Origins: How We Became Human Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• [1.0] Background
  • Game Scale
• [2.0] Components
• [3.0] Units
• [4.0] Strategy Guide and Tips
• [5.0] Setting Up the Game
• [6.0] Playing the Game
• [7.0] Phase 1 - Innovation Actions
  • [7.1] Era I Innovation Actions
  • [7.2] Era II and later Innovation Actions
• [8.0] Phase 2 - Resolve Catastrophes
  • Catastrophe Resolution
  • [8.1] Volcanic Catastrophe
  • [8.2] Climatic Catastrophe
  • [8.3] Uninhabitable Sites and Spots
  • [8.4] Disease
• [9.0] Phase 3 - Play Card(s)
  • [9.1] Discard Pile
  • [9.2] Public Cards
  • [9.3] Idea Cards
  • [9.4] Brain Map
  • [9.5] Domestication of Plants, Animals, and Minerals
• [10.0] Phase 4 - Stability Roll
• [11.0] Phase 5 - Population Actions
• [12.0] Phase 6 - Resolve Sieges
• [13.0] Phase 7 - Resolve Starvation Hexes
• [14.0] Special Rules
  • [14.1] Deal Making
  • [14.2] Slaver and Enslaved Societies
• [15.0] Notes on the Infrastructure Tracks
• [16.0] Example Game Turn: Alexander the Great (Era III)
• [17.0] Ending the Game
• [18.0] Optional Rules
• [19.0] Expansion Set Rules & Notes
  • [19.1] Era IV – The Age of Reason
  • [19.2] Short Game: Age of Faith
  • [19.3] Dr. Noah Vale's Era I to IV Scenario
  • [19.4] Dr. Noah Vale's Era V HIGH FRONTIER Scenario
• [20.0] Solitaire Game
• [21.0] Strategy & Tips
• [22.0] Frequently Asked Questions
• [23.0] Era I Example Game Turn

[1.0] Background

The game divides the development of man since the Eemian Interglacial Age of 120,000 years ago into four stages:

Era I: Multiple species of humans developing toward complex metaphoric language

Era II: Competing cultures striving for the development of consciousness

Era III: The Age of Faith culminating in the Enlightenment

Era IV: The Age of Reason, divided by ideology leading to our present (Expansion Set)

Each player starts in Era I with one hunter-gatherer unit on the map and a Brain map for his species. He strives to increase his brain size, and to gain Elders (in the Elder Pool) and metropolises (on the map). As he progresses through the Eras, going through cycles of chaos and prosperity, he accumulates information, culture, and administration cards, which both help him grow and manage his civilization, and count towards victory.

Game Scale

Each hex is about 1700 km (1000 miles) across. Each player turn is a millennium (1000 years). Each migratory unit is 4 million people (perhaps 1% of which are warriors), and each metropolis population is equal to its footprint value times 4 million.

For historical interest, the map shows the shorelines and ice lines during an ice age, when the continental shelves are dry, and during a tropical age, when the ice retreats back to the poles.

[2.0] Components

• 2 Mapboards (with Domestication tables and Infrastructure tracks)
• 5 Demographies (player mats)
• 1 Sequence of Play Sheet
• 120 Units (markers in 5 colors)
• 102 Era cards (divided into Eras I, II and III on the back)
• 5 Brain map cards (Era Advancement on the back)
• 3 Climate cards (double-sided)
• One six-sided die

[3.0] Units

Units are the 24 individual cubes of a player's color used for playing the game. Unused units are kept in slots on the Innovation and Population tracks of his Demography. Unit terms are underlined in the game rules and are defined below:

Brain Unit: a unit used to cover Instinct icons in the five domains of the Brain map card. Covered-up instincts are inactive; see section 9.4.

Elder: units in the Elder Pool of the Demography. Elders in the top half of the pool are called producers; those in the bottom half are consumers. The more producers one has, the better the economy. (See section 9.3 for Elder Gains, Losses, Expenditures, and Resets.)

Era Unit: a unit coming into play after Era I and used on the Advancement track (flip side of the Brain map) to show the era.

Footprint: the maximum number of Map Units that the current player can occupy in a hex without starving. See diagram below.

Guest Worker: an Elder Unit transferred from the victim's pool to the same half of the victor's pool. The victim chooses which Elder to transfer. The victor can expend these units as if they were his own, but returns them to the owner's Innovation track if they are later Lost.

Infrastructure: five units used by each player to track his technological stage in his Infrastructure tracks (Footprint, Metallurgy, Maritime, Energy, Immunology).

Loss: the removal of a Map Unit, Brain Unit, or Elder Unit. Place the Lost unit on the rightmost vacant slot of the Innovation track. If this is full, place it in the rightmost vacant slot of the Population track.

Map Units: includes Migratory and Metropolitan units. Migratory units are placed on map spots, and each occupies three hexes at the same time (see diagram). Metropolises are stationary units placed inside a hex.

Neighbor: any other player with Map Units in the same hex, or in an adjacent hex, to the player's units.

[4.0] Strategy Guide and Tips

A quick orientation to approaching the game.

Expansion. Quickly expand to hem in your opponents. If you have social instincts, consider using the Silverback Action for expansion and aggression.

Economy. Within a turn or two, the map is full. Now you need to perform an Elder Gain to set up your economy. This has two desirable effects: it reduces the number of units stored in your Innovation (allowing you to gain more cards each turn), and it puts an Elder in your pool, which you can use for gaining Public cards, domestications, or Population Actions (trades, acculturations, growth, and conquests).

Innovation. It is vital to get and keep Elders early. You gain them by card play, so you want a high Innovation Number to gain as many cards as possible. The "fecundity decrease" icon, often obtained by right-side Idea card play, allows you to increase innovation at the expense of population growth.

Brain Map. You want to grow your brain by removing Brain Units (a process called "encephalization"), or by rearranging it ("lexicalization"). For the best chance of Elder Gain, keep the "alpha" (social) instinct clear. The instincts have the following uses:

• Social Skills: Useful for Elder Gain, Imitation (for ransacking), Silverbacks (for invading), and Locutions (for gaining language and advancing to Era II).
• Natural History Knowledge: Useful for Domestications (urbanization and Footprint), and Technological encephalization (infrastructure advances).
• Technological Knowledge: Useful for language encephalization (advancing to Era II) and maritime and metallurgical advancements. Maritime is particularly useful if you want rafting access to Alaska, Australia, Madagascar, or Spain.
• Language: Useful for Domestications (urbanization and Footprint), Storytellers (reusing Elders), Lexicalizations (moving Brain Units around), and advancing to Era II.

Ransacking. The most useful Innovation action is Imitation (ransacking discards). The two most primitive species (Peking Man and Archaic Homo Sapiens) cannot imitate until they clear their social domains, a serious disadvantage. They should consider a sacrificial attack combined with a Sabine Raid to gain valuable discards from their neighbors.

Metropolises. You only get one Elder more than the number of your metropolises, so you will want to build or invade metropolises quickly. There are three ways to do this: urbanizations, domestications, and sieges:

• Urbanization: This Population Action, for Era III and later, requires a population number of at least three.
• Domestication: It's best to domesticate a work animal first, before attempting cavalry animals, crops, or minerals. You should aim to keep an Elder unexpended and your acorn and language instincts clear, and afterwards to occupy and domesticate a good work animal hex (with multiple "+" modifiers, like cattle or glyptodonts).
• Siege: Your best chance of success is if your opponent has a low Footprint and you have a high Metallurgy. To gain in Metallurgy, domesticate "cavalry" animals (those with high negative modifiers, like the horse), or clear your "hand" instinct, so that you are ready to use Idea cards with weaponry advances. For the fast growth and low chaos needed for conquests or urbanization, use "Silverback".

Energy. Progressing into a golden age requires advancements in energy. Early in the game, a "work" animal domestication is the only way to get to Energy stage 1! (But see optional rule #2, Livestock Raids, for how to steal energy from your neighbors.) Until you raise your energy, don't try to domesticate any cavalry animals or crops (other than crops with one or more "-" modifiers, such as the banana). To get to Energy stage 2, which is necessary to attain the golden age of Era III, one must play one of the three Era III cards that contain energy advancement (horse collar, blast furnace, and levers & pulleys). Alternatively, one may attempt biofuel resource exploitation. The best sites are in the Americas, but Spanish olive oil and Hawaiian whale oil are also possible. Establish a Metropolis on one of these sites. Unless using optional rule #2 (Mining), the oil or uranium sites will likely be useful only in the extended game. These sites allow Energy stage 3, which is essential for attaining the Era IV golden age.

Era Progress. Advancing first is an opportunity to get a lot of Public cards useful for victory. But beware, at Era II you can no longer accomplish useful Era I actions such as "Naturalist". Don't advance to Era II until you have an Elder and a metropolis, plus a Footprint of stage 2. Notice that Chaos, usually something to avoid, is essential for advancement to Eras III and IV. You should save as many fecundity decrease cards as your Hand Limit allows to recover your innovation after Chaos strikes. Before advancing to a new era, make sure you have the technological requirements for the golden age of that era. That way, on the next turn, you can immediately perform an "Enter Golden Age" innovation action, and recover suppressed Public Cards, without which you may suffer repeated chaos.

