Keystone: North America – Second Edition Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • Species Card Anatomy
• Setup (2 Players)
• Game Overview
• Turn Overview
• Introduce Action
  • 1. Take one Species card from the field
  • 2. Place that Species card on your player board
• Wild Cards
• Use Skill Action
• End of Turn & Refilling the Field
• End of Game & Scoring
  • 1. Ecosystems (Sequences)
  • 2. Research Tokens
  • 3. Keystone Species Icon
  • 4. Wild Cards
  • 5. Synergy Tokens
  • 6. Secret Objectives
  • Scoresheets
  • Scoring Example
  • Handling Ties
  • Secret Objective Goals Guide
  • Expanded Scoring Example
• Solo Mode with the Field Journal
  • Story Tokens
• Solo Co-op Variant
• Skill Token Descriptions
  • Skill #1
  • Skill #2
  • Skill #3
  • Skill #4
  • Skill #5
  • Skill #6
  • Skill #7
  • Skill #8
  • Skill #9
  • Skill #10
• Species Card Database

Components

• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Field Journal
• 2 Player Boards
• 1 Secret Envelope
• 1 Score Pad
• 1 Time Track & Marker
• 10 Skill Tokens
• 87 Species Cards
• 1 Story Card
• 8 Wild Cards
• 10 Secret Objective Cards
• 35 Research/Story Tokens
• 1 First Player Token
• 28 "1" and 17 "5" value Synergy Tokens

Species Card Anatomy

1. Card Name (an icon indicates Keystone species)
2. Forest / Woodland habitat
3. Desert / Grassland habitat
4. Wetland / River habitat
5. Arctic / Alpine habitat
6. Artist's Name
7. Keystone species icon
8. Sequence number
9. Endangered species or Tag icon
10. Season icon

The four season icons are Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

Setup (2 Players)

1. Give each player a player board.
2. Shuffle the Species cards and place the newly formed deck face down near the middle of the table.
3. Drawing from the top of the Species deck, place 6 cards face up in a horizontal row next to the deck. These 6 cards are known as the Field.
4. Randomly choose 5 Skill tokens and place them on the table, active (grass) side up. Place the rest of the Skill tokens back in the box.
5. Sort the Wild cards by habitat, forming 4 face up stacks of cards. Place these stacks in easy reach of both players.
6. Shuffle the Secret Objective cards and deal 1 to each player. Return all extra secret objective cards face down to the box.
7. Create a supply of Synergy tokens and Research tokens in easy reach of both players.
8. Place the time marker on the 5 space of the Time Track board.
9. Choose a first player using any method of your choice and give them the First Player token.
10. Give the starting player 5 Synergy tokens and the other player 6 Synergy tokens.

You are now ready to begin! The first player will take the first turn.

Each Skill token has an Active Side (Grass) and an Exhausted Side (Stone). The Discard pile is a face up pile next to the Species deck.

Game Overview

Keystone: North America is played over a series of rounds during which each player takes one turn. Your goal is to place cards on your player board to form ecosystems and complete your secret objective. In brief, an ecosystem is a sequence of two or more cards with matching habitats that are in a straight line and in numerical order. Ecosystems can be enhanced by Research tokens and Keystone species, identified by the Keystone species icon. Your Secret Objective is completed by matching sets of cards on your player board to the patterns on your Secret Objective card.

Designer's Note: "A keystone species—which can be any organism, from animals and plants to bacteria and fungi—is the glue that holds a habitat together. It may not be the largest or most plentiful species in an ecological community, but if a keystone is removed, it sets off a chain of events that turns the structure and biodiversity of its habitat into something very different. Although all of an ecosystem's many components are intricately linked, these are the living things that play a pivotal role in how their ecosystem functions."

