these cases, no new traits are added.
- You may not use Metamorphosis if the card is already rotated.
- You may discard the Metamorphosis card itself while resolving the card's effect.
- Metamorphosis may not be used to discard adverse traits, such as Detrimental Mutation, Parasite, or Stasis.
- If an animal with Stasis uses Metamorphosis, one of its traits is discarded, but no new traits are added from your hand.
- If you discard a Fat Tissue card with stored fat, return the stored fat to the supply.
- You may discard a rotated Carnivorous card and add another Carnivorous card from your hand. This new card is not rotated, and the animal may attack again during this Feeding phase (and even on this turn if the Additional Action was performed prior to the basic action).
- You may add a paired trait, linking this animal to its left or right neighbor. However, you may not change the order of animals in the row during the Feeding phase.
Pack Hunting
Card text: If you have more than one Predator when you select a target for this Predator, you may ignore one of the target's traits until the end of the attack.
If you have more than one Predator when you select a target for this Predator, you may ignore one of the target's traits until the end of the attack. For example, you may choose to ignore a trait that prevents your Predator from attacking a target animal.
- You must have 2+ Predators to use Pack Hunting. Other Predators do not need to have the Pack Hunting trait.
- You may ignore any one trait of the target, such as High Body Weight (your Predator without High Body Weight can now attack), Repelling (the trait is not triggered), or Poisonous (your Predator survives after consuming the target).
- You ignore one trait, not one card. For example, you may ignore both Partnership cards if they protect the target from both sides.
- If the target also has Detrimental Mutation, you ignore a total of two of the target's traits.
- Shelter may not be ignored because it is not a trait.
Partnership
Paired trait
Card text: If this animal has fewer traits than its 'Partner,' it may not be attacked by a Predator.
If this animal has fewer traits than its 'Partner,' it may not be attacked by Predators.
The number of trait cards is counted, including paired traits. If both animals have an equal number of traits, Partnership has no effect.
- If several animals are sequentially linked by Partnership cards, each pair of animals is compared separately to determine which animal in the pair is protected. For example, an animal located between two other animals may be protected in one pair and unprotected in another pair, or be protected in both pairs, or have no protection (if it has more traits than both its neighbors).
- If an animal is protected by two Partnership cards, the Detrimental Mutation or Pack Hunting trait enables a Predator's owner to ignore both of the Partnership traits.
Piracy
Additional action
Card text: Additional action. Rotate Piracy and select another hungry animal. Move 1 common food or special food from the selected animal to the supply. Then place special food on this animal.
On your turn during the Feeding phase, you may use Piracy as an additional action (see "Additional Action" in the Rulebook).
To use Piracy, rotate the card and select another hungry animal. Move 1 common food or special food from the selected animal to the supply. Then, place special food from the supply on your animal with Piracy.
- An animal may only use Piracy if it is hungry or has empty Fat Tissue.
- You may not use Piracy if the card is already rotated.
- The use of Piracy is not an attack; therefore, protective traits and shelter cannot prevent its effect.
Poisonous
Card text: When this animal is consumed by a Predator, place the Poisonous card next to the Predator as a reminder. At the beginning of the Extinction phase, the Predator dies.
Poisonous is triggered when this animal is consumed by a Predator. When the attack is resolved, place the Poisonous card near the attacking Predator as a reminder (it is no longer considered a trait).
At the beginning of the Extinction phase, the Predator dies. Discard the Poisonous card together with the Predator's animal card and all its traits. Place common food on each Swamps Area.
- Poisonous is not triggered if the target animal wasn't fully consumed (Tail Loss).
- A Predator who has consumed a Poisonous animal doesn't become Poisonous itself.
Repelling
Card text: When this animal is attacked by a Predator, you may discard Repelling and select any other suitable animal on the table as a new target for the Predator. If there are no suitable targets, the attack ends.
When this animal is attacked by a Predator, you may discard Repelling and select any other suitable animal on the table as a new target for the Predator. If there are no suitable targets (the Predator is unable to overcome the protective traits of other animals), the attack ends, and the Carnivorous card remains rotated.
- The Repelling animal's owner does not consider whether the new target has Detrimental Mutation or if the Predator has Pack Hunting (these traits are only used by the Predator's owner).
- If the Repelling resolution is successful, the animal's other protective traits have no effect.
- If the new target also uses Repelling, its owner may not select the animal that was initially attacked by the Predator. Repelling remains in effect until the end of the Predator's attack.