[5.0] Setting Up the Game

1. Lay out the maps with the New World to the left of the Old World. Lay each of the three Climate cards alongside the map so that the side with the red dot in the upper left corner is showing. They indicate the world starts as "Savanna", "Parkland", and "Ice Age".
2. Each player receives one Brain map card (at random) and a Demography with the same identifier (A, C, H, N, or P). Each places the Brain map card (brain side up) on the rectangle indicated on his Demography. Note that the lower part of the Demography has three slots, collectively called the Repertoire, used for the storage of Public cards (victory cards). Note: For the two or three player game, the recommended Brain maps for player 1 are H or P, for player 2 are N or C, and for player 3 is A. For the four player game, leave out N or A.
3. Each player receives all of the Units of one color (24 total).
4. Each player places one of his Units on the leftmost space of the five Infrastructure tracks on the map.
5. Each player places one of his Units on the map on the spot with a species name that matches his Brain map card. The species are Peking Man, Archaic Homo Sapiens, Hobbits, Neanderthal, and Cro-Magnon.
6. Each player places Units to cover the Instinct icons marked in black on his Brain map card.
7. Each player puts the rest of his Units on each slot of his Population and Innovation tracks, not marked with a red star.
8. The Era cards are separated into three decks based on their backs (Eras I, II, and III), shuffled, and placed next to the map face-down.
9. The player having the Brain map card identifier (A, C, H, N, or P) that appears earliest in the alphabet takes the first turn. After his turn, play continues clockwise.

[6.0] Playing the Game

For each turn the current player performs the following seven phases in order before it is the next player's turn:

1. Innovation Actions – Perform a number of Innovation Actions equal to your Innovation Number.
2. Resolve Catastrophes – Volcanoes, climate changes, and diseases.
3. Play Card(s) – Resolve card effects and auctions.
4. Stability Roll – If failed, enter Chaos: depopulate your Map Units, move into a dark age, suppress your Public cards, and end your turn.
5. Population – Perform a number of Population Actions equal to your Population Number plus Elder Expenditures.
6. Resolve Sieges – Take over a foreign metropolis and a Guest Worker if you outnumber the defenders.
7. Resolve Starvation Hexes – Reduce overcrowded Units down to your Footprint.

See the "Sequence of Play" player aid, and the following pages, for details of these phases.

[7.0] Phase 1 - Innovation Actions

A player may perform a number of Innovation Actions equal to his Innovation Number, which is the number on the rightmost vacant slot of the Innovation track at the beginning of this phase. He may perform these actions in any order and each action may be performed multiple times. Example: A player has one unit left in his Innovation track, which covers the "5" slot. His innovation number is therefore "4", the number visible to the left of this unit. He can perform up to four Innovation Actions.

[7.1] Era I Innovation Actions

In Era I, there are seven Innovation Actions to choose from. Each has requirement(s) which must be met by having the appropriate Instinct icon uncovered on your Brain map. Some actions also require an Elder Expenditure; see section 9.3.

1. Novel Behavior (requires technical knowledge or natural history knowledge). A player may draw the top card of the Era I deck, which goes into his hand.

   Note (deck regeneration): If a player wishes to draw a card, but cannot because the desired era deck is exhausted, form a new deck using all the discards of the correct era from all player discard piles. This deck is shuffled and placed facedown.

2. Imitator (requires social skills). A player may ransack (i.e.; draw one top card from the discard deck of any opponent, as long as it is from an era he has already entered), or draw one Era I card if there are no cards that can be ransacked.

3. Silverback (requires social skills). The player performs two fecundity increases, each of which slides the leftmost unit in his Population Track to the rightmost empty slot in his Innovation Track. Add two when making this turn's Stability Roll.

4. Locution (requires Elder Expenditure and social skills). A player may clear the Wernicke's Area domain (see section 9.3), but goes into chaos during Phase 4 (see section 10.0).

5. Lexicalization (requires language). A player may move one Brain Unit into an adjacent vacant domain on the brain map. Example (See diagram in section 9.4): Player N can move the unit in his Broca's area into his Neocortex.

6. Storyteller (requires language). A player may perform an Elder Reset; see section 9.3.

7. Naturalist (requires Elder Expenditure, language, and natural history knowledge). A player may make an animal or crop Domestication attempt; see section 9.5.

[7.2] Era II and later Innovation Actions

A player beyond Era I must chose from among these eight Innovation Actions (none have requirements):

1. Invention (Card Draw). A player may draw into his hand the top card of any era deck that he has entered.
2. Education. A player may ransack (see "Imitator").
3. Baby Boom (Fecundity Increase). A player may shift the leftmost unit in his Population track to the rightmost empty slot in his Innovation Track. This cannot be performed if the Innovation track is full.
4. Economic Stimulation (Elder Reset). A player may slide Elders in the Elder Pool up from the consumer to the producer section. The number reset is equal to the rank of the best information card on his Repertoire. Example: Blue's best information card is rank two. He has three Elders, all in the lower (expended) half of his pool. He uses one Innovation Action to move two Elders up to the producer half. He uses a second Innovation Action to reset his last Elder, with one reset leftover (which he may use to reset the Elder of another player, see section 9.3).
5. Enter Golden Age. If a player has attained the Infrastructure stage shown on his Advancement track (see section 10.0), he advances his Era Unit from a dark age to a golden age of the same Era. He chooses one Public card on each of the three Repertoire slots in his Demography to flip over to the unsuppressed (face-up) side.
6. Revolution (Era III and later). A player swaps his Brain Map card for another, either an unused one (if available), or one belonging to another player who is in any dark age. In the latter case, the targeted player may instead cancel the swap by suffering an Elder Loss. Otherwise, the cards are swapped and each player puts his Era Unit in the same age he had it before the swap. The current player subtracts two from his subsequent Stability roll. If the identity / ideology of a player changes (via a revolution), then the player's new identifier letter is effective for all purposes (including bidding tiebreakers).
7. Espionage (Era III and later). A player may steal a card at random from the hand of another player.
8. Cold War (Era IV and later). A player may suppress (flip face-down) one Public card of an opponent.

[8.0] Phase 2 - Resolve Catastrophes

Any Public Cards drawn from the era deck in Phase 1 containing a Catastrophe icon must be revealed and the catastrophes resolved in any order the drawer chooses. The rest of the card is ignored until Phase 3.

Catastrophe Resolution

[8.1] Volcanic Catastrophe

This icon causes all Map Units in the specified hex to be Lost.

[8.2] Climatic Catastrophe

Roll a die and flip over the Climate card that matches the roll:

• A 1, 2, or 3 will flip the Dansgaard-Oeschger card. One side indicates Savanna climate; the other Desert climate.
• A 4 or 5 will flip the Greenhouse card. One side indicates Parkland climate, the other Jungle climate.
• A 6 will flip the Milankovitch Cycle card. One side indicates an ice age, the other a tropical age.

[8.3] Uninhabitable Sites and Spots

• White sites and spots are uninhabitable during an ice age. White sites and spots are uninhabitable during a tropical age, unless have hay technology.
• Blue spots are uninhabitable during all ages.
• Half gray/half blue sites and spots are uninhabitable during a tropical age.
• Yellow sites and spots are uninhabitable during Desert climate, except for metropolises with wells technology.
• Green sites and spots are uninhabitable during Jungle climate, except for metropolises with pesticide technology.

Note: Migratory units on spots that are no longer habitable due to climate are Lost. Metropolises on uninhabitable sites are also Lost, unless the player has the appropriate Infrastructure technology.

[8.4] Disease

This icon indicates the drawing player and one Neighbor of his choice (if he has any) are stricken by a disease. As indicated by the red Advancement arrow (section 9.3), a stricken player advances one on the Immunology track, and suffers one Elder Loss (section 9.3) and two Fecundity Increases (section 7.0). If a player cannot advance his Immunology because it is at the Bound limit, then he is immune to the disease and suffers no effects. Example: A player with an immunology of 3 is immune to malaria.

[9.0] Phase 3 - Play Card(s)

A player's Hand Size (the maximum number of cards he may hold in his hand at the end of this phase) is equal to one plus the rank of the best Information card on his Repertoire; see section 5.0. A player must play at least enough cards to get down to his Hand Size. He may play his cards in any order. He must play any Public cards that he holds (but see recommended optional rule 18.1). If a player gains or resets an Information card, his hand size bonus occurs instantly.

[9.1] Discard Pile

One cannot discard a card without playing it. All cards played go face-up into a personal discard pile on one's Demography. One can examine the cards below the top card of one's own discards, but not those of an opponent.