Turn Overview

On your turn, you can do one of 2 actions:

• Introduce action: Do each of the following:
  • Take one Species card from the Field.
  • THEN Place that Species card on your player board.
• Use Skill action: Choose one of the following:
  • Resolve the effect of a Skill token on its active side, then flip it over to its exhausted side.
  • OR Resolve the effects of all Skill tokens on their exhausted side, flip all Skill tokens to their active side, and then move the time marker 1 space to the right.

After you complete your action, refill the Field with new Species cards, and the other player takes their turn.

Introduce Action

To use the Introduce action:

1. Take one Species card from the field

A. Choose any Species card in the Field (the 6 face up Species cards). In the example, Kiara chooses the American Bison Species card.

B. Pay for the chosen card by placing one of your Synergy tokens on each card to its right, if any. In the example, to pay for the chosen American Bison Species card Kiara places 1 Synergy token on the Snowshoe Hare, Snail Kite, and Saguaro Cactus Species cards.

C. Take the chosen Species card and place it on any empty space on your player board. If the chosen card had Synergy tokens already on it, add them to your personal pool. In the example, there were no Synergy tokens on the American Bison Species card Kiara had taken.

2. Place that Species card on your player board

Any time you place a card on your player board, including when you move it, gain 1 Synergy token for each shared habitat symbol on an adjacent Species or Wild card.

Example: Kiara just placed the American Bison Species card on an empty space on her player board. She takes 4 Synergy tokens after placing this card:

• 2 for the matching Forest/Woodland and Desert/Grassland habitat symbols on the adjacent Coyote card.
• 2 for the matching Forest/Woodland and Desert/Grassland habitat symbols on the adjacent Red Wolf card.

Despite being adjacent, the Arctic/Alpine Wild card has no matching habitat symbols with the American Bison, so Kiara gains no Synergy tokens from that card. The other cards are not adjacent.

Wild Cards

Once per turn (on your turn), you may discard 10 Synergy tokens to take a Wild card and place it on any empty space on your player board. This special action can be done before or after your Introduce/Use Skill action.

A Wild card has a set habitat and season, but can be any Sequence number from 1-5 when scoring the game.

When placing the Wild card on your player board, gain a Synergy token for each matching adjacent habitat, as usual.

When scoring, Wild cards can represent one number when scoring a row, and then another number when scoring a column.

Use Skill Action

The Use Skill action lets you use the effects of the five Skill tokens on the table.

When using Skill tokens, you can either choose one active skill (Grass) or all of the exhausted skills (Stone):

• Active (Grass): Resolve the effect of 1 Skill token on its active side, and then flip it over to its exhausted side.
• Exhausted (Stone): Resolve the effects of all skills on their exhausted side in the order of your choice. Resolve each, then flip all skills to their active side. Then reduce the time marker by 1 space.

The panel at the bottom of the Skill tokens is a preview of the token effects on the opposite side of that token. The token effects in this panel are not to be resolved.

Example: Kiara decides to do the Use Skill action. She chooses to resolve the effects of all the exhausted skills, so she does the following:

1. a. She places a Research token on an unresearched Species card with an Endangered icon on her player board. Unresearched cards are those without any research tokens on them. b. She places a Research token on an unresearched Wild card on her player board. c. She gains 2 Synergy tokens.
2. She then flips all the exhausted Skill tokens back to their active side.
3. Finally, she reduces the time marker 1 space on the time track.

Note: Skill token effects are described on pages 12 & 13 of this rulebook. Research tokens can only be placed on unresearched cards, and all effects are optional except for the discard effects.

End of Turn & Refilling the Field

At the end of your turn, slide all remaining Species cards in the Field to the right. Then, draw and place cards from the Species deck to bring the total number of cards in the Field back to 6, starting with the rightmost empty slot. In the example, the Snail Kite Species card is placed first, followed by the Swallow-Tailed Kite.

If you need to draw a card and the Species card deck is empty, shuffle any cards in the discard pile to form a new deck and continue drawing as normal.

End of Game & Scoring

When either player has filled every space on their player board or the Time track marker has reached the final space, you are now in the final round of the game. All players who have yet to go that round should take their turn, and then the game ends.