Running
Card text: When this animal is attacked by a Predator, roll the die. If the roll is 4, 5, or 6, this animal survives, and the Predator's attack ends.
When this animal is attacked by a Predator, roll the die. If the roll is 4, 5, or 6, this animal survives, and the Predator's attack ends.
- The Predator's Carnivorous card remains rotated.
- You must roll the die even if your Running animal is attacked by your own Predator.
- If the Running resolution is successful, the animal's other protective traits have no effect.
Scavenger
Card text: When any animal dies as a result of a Predator's attack, the closest animal with Scavenger to the attacking Predator (in clockwise direction) takes special food.
If any animal on the table has Scavenger when an animal is killed as a result of a Predator's attack, the Scavenger trait is triggered. This happens when a Predator consumes an animal or if a Predator is killed by a target with Horned.
When Scavenger is triggered, the first hungry animal with Scavenger clockwise from the attacking Predator takes special food. All other animals with Scavenger do not take special food.
Tip: It's a good idea to place your animal with Scavenger to the left of a Predator during the Development phase.
- An attacking Predator with the Scavenger trait can also take special food if no other Scavengers are present in the game, or if the other Scavengers cannot take more special food.
- Scavenger is not triggered if the target uses Tail Loss because the animal is not consumed.
- Scavenger is not triggered if an animal dies from the effect of Poisonous at the beginning of the Extinction phase.
Sharp Vision
Card text: This Predator may attack an animal with Camouflage.
This Predator may attack an animal with Camouflage.
Stasis
Adverse trait
+1: Food requirement increases by 1
Card text: Stasis may be added to either your animal or another player's animal. New traits may not be added to this animal.
Stasis may be added to either your animal or another player's animal.
New traits may not be added to this animal, including during the Development phase or by using Metamorphosis during the Feeding phase.
- You may not add Detrimental Mutation or Parasite to an animal with Stasis.
Tail Loss
Card text: When this animal is attacked by a Predator, you may discard one of its traits. This animal survives, and the Predator takes special food instead of 2 special food.
When this animal is attacked by a Predator, you may discard one of its traits. This animal survives, and the Predator takes 1 special food instead of 2 special food. The attack ends, and the Predator's Carnivorous card remains rotated.
- If the Tail Loss resolution is successful, the animal's other protective traits have no effect.
- When Tail Loss is triggered, you may discard one trait possessed by the target, including adverse and paired traits, or even Tail Loss itself. You may discard a trait ignored by the Predator's owner via Detrimental Mutation or Pack Hunting.
- Even though the Predator takes special food, the target animal is not consumed. Therefore, Scavenger and Poisonous traits are not triggered, and no common food is placed on Swamps Areas.
Transparent
Card text: If there are no common food or special food tokens on this animal, it may not be attacked by a Predator.
If there are no common food or special food tokens on this animal, it may not be attacked by a Predator.
Voracious
Card text: When this Predator consumes a hungry animal, take 1 special food instead of 2 special food. If this Predator only takes 1 special food from an attack, return its Carnivorous card to the vertical position.
The Voracious trait consists of two abilities:
- When this Predator consumes a hungry animal, take 1 special food instead of 2 special food.
- If this Predator only takes 1 special food from an attack, return its Carnivorous card to the vertical position. This enables the Voracious Predator to attack again in subsequent turns of this Feeding phase.
- The second ability of the Voracious trait is triggered when this Predator takes 1 special food as a result of a target's Tail Loss.
- The second ability of the Voracious trait is not triggered when this Predator takes 2 special food but must return 1 special food to the supply because it has become fed (and has no empty Fat Tissue).
- When this Predator consumes a fed animal, it takes 2 special food normally, and its Carnivorous card remains rotated.
Xylophagous
Card text: When this animal takes shelter from an Area, it also takes special food from the supply. This animal may have multiple shelter.
When this animal takes shelter from an Area, it also takes special food from the supply.
This animal may have multiple shelter. It can take additional shelter in subsequent Feeding phase turns and takes special food each time.
Credits
Game Designers: Dmitry Knorre, Sergey Machin. Artists: Maria Efremova, Aleksandra Karenskaya. Graphic Designer: Fedor Myachin. Editors: Eli Lester, Gleb Zabelich. Project lead and Developer: Denis Davydov. Layout Designer: Igor Pekhterev.
(c) Rightgames, 2022