[9.2] Public Cards

Each Public card in a hand is played and auctioned. The winner of the auction stores the card in the appropriate Repertoire slot on his Demography. If nobody bids on it, it is awarded to the current player. The player receiving the card receives the effects of any icons listed on it.

Auction. All players that have attained a card's era level may participate in an auction for it. Each player may call out his bid at any time, not exceeding his number of producer Elders. The minimum bid is one and bid numbers may match. A player may increase his bid, but may not decrease it. The auction ends when no player wishes to bid. The high bidder is awarded the card, placed immediately into his Repertoire. He must make Elder Expenditures (section 9.3) equal to his bid. A player who wins a Public card with an Elder Loss icon must suffer an Elder Loss. This effect is a one-time event, and does not reoccur if this card is suppressed and later reset.

Ties: If the bidding is tied, the winner is the player whose identifier is uppermost (see below).

Example: Player N and Player C each bid one for the Public card shown. The Neanderthal player wins this bidding tie and is awarded the card, since "N" is listed higher than "C". N moves one of his producer Elders to the consumer side. The Elder Loss icon (see diagram) indicates he takes an Elder as a Loss, which can be the one he just expended.

Important (Era IV): If a player's identifier appears on a black square ("P" on the Pharoah card above), then he must discard the Public card out of the game as soon as he buys it (see section 19.1).

Information Card. Shown is an information icon of rank three, allowing the reset of 3 Elders as an Innovation Action (section 7.0), and allowing a Hand Size of four.

Culture Card. The icon shown indicates a rank two culture. Culture cards allow acculturation against a lesser-ranked culture as a Population Action (section 11.0).

Administration Card. This is a rank one administration, which adds one to the Stability Roll (section 10.0).

Facilitated Action. If a Public card displays a Population or Innovation action (as in the Silverback action shown on the Pharoah card above), this action is facilitated. A player with an unsuppressed facilitated action is allowed to perform it, regardless of what Era he is in.

[9.3] Idea Cards

A player may choose to play either side of these cards, but not both. On the side chosen, the player picks which icons to use and in what order to apply them, except that Elder Losses and encephalizations are not optional.

Requirements. Icons within the lavender field indicate the minimum instincts or Infrastructure stages necessary for the left side play of the Idea Card. Example: Blue has a Metallurgy of 3 and a Maritime of 1, more than enough for the left side play of the Astrolabium card. This play gains an increase in Maritime infrastructure and an Elder.

Advancement Arrow. A player may move the corresponding Infrastructure Unit one stage to the right. See diagram.

Bound. The number in the red diamond of each advancement arrow, called the Bound, indicates the highest Infrastructure stage limit achievable by that card or domestication. Example: The Bound on the advancement arrow shown on the Astrolabium card is three. The play of this advancement would progress a player at Maritime 1 to Maritime 2, but would not progress a player at Maritime 3.

Important: Advancements on Era IV cards require an Elder Expenditure to perform, for non-slave players.

Elder Expenditure. In order to perform this, a player must move one producer Elder in his Elder Pool down to the consumer section. Elder Expenditures are required for domestications and bids.

Elder Reset. A player may move one Elder up (from consumer to producer). This may be his own unit, or (if at Era II and later), the Elder of a consenting player. Alternatively, an Elder Reset may be used to unsuppress (flip over) one of a player's face-down Public cards.

Elder Gain. If the player has a number of Units in his Elder Pool that is equal to or less than his number of Metropolises, he may move a unit into the Elder Pool as a producer. The unit taken is the leftmost available on the Innovation track, or if this track is empty, the leftmost available on the Population track. If the player cannot or does not wish to gain an Elder, he may use this as an Elder Reset instead. Example: A player with one metropolis can make two Elder Gains before he reaches his limit. The loss of a metropolis does not require a corresponding Elder Loss.

Elder Loss. This icon forces the player to take an Elder as a Loss, taken from either side of his pool. If he has no Elders to lose, this icon is ignored.

Cultural Diffusion. If a player has a card with this icon uppermost in his discards, he is unrestricted in the era level of the cards he can acquire in ransacks or while bidding in auctions. He also gains a free instant ransack upon any opponent who attacks or sabine raids him, which he keeps in his hand until his next card play phase.

Example: Red, at Era II, wishes to spend an Innovation action to ransack an Era III card. He may do this, because a card with the "eyeball-icon" sits on top of his discard pile. Then it is Green's turn, and she plays an Era III Public card, which goes up for auction. Red is able to participate because he still has the card with the Cultural diffusion icon showing on top of his pile.

Example (Sabine Raid): Red starts his population phase with one unit in (peaceful) siege of a Green metropolis. Red spends a population action to perform a Sabine Raid ransack on Green, uncovering a card with the eyeball icon. Green, who now has Cultural Diffusion, responds with his free ransack on Red.

Barbarian Raid. The play of a card with the barbarian icon allows a player to make a barbarian attack upon one of his Neighbors, causing the victim to forfeit one Public card or lose one Elder of his choice. Cards used to make a Barbarian Raid, and the Public cards lost to a Barbarian Raid, are taken out of the game completely. Barbarian Raids may also have the effect of ending enslavement; see section 14.2.

Fecundity Decrease. The player may move the leftmost unit on the Innovation track to the rightmost vacant slot of the Population track. If the Population track is full, this effect is ignored.

Encephalization (Era I only). The player takes as a Loss the Brain Unit (if any) covering the specified instinct. For a language encephalization, the player chooses which of the two language domains to clear. Example: The Neanderthal brain map has two Brain Units left, covering both his speech centers as shown. He plays a card with a "!" encephalization, and chooses to remove the unit covering his Broca's area.

[9.4] Brain Map

A Brain Map has five domains, each with an instinct icon (natural history knowledge, technical skills, social skills, language). The presence of a Brain Unit in that domain inactivates the instinct there.

Advancing to Era II. A player immediately advances to Era II upon the Loss of his last Brain Unit. This flips his Brain Map card over to reveal the three Era tracks (section 10.0). His last Brain Unit now becomes his Era Unit, which is placed into the Era II Dark Age, labeled "metaphoric language". He may thereafter draw from either the Era I or Era II decks.

[9.5] Domestication of Plants, Animals, and Minerals

If a Plant or Animal hex is free of metropolises and its site is habitable (see section 8.3, but see optional rule 7), a player occupying it may make a Domestication attempt, either by card play, or (in Era I) as an Innovation Action. A player occupying a Resource hex with a habitable site (section 8.3) may make a domestication attempt, even if the hex already has a metropolis, and even if the resource has previously been exploited. A Domestication attempt requires an Elder Expenditure and the roll of one die, consulting the on-map Crop Cultivation, Animal Husbandry, or Resource Extraction Table (as applicable). This die roll is modified as indicated by the "+" or "-" icons as listed on the plant, animal, or mineral symbol on the map, and also on any icons on the Idea card used in the attempt.

Animal Husbandry. Allows a Domestication attempt of an animal hex. Example: Red rolls a "2" while trying to domesticate the mastodon. The icons on the mastodon (map hex) and stirrups (Idea card used in the attempt) each contain a minus ("-") modifier, so 2 is subtracted from his roll. The "1-" result on the Animal Husbandry Table reveals a success if Red has an Energy stage of at least one. He now rides mastodons into battle! His Footprint and Metallurgy both go up a stage, and he gains a metropolis in the mastodon hex.

Important: In the case of a modified roll of 6 or more on the Animal Husbandry table, the player (and a Neighbor of his choice) are stricken with a disease of Bound 1, per section 8.4. If a modified roll of 2 or 3 is achieved, the domestication attempt fails because the animal is too ferocious. When playing with four or fewer players, place a unit of a color not in play to cover the icons of ferocious animals. This indicates that the animal is extinct and no further Domestication attempts may be made in this hex. A metropolis may be formed in such a hex only by the urbanization action.

Crop Cultivation. Allows a Domestication attempt of a plant hex. Example: Green makes a crop Domestication attempt on the coconut palm, which has a double "+" modifier. She rolls a "1", which is modified to "3" = "Nuts". Nuts require an Energy stage of "2" to achieve a caloric benefit during dehusking. Since Green's current Energy stage is 1, her attempt fails, but she still pays the expenditure.

Resource Extraction. Allows a Domestication attempt of a gold, silver, tin, biofuel, oil, or uranium hex. Example: Blue, with a metropolis in a gold hex, plays a card with the flame icon, and rolls a modified "6" on the Resource Extraction table. He gains an Elder but not a metropolis.

Domestication Effects. The outcomes (benefits) of Resource Extraction vary according to the Resource type, as shown on the map tables. If the player meets the requirements (if any) specified by the Domestication roll, the attempt is successful. The player gains the Infrastructure Advances listed, and he converts one of his units in the hex into a Metropolitan unit.