At the end of the game, score each ecosystem and each completed Secret Objective on your player board, then add 1 point for every three of your Synergy tokens.

1. Ecosystems (Sequences)

An ecosystem is created when two or more cards with matching habitats have been arranged in ascending or descending numerical order. Gain 1 point for each card in the ecosystem.

Correct Ecosystem: In a row where all the Sequence numbers on the cards are in ascending numerical order and have a matching habitat, the whole row is a single ecosystem.

Incorrect Ecosystem: In a row where, even though all the Sequence numbers are in numerical order, no two adjacent cards share the same habitat, no ecosystems are formed.

Score only one ecosystem per row / column: You can only score one ecosystem for each row or column on your player board, so make sure to choose the most valuable one.

In a row where two ecosystems are formed (even though all cards are in numerical order, only two cards at any point share an adjacent habitat), only one ecosystem can be scored, so you would want to choose the ecosystem with the Keystone species icon since that is worth more points, as explained below.

Another row also has two ecosystems. The cards are in numerical order but do not all share the same habitat. The longer ecosystem with the Desert/Grasslands habitat icons is worth more points. Remember that ecosystems can be in ascending or descending numerical order.

2. Research Tokens

Add 1 additional point for each Research token on cards in a scored ecosystem.

Example: In a row, four cards are in an ecosystem with Arctic/Alpine habitat icons for 4 points, and two of these cards have Research tokens for an additional 2 points, so this row is worth 6 points.

3. Keystone Species Icon

If you have a Keystone species in a scored ecosystem, score that ecosystem again. Do this for each Keystone icon in that ecosystem.

Example: There are three cards in this ecosystem and one Research token, so it is worth 4 points. However, because there are two Keystone icons, the ecosystem is scored two more times for a total of 12 points!

4. Wild Cards

If an ecosystem has a Wild card in it, that card can be any number from 1-5 (only). The same Wild card can be a different Sequence number when scoring its row vs. its column. For example, the same Wild card can be a 2 when determining the best ecosystem in its row but a 3 when determining the best ecosystem in its column.

Example: In a row, the Wild card fills in as a Sequence number 2, making this a 4 card ecosystem. This ecosystem is worth 12 points, as it is scored two additional times because of the Keystone species icons.

5. Synergy Tokens

Gain 1 point for every three Synergy tokens you have at the end of the game.

6. Secret Objectives

Completing your Secret Objective can lead to big points at the end of the game. Secret Objectives are composed of 4 goals (A, B, C, & D). Each goal has a pattern that you are trying to achieve with the cards you place on your player board. See the "Secret Objectives Goals Guide" below for more information about these patterns. For each goal completed you gain more and more points, giving you another pathway to claim victory.

Note: Patterns on Secret Objectives may be rotated in any direction and each goal can only be completed once.

In the example, Thomas would score 24 points for his Secret Objective because he was able to accomplish all 4 goals on his player board:

• a. He formed an "L" formation of 3 cards with the Summer season icon. Remember, rotating the pattern still counts.
• b. He had 2 cards with the Endangered Species icon diagonally touching each other.
• c. He formed a line of 3 cards with the Tag icon.
• d. He ended the game with at least 4 cards with the Fall season icon on his player board.

Scoresheets

A great way to add up everyone's score is by utilizing the scoresheet. The scoresheet allows for each row and column to be tracked separately, as well as a section to track Secret Objective and Synergy token scoring. If you ever run out of scoresheets, you can download and print more for free on the publisher's website (www.rosegauntlet.com).

Scoring Example

Sally and Jim have just finished a game of Keystone: North America. Below is a breakdown of the points that Sally was able to gain, and how they are placed on the scoresheet. In total, Sally scored 97 points, giving her the victory since Jim was only able to score 94 points.