[10.0] Phase 4 - Stability Roll

The player locates his Chaos threshold, a number directly beneath his Population Number on the Population track. A smiley-face icon indicates that no Stability roll is necessary. He rolls one die, and adds to it the rank (number of sword icons) of his best Administration card. If in Era I, he also adds 2 for every time he took the Silverback action this turn. If this sum is less than his threshold, then Chaos ensues, with the following four effects:

Depopulation. The player takes as a Loss half of his Map Units, rounding fractions down (in the player's favor). He may choose which units to lose.

Enter Dark Age (Era II and greater). If the player is currently in a golden age, then he must move his Era Unit to a dark age of his choice, either the one ahead (in the next era), or the one behind (in the current era).

Suppress Public Cards. The player flips all the Public cards in his Repertoire face-down, indicating they have no effect until unsuppressed (by an Elder Reset, or Entering a Golden Age).

The Player's Turn ends. Skip Phases 5, 6, and 7.

Note: Beyond Era I, Chaos is the only way to advance to the next era!

Example: Player N, with a population number of 2 and a chaos risk of "<2", makes a Stability roll. She rolls a "1", which plunges her into chaos! She has three Map Units (2 Metropolises and 1 Migratory), and she chooses the Migratory unit to be Lost. She has several Culture and Administration cards, all of which are flipped upside-down. She chooses to advance her Era Unit (at "matrimony") into Era IV ("divorce") rather than retreat into "racism". If playing the full game, she enters Era IV and ends her turn.

[11.0] Phase 5 - Population Actions

A player may perform a number of Population Actions equal to his Population Number, i.e.; the number on the rightmost vacant slot of the Population track at the beginning of this phase, plus the number of Elder Expenditures he wishes to make. He may perform these actions in any order and may perform one action multiple times. See the extended example in section 16.0. There are seven Population Actions:

1. Acculturation. The player may choose the Elder of one opponent who has an inferior culture rank, (that is, an opponent whose best culture card has a lower number of "star" icons) to steal as a Guest Worker. He may not steal Guest Workers if the number of Elders in his pool is greater than the number of his metropolises.

   Note: If a player has no culture card, or his culture cards are suppressed, his culture is considered to be zero.

2. Trade (Era III and later). A player may make a trade with another consenting Neighboring player. The players agree on a single Infrastructure track on which to compare advancement. The player who is superior on that Infrastructure track performs an Elder Gain and the player who is inferior advances on that track by one stage. Players get no benefit from trading on an Infrastructure track where they are equally advanced. Example: On his turn, Peking man, with a Footprint of two, convinces Neanderthal, with a Footprint of four, to trade with him. By expending a Population Action, Peking man is able to increase his Footprint to three, and Neanderthal moves a unit from innovation to producer.

   Note: Each trade expends one action. Only if the trade action is actually performed is the action expended. Instead of an elder gain, an elder reset or public card unsuppress may be performed.

3. Urbanization (Era III and later). By spending three Population Actions, a player may convert a Migratory unit into a Metropolitan unit in a hex it occupies. This hex must have the metropolitan site icon, which is of a type that is currently habitable per section 8.3 (for instance, a jungle site during Jungle climate is not habitable without pesticides, etc.). Only one metropolis is allowed per hex.

4. Sabine Raid. A player may make one ransack or (if Era III and later) espionage (see section 7.2) upon a player who he has just attacked (see "Migration" below) or besieged (section 12.0) during this phase. The outcome of a Sabine Raid does not depend upon who won the battle. There is a limit of one Sabine Raid per attack or siege.

5. Population Increase. A player may take the leftmost unit of the Population track and place it on a habitable (see section 8.3) and accessible spot on the map - either where he has units or slaves already, or in one of his metropolitan hexes (occupied or unoccupied by friendly or enemy units). If the Population track is empty, no further population placement is possible. After a unit is placed, it gets a free Migration action (see "Migration" below).

6. Migration. A player may move a Migratory unit that has not yet moved this turn. Each unit may be moved up to five spots, following the white hexsides. See diagram. It must finish its move in a habitable spot. It may not end its move on another unit unless it is attacking it. Metropolitan units may not move.

   Land spots are habitable and enterable.

[12.0] Phase 6 - Resolve Sieges

During this phase, a siege occurs if the current player wishes to occupy a foreign metropolis in a hex where he has Migratory units. The current player selects the order in which sieges are resolved.

Resolution. The current player has a strength equal to the number of his Migratory units in the hex. The defender has a strength equal to the number of his Migratory units in the hex plus his Footprint (to represent the metropolis). If either player is superior in Metallurgy, he adds one to his strength.

Note: If the current player has siege artillery technology, see section 15.0.

If the current player has the higher strength, then the defending metropolis is Lost and replaced as a Metropolis by one of the current player's Migratory units, and he steals an Elder as a Guest Worker from the defender (unless his Elder Pool is full, counting the Metropolis he just seized).

If the current player doesn't have a higher strength, the siege fails and nothing happens.

Example: On Green's turn, she moves 3 units into a hex containing a Red Metropolis and a Red Migratory unit. Red's Footprint is 2, so both players have the equivalent of 3 units present. But Green is more advanced metallurgically, so she wins and the Red Metropolitan unit is Lost. One of her units is shifted to form a new metropolis there, and she takes one of Red's Elders, if he has any. However, if her Footprint is 2, during the next phase (starvation) two of her units starve, leaving only the Red Migratory unit and the Green Metropolis in the hex.

[13.0] Phase 7 - Resolve Starvation Hexes

A starvation hex is one in which the combined number of friendly and foreign Map Units exceeds the current player's Footprint. The current player selects the order in which the starvation hexes are resolved.

Resolution. The current player removes his units until there are none left that violate their Footprint limit. Only units belonging to the current player can starve.

Example: Refer to the map in section 16.0. The India, Tibet, and Afghanistan hexes each have three Black migratory units. If Black has a Footprint of two, then all three are starvation hexes. During his starvation phase, he decides to remove the unit in Nicaea, which makes all three hexes non-starvation.

[14.0] Special Rules

[14.1] Deal Making

No deals may be initiated by an Era I player. During Era II and later, a player is allowed these two types of deals with other players:

Foreign Aid. A player is allowed to expend Elders on behalf of another player (anytime). He may bid Elders in support of another player's bid, but only if he is qualified to bid upon that card.

Oil Embargo. Anytime during his turn, a player may announce the setting or lifting of oil rights (necessary for air force or vehicle technology). He may perform this as part of a reciprocal deal; however, all deals are non-binding.

Note: Players may make non-binding promises (things legally allowed in the rules) with no penalties if they are broken.

[14.2] Slaver and Enslaved Societies

A player losing his last Map Unit becomes an enslaved society. If this was due to an attack, the conquering player becomes the slaver society. If this was due to a catastrophe or starvation, the victim chooses another player to be the slaver. Both slaver and enslaved are subject to the following six effects:

Footprint. Upon enslavement, if the Footprint of the slaver and slave society are unequal, the lesser Infrastructure Unit is advanced in the Footprint track until they are equal. Stack the slaver's Unit on top of that of the enslaved to indicate enslavement.

Slave Prohibited Actions. A slave society may not perform the Domestication, Revolution, Trade, Naturalist, Urbanization, or Sabine Raid actions.

Slave Population Growth. An enslaved society may place new population only in the metropolitan hexes of the slaver society. This placement may be on top of a foreign (non-slaver) unit, in which case an attack occurs. If the slaver society has no metropolises, then no slave population placement is possible. The enslaved player may never move his units after placement. Important: The loss of a metropolis does not remove the slaves around it.

Acculturation. Slaver and enslaved societies may perform acculturation actions upon each other per the limitations of section 11.0, except that the slaver is allowed to acculturate the enslaved if both have equal cultures. The enslaved society is immune to acculturation except by the slaver.

Note: The enslaved society is not allowed to own metropolises and thus is limited to one Elder.

Infrastructure Advances. If any infrastructure gains or losses are achieved by either a slaver or enslaved society, the advance or loss is applied instantly to the other player as well (observing Bound limits, see section 9.3). Example: The slave society catches a disease of Bound 4, which boosts both his and the slaver's Immunology by one. The slaves pick their masters to catch the disease as well, boosting both of their Immunologies another step.

Slave Revolt/Genocide. The Map Units of enslaved and slaver societies may never attack or besiege each other. However, if either the slaver or enslaved player makes a barbarian raid upon the other, or if the slaver society goes into Chaos or is himself enslaved, then instantly the enslavement comes to an end, dissolving all slavery rules and putting all the enslaved units into siege against the metropolises of the former slaver society. All Guest Workers of the former slave society are returned from all players to their home color Elder Pool. If the slaver society loses any units due to Chaos, these are replaced by units of the former slave society's color, taken from his Population track. If a slaver society frees more than one slave society when he lapses into Chaos, the slaver player decides which slave color each of the lost slaver units are replaced by.

[15.0] Notes on the Infrastructure Tracks

A player with siege artillery (Metallurgy stage 4) may consider the defender's Footprint to be one when resolving sieges.

With colonial power (Maritime stage 2), a player's units may enter sea spots, but at double cost.

With blockade technology (Maritime stage 3), a player's units may enter sea spots at a cost of one each. These units may end their turn on a sea spot, but if so they are Lost during Phase 7, Resolve Starvation Hexes. (Blockading units are thus useful as sacrificial units during sieges.)

With air force technology (Maritime stage 4) plus the use of a metropolis in an oil hex, a player can move his units ten instead of five, and all spots may be entered at a cost of one. In addition, the player can leapfrog opposing units without permission.

With missile technology (Maritime stage 5), a player's units have unlimited movement. In addition, he is allowed to expend one or more Population Actions, each of which will lower the maritime infrastructure of a designated opponent by one stage.

Upon initially attaining railroad technology (Energy stage 3), a player instantly gains one free Infrastructure advance of his choice. Example: A player attains Energy 3 and has Footprint 3. He announces that, for his free rail increase, he will advance to Footprint 4.

A player with vehicle technology (Energy stage 4) plus the use of a metropolis in an oil hex may use Innovation Actions to advance any chosen Infrastructure other than energy.

A player with A-bomb technology (Energy stage 5) may use Population Actions to destroy designated enemy metropolises. Unless he has Maritime stage 5 (missile), each metropolis attacked must be Neighboring.

• MAD: If the victim of an A-bomb also has A-bomb technology, each metropolis he loses may destroy an opponent's metropolis simultaneously.
• Nuclear Winter: For every three metropolises destroyed by A-bombs, during starvation a roll must be made on the Climatic Catastrophe table (section 8.2). Metropolis destruction is cumulative over turns (keep track of losses by dedicating a spare dice with the number of spots = lost metropolises).

With venereal disease germs (Immunology stage 3), a player inflicts (during Phase 6) any players whom he successfully besieges with a disease limited by Bound 3.

[16.0] Example Game Turn: Alexander the Great (Era III)

Innovation Actions. With five units in his Innovation track, Alexander has an innovation of two. For one action he advances to the Era III Golden Age, and the other he uses to ransack the Hoplite phalanx card. He is set for world conquest!

Play Cards. Alexander plays his only card, the Hoplite phalanx. He is at Energy stage 2, meeting the requirements for left side play. This increases his Metallurgy one step (to stage 3, the Iron Age).

Stability Roll. Alexander has a Population number of three and an administration card of rank 3, so no Chaos is possible.

Population Action #1. Alexander chooses to increase his Population actions from three to six this turn by expending three Elders. On his first action, he brings in a Migratory unit at Scythia, and moves it three spaces into Maracanda, battling the Hindu unit there. The Metallurgy of the attacker is considered only two, since it crossed some straits, but this is sufficient to crush the defense, still at Metallurgy stage 1.

Population Action #2. Since the Hindus are culturally inferior, Alexander decides to perform an acculturation to steal one Elder from them.

Population Actions #3, #4, #5, and #6. At Pella, Alexander starts four more map units, and one by one, moves them to Memphis, Tyre, Persepolis, and (using boats) Ust-Urt Island.

Resolve Sieges. Alexander chooses to resolve the siege in Babylon first. His opponent, Persia, defends with a Footprint of three, which matches the number of Alexander's units. But Alexander's superior Metallurgy gives him another effective unit, and he wins and replaces the Persian metropolis with his unit in Ust-Urt. The same thing happens in the next siege, in Arabia, except that he uses his unit from Memphis to move in.

Resolve Starvation Hexes. Alexander's Footprint is three, so Afghanistan (with two Macedonian and two Hindu units) is a starvation hex. Alexander chooses his unit at Maracanda to remove. The hex is no longer in starvation.

On Alexander's Next Turn. Alexander increases his Population number, and sinks into Chaos. This is all part of his plan to advance into the Era IV Dark Age! He loses three units in depopulation, flips his Public cards upside down, advances his Era Marker, and ends his turn.

[17.0] Ending the Game

The game ends on the end of the turn that the first player enters the Era IV Dark Age (or the Dark Age that follows Era IV if playing the full game using the expansion deck).

Determining the Winner. Each player receives victory points according to his identifier (A, C, H, N, or P) at the end of the game. Each player identity counts the specified Public card ranks held in his Repertoire (suppressed or unsuppressed), and/or all the units in his Elder Pool, as noted below. To this total is added the player's Innovation and Population numbers at the end of the game. The highest total wins.

• Authorization A (National Unity): Victory points = the sum of the ranks of all Administration plus Information Cards in his Repertoire.
• Authorization C (Universal Humanism): Victory points = the sum of the ranks of all his Culture plus Information Cards.
• Authorization H (Social Equity): Victory points = the sum of the ranks of all his Administration plus Culture Cards.
• Authorization N (Family Tradition): Victory points = the number of Elders of any color in his Elder Pool plus the ranks of all his Culture Cards.
• Authorization P (Individual Freedom): Victory points = the number of Elders of any color in his Elder Pool plus the ranks of all his Information Cards.

Example: Player N has two units in her Elder Pool and several Public cards, two of which are culture: one with one star, and the other with three stars. Her Population and Innovation numbers are both two. Therefore, she has ten victory points.

Note: If playing with the Era IV expansion set, Producer Elders count for double points (for those players using Elders for victory conditions). This applies only for games that enter Era IV (i.e.; the "full" game and the Age of Faith scenario [section 19.1]). Normal scoring applies to games ending at the end of Era III.

[18.0] Optional Rules

1. Voluntary Public Card Introduction. (recommended) Remove the rule (4th sentence of section 9.0) that forces a player to play his Public cards immediately. Instead, a player may hold Public cards in his hand in the same fashion as Idea cards. If the Public card has a catastrophe, it must be announced and enacted during the Catastrophe phase during the turn drawn, but the Public card need not be revealed. If using this rule, replace the sentence in section 9.2, "If nobody bids on it, it is awarded to the current player." with the sentence, "If nobody bids on a Public card, then it is discarded and removed from the game."

2. New Population Actions. (recommended)

   Livestock Raid (Era II and later): If a Neighbor is at Energy stage 1 or higher, advance to Energy stage 1. Alternatively, if a Neighbor is at Footprint stage 2 or higher, advance to Footprint stage 2. (Recommended new rule): This action requires an attack or siege.

   Mining (Era III and later): If a player has a Metropolis on a resource hex, and expends an Elder, he may roll on the Resource Extraction Table adding one extra to the die roll. Each attempt costs one population action and one elder expenditure.

3. Counterespionage. (recommended) Allow the victim of a Cold War or Espionage action to block it by performing an Elder Expenditure.

4. No Final Chaos. (recommended) Replace the first sentence of section 17.0 with: "The game ends the instant the first player enters the Era IV Dark Age (or the Dark Age that follows Era IV if playing the full game using the expansion deck.)" [This rule removes the disadvantage that the player ending the game suffers due to going into chaos.]

5. Swine Flu. Referring to the "6+" entry of the Animal Husbandry table, the Bound of the Disease, instead of being "1", is instead considered to be whatever Era the current player is in.

6. The Toba Event. (This rule makes the cow hex a bit less attractive as a resource.) If the Yellowstone volcano card is drawn, instead of a volcano in America consider it Mount Toba in Sumatra instead which blows its top. This event removes all units in the Asian Elephant and Auroch Cow hexes (i.e.; they are lost), and forces one climate change roll.

7. Domestication in Uninhabitable Hexes. This rule modifies the Domestication rule (1st sentence of section 9.5) to allow a Domestication attempt in a hex that is currently uninhabitable. If successful, the player gains the effects of domestication, except a Metropolis is not created. Example: Player A has a migratory unit in east Alaska during an Ice Age. He plays a card with the flame icon, allowing him to make a Resource Extraction roll for uranium. If successful, he advances his energy one step.

[19.0] Expansion Set Rules & Notes

[19.1] Era IV – The Age of Reason

The Age of Reason expansion adds 55 new cards to Origins. These cards allow players to advance their Origins civilizations into the modern age, the Age of Reason.

Population Actions

Four additional Population actions have been added. These are:

8. Free Trade (Era V). This action is exactly like the "Trade" Population action, except that the number of Elders gained can be up to three (as agreed upon by the two traders) instead of one. The number of Elders gained in a Free Trade action is NOT limited by the number of metropolises.
9. Tourism (Era V). This action allows the player to perform an acculturation on another player who has fewer total unsuppressed public cards.
10. Elections (Era V). This action allows the player to add two to his strength during sieges. Even if a player has more than one active "elections", two is the maximum strength addition.
11. Terrorism (Era V): With an Elder Expenditure, perform a Barbarian raid.

Note: Free Trade, Tourism, Elections, and Terrorism are facilitated actions on certain Era IV cards (see section 9.2).

Additional Era IV Rules

The following additional rules are only applicable to Era IV and later:

Ideological Suppression. If a player obtains by auction a Public card that indicates his identity letter within a black square, this card is removed from the game (i.e.; not placed in the discard pile) without its effects being applied.