Sally's scoresheet:

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4
Columns	3	12	0	15

Row 1	Row 2	Row 3	Row 4
16	10	12	3

Secret objective: 24 points. Synergy tokens: 2 points. Total: 97 points. (Jim's total: 94.)

Handling Ties

If there is a tie, the player who completed the most secret goals of their secret objective wins the game. If there is still a tie, the player with the most synergy tokens wins. If there is still a tie, congratulations, you're both great and you both win the game!

Secret Objective Goals Guide

• L Shaped: End the game with 3 cards that have the assigned symbol, placed as shown in the formation, on your player board.
• 2 in a Line: End the game with 2 cards that have the assigned symbol in the shown formation on your player board.
• 3 of a Type: End the game with 3 or more cards that have the assigned symbol on your player board.
• Diagonal: End the game with 2 cards that have the assigned symbol placed diagonally (as shown) on your player board.
• 3 in a Line: End the game with 3 cards that have the assigned symbol in the shown formation on your player board.
• 4 of a Type: End the game with 4 or more cards that have the assigned symbol on your player board.

Expanded Scoring Example

Using the scoring example above as reference, this is a more complete breakdown to better explain how each item was scored.

Columns

• Column 1: The Montezuma Bald Cypress, Piping Plover, and Swallow-Tailed Kite create a Wetland / River ecosystem to score 3 points.
• Column 2: The Saguaro Cactus, Cottontail Rabbit, and Coyote create a Desert/Grassland ecosystem to score 3 points. The Research token on the Cottontail Rabbit adds 1 point, bringing the point total for this ecosystem to 4. Both the Saguaro Cactus and the Coyote have a Keystone Species icon, so this ecosystem is scored two additional times to add 8 points, bringing the final total for this column to 12 points.
• Column 3: There are no complete ecosystems in this column, so 0 points are scored.
• Column 4: The Prairie Fringed Orchid, Desert/Grassland Wild Card, Peregrine Falcon, and Mountain Lion form a Desert/Grassland ecosystem to score 4 points. The Research token on the Mountain Lion adds 1 point, bringing the point total for this ecosystem to 5. Both the Mountain Lion and the Peregrine Falcon have a Keystone Species icon, so this ecosystem is scored two additional times to add 10 points, bringing the final total for this column to 15 points.

Rows

• Row 1: The Saguaro Cactus, American Bison, and Mountain Lion create a Desert/Grassland ecosystem to score 3 points. The Research token on the Mountain Lion adds 1 point, bringing the total for this ecosystem to 4. All three of these cards have a Keystone Species icon, so this ecosystem is scored three additional times to add 12 points, bringing the final total for this row to 16 points. The American Black Bear also has a Desert/Grassland habitat but isn't in the right numerical order to be included in the ecosystem.
• Row 2: The Montezuma Bald Cypress, Cottontail Rabbit, Snail Kite, and Peregrine Falcon create a Wetland / River ecosystem to score 4 points. The Research token on the Cottontail Rabbit adds 1 point, bringing the point total of this ecosystem to 5. The Peregrine Falcon has a Keystone Species icon, so this ecosystem is scored again to add 5 points, bringing the final total for this row to 10 points.
• Row 3: There are two complete ecosystems in this row. The Piping Plover and the Coyote for a Wetland/River ecosystem and the Coyote, Desert Tortoise, and Desert/Grassland Wild Card (considered a 1) for a Desert/Grassland ecosystem. Sally chooses to score the Coyote, Desert Tortoise, and Desert/Grassland Wild Card ecosystem because it has three species, two of them with the Keystone Species icon. This gives her the highest possible score for this row. The ecosystem scores 3 points. The Research token adds 1 point, bringing the point total for this ecosystem to 4. The Coyote and Desert Tortoise both have the Keystone Species icon, so the ecosystem is scored twice more, adding 8 points and bringing the final total for this row to 12 points.
• Row 4: The Mountain Goat and Musk Ox form a complete Arctic / Alpine ecosystem to score 2 points. The Research token on the Musk Ox adds 1 point, bringing the final total for this row to 3 points.