Utopia. This activity, indicated by a circular icon found on certain Era IV Idea cards, allows the player to subtract from the Stability Roll on the turn played. [This destabilization may be useful for the player to end the game by failing the final Stability Roll and entering Era V.]

Discoveries. This activity, indicated by a diamond icon found on certain Era IV idea cards, allows the player to draw new cards into one's hand off of any Era Deck he has entered. These cards may be played immediately.

Era IV Scoring. Producer Elders count for double points (for those players using Elders for victory conditions). This applies only for games that enter Era IV (i.e.; the "full" game and the Age of Faith scenario [section 19.2]). Normal scoring applies to games ending at the end of Era III.

[19.2] Short Game: Age of Faith

This shorter game starts in 1200 BC, and includes Era III and IV only. All players start with Infrastructure units on Footprint stage 3, and stage 2 in the other four infrastructures. Each player starts with an Era unit in the Era III Dark Age. Each player starts with their Innovation and Population tracks full, except for those marked with a red star. Each player starts with three or four Map Units, placed as follows:

• A (Olmec/Aspero): Metropolises on Sunflower and Peanut, Migrant unit in Guadalajara.
• C (Egypt): Metropolis on Finger Millet, Migrant unit on "Cro-Magnon", one producer Elder.
• H (Lapita): Metropolis on Kangaroo, Migrant units on "Hobbit" and Hawaii, one producer Elder.
• N (Sumeria): Metropolis on Wheat, Migrant unit on "Neanderthal", one producer Elder.
• P (Harappan/Xia): Metropolis on Rice, Migrant units on "Peking Man" and India, one producer Elder.

Note: Guadalajara is the land spot directly below Maize, Beans; India is the land spot directly below Auroch Cow.

Before the game begins, roll for one climate change. Then start game per section 5.0, step 9.

Note: For a two player game, the recommended Demographies are C vs. P; for a three player game, C vs. N vs. P; and for a four player game, C vs. P vs. A vs. H.

[19.3] Dr. Noah Vale's Era I to IV Scenario

This highly recommended game requires the Era IV deck, plus the rules and overlays found in the files section [named "Origins fleshed out – Eras I thru V"] of the OriginsGame Yahoo Group: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/OriginsGame/files/ It adds many domesticates [wolf, silk worms, pepper, tobacco, emissary, etc.], new actions [persecution, publication, knapper, etc.], new resources [coal, whaling, iron, etc.] and infrastructure abilities [horticulture, mechanization, paved roads, etc.]

[19.4] Dr. Noah Vale's Era V HIGH FRONTIER Scenario

It had to be done! To integrate your Origins game into a High Frontier game, see [28.0] in the "Origins Fleshed Out" rules. These are found in the files section [named "Origins fleshed out – Eras I thru V"] of the OriginsGame Yahoo Group: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/OriginsGame/files/

[20.0] Solitaire Game

A brutal solo variant of Origins, courtesy John "Dr. Erosion" Douglass, revised by Robert Lawrence.

1. "Public Cards", which includes information, culture, and administration, are removed from each deck and placed in separate piles.

2. "Public Cards", which includes information, culture, and administration, are only "awarded" when a player gains any level on the technology track (i.e., increasing in footprint, maritime... etc.). To win a "public card", you must exhaust as many elders as the Era that you are in, or based on the position of your letter on the public card (from the top down), whichever requires the fewest elder expenditures. Any climate change, volcanic eruptions, or diseases associated with the "public cards" are played as usual.

3. Administration and information cards work the same as they do in the normal game. Culture cards allow the player to make a one time "acculturation" population action that allows the player to gain as many elders their civilization can support up to the level of the Public Card (i.e. an Era II card allows your civilization to gain a maximum of two elders). Use cubes of a different color to represent these elders. When they are lost, they are removed from the game.

4. Anytime a player tries to move to another continent, the player must a roll a die to see if the move is successful. After you move your unit and roll a die, you compare your die roll to your level on the metallurgy track. If the die roll is higher than your level on the metallurgy track, your movement failed and the unit is placed on the "Innovation Track". If the die roll is equal or less than your position on the metallurgy track, your movement was successful. If an "Eye" is exposed on the last card you played (meaning "cultural diffusion"), you don't have to follow this rule and can move to a continent with no penalty.

5. Every time a "barbarian raid" symbol appears on a card you draw, you are attacked immediately. You roll a die and compare it to your level on the metallurgy track. If the die roll is higher than your level on the metallurgy track, you lose a migratory unit, metropolis unit, or suppress a "Public Card", your choice. If the die roll is equal or less than your position on the metallurgy track, the attackers were defeated. If you happen to draw two or more cards with the "barbarian raid" symbol, it's World War. If you lose the roll, you lose "three" Map or Elder units (player's choice). If you win, you gain one level on the Metallurgy track and one level on the Immunization track (Cool!!).

6. For an innovation action where cards are drawn, one card is removed from the deck unplayed. (i.e., for each card drawn, one is lost.) For every turn where a player has no cards to play (no cards left in any deck available based on your current Era) and no other innovation actions possible, the player loses migratory and metropolis units (player's choice) equal to your current Era.

   Optional: You must lose a number of idea cards per turn during Era IV depending upon one's score at the end of Era III:

Here is a sample Solitaire Game, courtesy Robert Lawrence:

30,000 BC Starting in Egypt as Homo Heidelbergensis. Matriarchal society, with "alpha" females and some ritualistic behavior.

29,000 BC Males start using trophies to attract females. I used exogamy (the practice of forming pair bonds outside one's band) to expand into Asia.

28,000 BC First specialists (fire-bearers).

27,000 BC Butchers using Clactonian scrapers to bring animal parts home.

26,000 BC Cattle domestication in India, and then Toba explosion depopulates India and ends the Ice Age. Human's first use of verbs, and twine.

25,000 BC Human's first use of nouns. Concepts are now primarily stored in human memory in verbal form, and Era II (the Bicameral Age) is entered. Also first use of woven sandals, the first piece of technology envisioned in one's mind before being created.

24,000 BC Pair bonding. Failed attempt to domesticate rice in china.

23,000 BC First burials (an interesting indication of pre-conscious bicameralism)

22,000 BC Stone points are now hafted onto spears. Body adornment, including necklaces and ochre body paint. The brief Interglacial ends, a new Ice Age is entered.

21,000 BC A setback as human sacrifice is used to try to invoke failing god-voices. Down to one Elder.

20,000 BC Archery invented, using Acheulian points. Acrophony (primitive alphabet) adopted, and the first attempts at writing. Era II Golden Age entered.

19,000 BC Following the invention of the ard plough, rice is finally cultivated, but it turns out to be low protein. Gold mining is attempted, but fails. [I forgot to position myself for gold right away, and thus missed a golden opportunity (so to speak) last turn, and the lack of gold hurts me all the way until Era IV].

18,000 BC Barbarian raids overrun Egypt. (Perhaps the Sea Peoples, who were among the first subjectively conscious tribes in the world). Pack zebras domesticated. I am badly suffering for the lack of any maritime skills, not even rafts, & wonder if I should be drawing from Era I.

17,000 BC Sumerian irrigation adopted, but also the first soil salinization, which loses me another specialist. However, rafts appear on the Harrappan river! Finally! Also status clothing adopted.

16,000 BC Natufian style villages.

15,000 BC Unetice smiths fail to refine gold. (sigh)

14,000 BC The adoption of Elamite-style Federalism causes a population boom. The Syrian city-states use temple administrators. And grooming of each other is used as a status activity.

13,000 BC Wood carving and dugouts. First hieroglyphics and pharaohs. Wheat is grown in the fertile crescent. The first "guest workers". Smallpox pandemic.

12,000 BC The world lapses into Chaos, as the bicameral mind breaks down. I lose 5 map units.

11,000 BC Era III (The Age of Faith) is entered, and the Pharaohs are re-established. Use of oracle bones and ritual burials are used to try to retain vestiges of the bicameral mind.

10,000 BC Barbarians overrun South Africa. Guest workers die off. Hieroglyphics re-discovered.

9000 BC Stagnation during Era III Dark Ages. Only one Elder; wish I had gold!! Cities in Fertile Crescent, Harappan Valley, China, and South Africa.

8000 BC Primitive skills only during the Dark Ages: fishing weirs, trapping.

7000 BC The Pharaoh's royal roads established, a boon to specialists such as stonemasons and couriers.

6000 BC A world war, which I lose of course. On top of this, measles [It is especially aggravating to lose Elders one is saving to buy Victory cards if the Victory card when revealed has a disease on it, so you get hurt and you can't buy it!]. I fortunately avoid chaos, but lose elders and African and Harrapan cities. My navy expands to the first galleys, then the first ships. The first general polytheistic religions adopted, incorporating the best of the (bicameral) personal-god system, with the new universal god system.