Secret Objectives

Sally has Secret Objective card 1. She completes all four goals on the card as follows to score a total of 24 points:

• L Shaped Goal: The Coyote, Mountain Goat, and Musk Ox each have the Spring Season icon and are placed in the 'L' formation shown on the Secret Objective.
• 2 in a Line: The Snail Kite and Desert Tortoise each have the Endangered Species icon and are placed in the formation shown on the Secret Objective.
• 3 in a Line: The Swallow-Tailed Kite, Mountain Goat and Musk Ox each have the Tag icon and are placed in the formation shown on the Secret Objective.
• 4 of a Type: The American Black Bear, Saguaro Cactus, Montezuma Bald Cypress, Snail Kite all have the Summer Season icon and are placed on Sally's player board.

Synergy Tokens

Sally ends the game with a total of 7 Synergy tokens. Every three synergy tokens score 1 point. So Sally scores a total of 2 points.

Final Score

Adding everything together, Sally's final total score is 97 points.

Solo Mode with the Field Journal

Keystone: North America's solo mode offers unique challenges paired with a story that lets a player take on the role of a new wildlife biologist in the first year of their career. This adventure is detailed in the Field Journal. For the best experience with the Field Journal's 20 challenges we suggest they be played in order, in the form of a campaign that increases in difficulty. Once a player is familiar with the format, however, they may choose to skip around to the challenges they find most interesting. A Sealed Envelope has been included in the box. This should not be opened until the start of the final assignment (#20). Once the envelope is opened you may choose to add its contents to the standard game or place them back in the envelope for future players to discover.

Setup for solo mode is mostly the same as the 2 player game (put the time marker on the 4 and start with 5 Synergy tokens). Each scenario will also provide additional setup instructions as well as special rules to offer unique challenges and new ways to approach the game.

If a Field Journal assignment's special rules ever contradict the normal rules, the special rules in the Field Journal take precedence.

Story Tokens

Found on the back of Research tokens, these represent a wide variety of themes in the solo & co-op version of the game. How they function is dependent on the assignment you are completing in the Field Journal, and they have no function in the competitive version of the game.

Solo Co-op Variant

Keystone's co-op mode is an extension of the solo mode. Co-op mode is for players who want to enjoy the solo campaign challenges with a partner!

Players will follow all of the same rules and setup as the solo mode with the following exceptions.

1. Players will share the same player board and one supply of synergy tokens.
2. Determine a player to take the first turn. That player may discuss the turn with their partner but is in charge of managing all tokens, rules, and final decisions.
3. Play will then continue with players working together and alternating turns. Players are encouraged to discuss their options and work as a team!

Skill Token Descriptions

Note: Unresearched cards are those without any Research tokens on them. The panel at the bottom of the Skill tokens is a preview of the token effects on the opposite side of that token. The token effects in this panel are not to be resolved.

Skill #1

• Active: You may draw the top 3 cards of the Species deck. If you do, you may place 1 on an empty space on your player board. Discard any unplaced cards in any order to the face up discard pile. Then discard 2 cards of your choice from the field in any order to the face up discard pile.
• Exhausted: Look at the top 3 cards of the discard pile. You may place 1 of them on an empty space on your player board. Return any unplaced cards in any order to the top of the discard pile.

Skill #2

• Active: Look at the top 3 cards of the discard pile. You may place 1 of them on an empty space on your player board. Return any unplaced cards in any order to the top of the discard pile. Then discard 2 cards of your choice from the field in any order to the face up discard pile.
• Exhausted: Gain 3 Synergy tokens.

Skill #3

• Active: You may move a card on your player board to an empty space. You may do this a second time. You can move the same card twice, or different cards. Then discard a card of your choice from the field to the face up discard pile.
• Exhausted: You may place 1 Research token on an unresearched card with the Endangered Species icon on your player board.