5000 BC I use economic stimulation, and am fortunate again to avoid chaos.

4000 BC Stagnant dark ages, but no chaos (whew!)

3000 BC Roman influences: divorce, paterfamilias. The worldly influence of the coliseum emboldens Celtic sea-explorers to enter America.

2000 BC Hallstadt Celts in America create the first biofuel (jojoba bean oil). Alcoholism takes its toll on elders. The first troubadours. A population boom.

1000 BC The concept of nationhood established. Era III Golden Age entered.

1 AD The rise of reason undermines faith. The world lapses into civil war and chaos. Era IV (the age of reason) entered.

1000 AD The pharaoh rule re-established. The first pharmaceuticals, glassblowing. Also, unfortunately, a reversion to bicameral behavior with necropolises.

1100 AD Cities re-established in the Middle East. Iron Age entered.

1200 AD Dark Ages continue, but alphabet re-discovered. First birth control and feminism. Barbarian raids wipe out the Aztecs.

1300 AD More barbarian raids take out Persia. Gunpowder discovered. The first salesmen. The first Sports Cartels. Attempt to discover oil in the Middle East fails. Life spans long enough to support grandparent nannies for child care. Smog.

1400 AD & 1500 AD Dark ages, economic stimulation only.

1600 AD Goodyear and DuPont factories develop the first rubber, chemical vulcanization, aluminum, plastics, polymers. Germ Theory adopted. Westinghouse generators produce widespread electricity. McDonalds establishes fast food industry. But both influenza and HIV strike.

1700 AD Era IV golden age. Cities in America and Europe promote nationalistic patriotism.

1800 AD The Fugger family introduces banking. Carrier invents Refrigeration. The first Supreme Courts. The first lawyers.

1900 AD Revolution, the nationalistic government is overthrown in favor of one supporting the family values and the family as the basal societal unit. Farm machines create the Green revolution. Disney studios, Mattel introduces the Barbee Doll.

2000 AD My score, ending as Neanderthal, was 16 pts Elders (8 Elders double pts), 24 pts Culture, 5 pts Innovation, 3 pts Population.

Ending score (total): 48. This is the highest score as of May 20th 2008.

[21.0] Strategy & Tips

The trick to playing Origins is to maintain a healthy demography, with low birth rates and more young adults than children. As I say in the player's guide in the rules, one should avoid the demographies of modern African nations like Chad, where the median age is just 14, fecundity is very high but so is infant mortality, and stability is sub-marginal.

Often in Origins, one has a choice between "masculine" values (territorial expansion, aggression, technology, infrastructure) vs. "feminine" values (pair bonding and marriage, stability, education, child care). The latter actions (represented by fecundity decreases) must be played periodically. Resist the temptation to increase one's maritime skills, etc. and instead play the right side of the card, if one is at less than 2 innovation actions. During our playtests, players following this guideline never suffered from turns in which he could do nothing.

The percentage of idea cards in Era I with fecundity decreases is 69%; in Era II it is 82%. In Eras III and IV it is even higher, with doubles and triples possible. Whether by imitation or novel behavior, it is not difficult to maintain a healthy and stable demography through the use of fecundity decreases.

Except during pandemics, one can always avoid risking chaos by migrating rather than expanding population. There are times in the game one wants to fall into chaos, because often only through chaos can progress be made. In these instances, one should save cards with fecundity decreases on it, to keep the chaos from going into "deep chaos". An example of this is in the extended example of play in the rules.

Infrastructure Notes

Energy. As mentioned in the Origins rulebook, the domestication of animals is the only method available to advance to Energy stage one. Therefore, all players should make animal domestication their highest priority. However, if you are using the optional "Livestock Raid" rule and your neighbor(s) have achieved Energy stage one, another method is to advance to Era II and steal it from them.

After reaching Era III, a player must get Energy stage two to advance to Era IV (and end the game). One method of advancing to Energy stage two is possible through the extraction of biofuels. Biofuel is only available in one location in the Old World (the Straits of Gibraltar) but this is a "-" resource and requires a roll of 6 for success. The New World contains three biofuel locations, Mexico, Chile, and Hawaii). These locations cause no modification and thus successful extraction occurs on a roll of 5+. The catch, of course, is that you have to migrate there. If you have Maritime stage two then any of these locations shouldn't present a problem. Otherwise, you may want to trust to climate changes, though that's a less dependable method. Oil and Uranium extraction will almost never occur in Era III, so carefully weigh using an action to extract these. Energy stage three or greater and Metallurgy stage four and greater are generally best left for Era IV. Once you reach Energy stage three, you can think about ending the game rather than pushing on to Energy stage four or five. Then again, nuclear weapons can add an interesting twist to diplomatic relations…

Footprint. Domestication of animals and plants is the only method to achieve Footprint stage two. Without Energy stage one, you cannot get to Footprint stage three, domesticate resources, or use the certain Era II cards.

After obtaining Energy stage one and Footprint stage two, players should make a plant domestication attempt; a roll of 5+ leads to Footprint stage three.

Metallurgy. To obtain Metallurgy Stage one or two, attempt an animal domestication (this requires a roll of 1 or less). Depending on the climate, zebras and horses give the best chance due to their -2 modifier. Metallurgy stage one can also be obtained from Era I cards. If the players stay away from war, Metallurgy is not essential. It should be possible to advance to Era II even if you do not have Metallurgy stage one.

An important "Great Wall" in Era IV is Metallurgy stage four, with which one can get Oil or Uranium easily. Metallurgy is not essential for ending the game, but Energy stage three is essential.

Maritime. Early advances in Maritime infrastructure allow your civilization to move to map areas that are otherwise unreachable, such as moving via straits and open ocean. Maritime stage three and higher provide added movement and in some cases, combat capability. Maritime stage three, for example, allows Map Units to end their turn at sea – this is useful for conducting sieges. Maritime stage five allows a player to conduct direct attacks against another player's Maritime Infrastructure. Considering the time scale of this game, this gives new meaning to being "bombed back to the Stone Age."

Note that all Maritime advances are obtained via the play of Idea cards, so don't forget the Ransack/Education Innovation actions.

Immunology. As opposed to the Maritime Infrastructure, which allows players to move to unreachable parts of the map, higher Immunology stages allow players to move Map Units into formerly uninhabitable areas. Tundra spots, for example, become habitable at Immunology stage two. Immunology stage five makes jungle sites habitable; note the difference between this and Metallurgy stage two, which allows Map Units to enter jungle spots.

Advances in the Immunology Infrastructure depend upon card play, being "infected" (chosen) by neighboring players who are themselves affected, and animal domestication attempts that pass diseases along to humans (rolls of 6+ during animal domestication attempts). Until you are immune to a disease your civilization will suffer, but the long term benefits generally more than outweigh these effects.

Era Progress. If a player has Energy stage one, he should advance to Era II and even Era III as soon as possible, as the Era III deck contains many advantageous cards. Always advance to the Golden Age of Era II rapidly, so as to get into Era III if Chaos should strike. Don't advance to Era III until you have a couple of Elders, metropolises, and Public cards, plus Metallurgy stage two (Bronze Age).

War and Slavery. In general, and especially early in the game, war is counterproductive and is not a good method to use to advance your civilization. War requires diverting your civilization's energies into attacking or defending instead of advancing. Also, increasing the number of Migrant Units in play (which are required to fight the war) can leave your society vulnerable to chaos. Meanwhile, the non-warring players can continue to advance since they do not have to divert resources into prosecuting a war.

Enslaving other players also has little merit. It does little to help you, and may help the enslaved player more than you. It can be useful if you need a Footprint boost.

Stability. Watch your population growth, as advancement requires a stable society. Unless you are gearing up for war, you should need only one or two Migratory unit(s) on the board. Of course, if you are intentionally trying to destabilize your society in order to advance to the next era, then feel free to expand your population.

Victory. After a player achieves Energy stage two (short game) or three (full game), the goal (and that player's victory) will be in sight. That player should advance to the current Era's Golden Age, draw as many Era III cards as possible, and expand his population in order to receive maximum Victory Points (VPs).

The other players are not, of course, sitting idly by while this happens. Once a player crosses the Energy stage two / three boundary, there are several options. These include attacking the Energy stage two/three player (not always recommended), drawing as many cards as possible, and/or building more metropolises to allow for more Elders (and thus more VPs).

[22.0] Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do you need to clear both language areas of your brain to satisfy a language prerequisite? A: No, one area is enough.

Q: What prevents an Archaic Homo Sapiens from enslaving the Cro-Magnon on his first turn? A: Nothing prevents Archaic Homo Sapiens from enslaving either Cro-Magnon or Neanderthal on the first turn. It seems best, however, for him to instead move east to India and the cow resource. Since the early strategy is to domesticate animals, enslaving others is not very productive, and it may help the player who has been enslaved. If and when as a slaver you domesticate an animal, your slaves gain this advantage as well. The enslaved player can concentrate on improving his demography and innovation, and leave the hard work of domestication to his masters. Another disadvantage to enslaving immediately is that the migrant loss hurts your innovation.