Skill #4

• Active: Gain 8 Synergy tokens. Then discard 3 cards of your choice from the field in any order to the face up discard pile.
• Exhausted: You may place 1 Research token on an unresearched Wild card on your player board.

Skill #5

• Active: You may place 1 Research token on an unresearched card with the Spring season icon on your player board. Then discard 2 cards of your choice from the field in any order to the face up discard pile.
• Exhausted: Gain 2 Synergy tokens.

Skill #6

• Active: You may place 1 Research token on an unresearched card with the Summer season icon on your player board. Then discard 2 cards of your choice from the field in any order to the face up discard pile.
• Exhausted: Gain 2 Synergy tokens.

Skill #7

• Active: You may place 1 Research token on an unresearched card with the Fall season icon on your player board. Then discard 2 cards of your choice from the field in any order to the face up discard pile.
• Exhausted: Gain 2 Synergy tokens.

Skill #8

• Active: You may place 1 Research token on an unresearched card with the Winter season icon on your player board. Then discard 2 cards of your choice from the field in any order to the face up discard pile.
• Exhausted: Gain 2 Synergy tokens.

Skill #9

• Active: You may place 2 Research tokens on an unresearched card with the Endangered Species icon on your player board. Then discard 2 cards of your choice from the field in any order to the face up discard pile.
• Exhausted: You may move a card on your player board to an empty space.

Skill #10

• Active: You may place a Research token on an unresearched card with the Tag icon on your player board. Then discard 2 cards of your choice from the field in any order to the face up discard pile.
• Exhausted: You may move a card on your player board to an empty space.

Species Card Database

The printed database lists, for each Species card, its sequence number, picture, name, habitat icons, season icon, Endangered icon and Keystone/Tag icon (icon columns not reproduced here; names by sequence number).

Sequence 1: American Red Squirrel, Aspen, Bearberry, Black-Tailed Prairie Dog, Black Willow, Brown Lemming, Bumble Bee, Desert Kangaroo Rat, Giant Sequoia, Monarch Butterfly, Montezuma Bald Cypress, Northern Flying Squirrel, Northern Green Frog, Prairie Fringed Orchid, Red Mangrove, Saguaro Cactus, Sockeye Salmon, Sphinx Moth, Spruce-Fir Moss Spider, Sugar Maple, Vancouver Island Marmot

Sequence 2: Black-Footed Ferret, Black-Tailed Jackrabbit, Canada Goose, Collared Peccary, Cottontail Rabbit, Desert Tortoise, Dusky Grouse, Emperor Goose, Long-Tailed Weasel, Mallard, Mangrove Tree Crab, Nine-Banded Armadillo, North American Beaver, Northern Raccoon, Piping Plover, Ringed Seal, Rock Ptarmigan, Sidewinder Rattlesnake, Snowshoe Hare, Virginia Opossum, Wood Duck

Sequence 3: Alligator Snapping Turtle, Arctic Fox, Atlantic Salt Marsh Snake, Burrowing Owl, Coyote, Dall Sheep, Eastern Hellbender, Florida Manatee, Mountain Goat, Mule Deer, North American River Otter, Pronghorn Antelope, Red Fox, Ringtail Cat, Rocky Mountain Elk, Sandhill Crane, Snail Kite, Swallow-Tailed Kite, Whitetail Deer, Woodland Caribou

Sequence 4: Alaskan Moose, American Bison, American Black Bear, Bald Eagle, Bighorn Sheep, California Condor, Canada Lynx, Mexican Spotted Owl, Musk Ox, Ocelot, Peregrine Falcon, Snowy Owl, Turkey Vulture

Sequence 5: American Alligator, American Crocodile, Arctic Wolf, Florida Panther, Golden Eagle, Grizzly Bear, Mexican Gray Wolf, Mountain Lion, Northwestern Gray Wolf, Polar Bear, Red Wolf, Wolverine