Q: Are Stability rolls required in Era I? You are not yet on to the flipped brain card so you don't have dark ages and golden ages. A: Stability Rolls do apply in all Eras, including Era I.

Q: How soon should you move to Era II? I believe we moved too quickly and didn't have the resources to fare well there. We had a lot of "nothing" turns while we waited to cycle through some cards that finally gave us something we could do. (This was also somewhat true in Era I but was even more agonizing in Era II.) A: According to the strategy guide (section 4.0): "Don't advance to Era II until you have an Elder and a metropolis, plus a Footprint of stage 2." Era II (the bicameral age) was mankind's least stable period, and Era II is the toughest era to play in the game.

Also, if one wants to keep a played card as a "state secret", one should play a second card (often a fecundity decrease card) on top of the first card played, to "bury" it so that it will not be easily imitated.

Q: I found myself pretty immobile at the beginning of the game because I was C, the desert climate came in before my first turn, and never left. Is that to be expected, or were we doing something wrong? A: This is to be expected. According to Jared Diamond, this is the reason Africa is in the state it is in today, despite being the cradle of mankind. The Hobbit sometimes also has a harsh time of it. It is irritating, but not fatal. You can cross deserts via caravan upon the first animal domestication. However, getting out of Africa by boat while deserts are active is almost impossible, other than to Madagascar or Coconut Palm Island.

Q: If a Metallurgy stage zero Map Unit attacks a Metallurgy stage zero enemy across a strait what happens? A: The attacker loses.

Q: Can Slave units Migrate? A: No. The relevant rule is "The enslaved player may never move his units after placement."

Q: In a game where a player successfully enslaves three other players, can Slave units attack other Slave units? A: Yes. A slave player may place his unit over the units of another slave player, or indeed any other player other than the enslaving player. This constitutes an attack. The relevant rule is: "This placement may be on top of a foreign (non-slaver) unit, in which case an attack occurs." (See section 14.2.)

Q: When the player who is wiped out becomes enslaved, what happens to his last destroyed unit if the unit that destroyed it also perishes in the attack? A: Map units that are wiped out are returned to the owning player's demography as a Loss (see the definition of Loss in section 3.0).

Q: What happens to the unit that is under the enslaving unit when the slaver goes into Chaos? If it is under a metropolis I assume it moves to one of the hex points as part of a besieging force, but what if the slaver has no cities, and the unit is under a migratory unit? And what if the migratory unit itself is lost due to Chaos and replaced with a unit of the same color as the slave? A: Existing slave units remain in position if the slaver goes into Chaos. They may move on their turn. Existing slave units even remain in position if the metropolis they occupy is lost for some reason. Map units should not be stacked upon top of each other; this is disallowed except if they are in combat, whereupon one or the other or both are immediately removed.

Players who are enslaved may work upon improving their demographies, and plotting for their eventual outbreak. Since slavers must go into Chaos sooner or later to get to the next era, this outbreak is inevitable. My opponents have generally concluded that enslaving does not advance one towards victory, and using units to suppress slaves are better used on other opponents (if any). The slave player can make things irritating for his masters, occupying space around his cities, and gaining his infrastructure advantages. My opponents prefer the strategy of containment, leaving the player disadvantaged in metallurgy or footprint with one last map unit so that he is not quite enslaved.

The historical model for the game's slave rules were taken from the plight of the Israelites (although the rule that the enslaved can acculturate their masters in some instances was inspired by the Mamluks and the Haiti revolt). The Zionist culture, although frequently enslaved under civilizations such as the Egyptians and Babylonians, and later in pogroms and inquisitions in various European and Muslim lands, still maintained enough identity and culture to outlive all their oppressors and contribute massively to the theological and economic ideas that run civilization today. They never gave up to assimilation! During one game that I recall, a player was repeatedly enslaved during the second and third eras, but came forth as a strong contender in the fourth era (we were playing the extended game with expansion). She came in a close second out of five. My point is that slavery is an undesirable position, but one that does not normally help the oppressor and is not necessarily fatal to the victims.

Q: The rules contain the following strategy recommendation: "Expansion. Quickly expand to hem in your opponents. If you have social instincts, consider using the Silverback Action for expansion and aggression." How exactly does this work? A: It can be vital to expand rapidly and attack some of your opponents units. For this you need to be able to put more than one new unit on the board. Homo Sapiens, for instance, has a good chance of being isolated in southern Africa; the Silverback action may be worth the price.

As a specific example, the Silverback action can be used early on to gain access to a valuable resource hex such as the cow in India. This action (Silverback is a term for an aggressive leader of a gorilla troop) typically gives a player two or three population actions during a turn, with no chance of going into chaos. If an opponent occupies the cattle spot, one can create one hunter-gatherer unit to attack the opponent, killing off both units, and then with the second population action create and send a second migrant to occupy the hex.

Q: If you are in the dark ages can you still suffer the effects of missing the stability roll? You can easily get into a cycle where you have only one action (one innovation) a turn usually with nothing you can do to improve your situation and eventually you miss your stability roll again which sets you back by loss of units on the board and cards suppressed. A: The effects of chaos do not differ if one is in the golden age or dark age. To avoid going into "deep chaos" (declines that last 2 or 3 turns), one should keep cards in reserve.

Q: Can you gain face-up cards while in a dark age or does everything stay flipped over until you are in a golden age? A: While in dark ages, one is vulnerable to revolution, but other than that there are no special rules for the dark ages. Thus one can gain face-up Public cards while in the dark ages. Also, it should be noted that going into chaos during a golden age can advance a player into the next era, whereas going into chaos during a dark age merely stagnates the player.

Q: Why would one want to bid for a Public card or play the right side of an Idea card that has an Elder Loss and no other effect? A: Per 9.3, Elder Losses are non-optional when playing a card. When playing an idea card, if you are unable to play the left side, you must play the right side and suffer an Elder Loss if that icon is there. These cards are in the deck to represent the bad side of unrestricted growth, or low technology expansion such as pollution and soil salinization.

Q: If someone is in a golden age in Era II and fails a stability roll, why would he not want to advance to Era III? A: One should always advance to Era III if one can, because it seems better than Era II. However, the requirements for left side play are higher in Era III than II, so there is a small downside to this advancement, if one has low infrastructure.

Q: Any tips on keeping innovation up and fecundity down? The single action to ransack a Fecundity Decrease and then play it during Phase 3 seems slow. A: There are many players who complain how hard it is to keep innovation high and fecundity low. This is the tempo of the game: how to make fewer (but bigger-brained) babies. I have only a few tips. Try to ignore tempting infrastructure increases in favor of fecundity decreases. Keep fecundity decrease cards in reserve, for recovery from chaos. See the tips in section 4.0 for gaining Elders, which helps keep innovation high. Go to higher eras: The higher the era, the more fecundity decreases there are. This is particularly true for the Era IV deck, which has birth control, the pill, abortion, etc.

Q: Are Population Actions compulsory? A: Actions are never compulsory. (The rules say "may perform"). Icons on cards are also optionally applied, except as specified on section 9.3 (Elder Losses or encephalizations).

Q: Is there a limit to the number of map units belonging to the same player that can be on a single spot? A: There is a limit of one unit per spot. The migration rules in section 11.0 state: "[A unit] may not end [its move] on another unit unless it is attacking it."

Q. What is an attack? A. An attack occurs when a migratory map unit enters the same spot as a foreign migratory unit (and is not allowed or does not want to leapfrog).

Q. What is a siege? A. A siege occurs when a migratory unit occupies a spot with a foreign metropolis in the same hex, whether the migratory unit moved or not, and whether there are enough units to defeat the metropolis or not.

Q. Is it possible to chain movement? That is, can you populate and then move five hexes with the free migrate action, then populate again at the place you've just moved to and then migrate the second unit another five hexes, and then populate again and move this third unit another five hexes? A. Yes.

Q. What does "use of a metropolis in an oil hex" mean? A. In order to use the vehicle technology or air force technology abilities described in the rules and on the map, you must have a metropolis in an oil hex, OR you can have oil rights granted to you by an ally with a metropolis in an oil hex (per the "Embargo" rules). A player with oil can set or lift oil rights to others during his turn.

[23.0] Era I Example Game Turn

This example of play will show the actions taken by one player (Player A) during the first turn of the game. The actions shown are not necessarily optimal play; the idea is to describe the flow of the game and how the actions are handled. Players are encouraged to set up the game and follow along with the examples shown.

Player A, Turn 1, Phase 1 – Innovation Actions

Player A's Innovation Number is one, since the rightmost vacant slot at the beginning of this phase on Player A's Innovation Track is "1". Only two areas of the Archaic Homo Sapiens brain are uncovered, the Limbic System and the Hindbrain. This means that the only allowable actions are those that require one or both of these symbols; actions that require, say the neocortex can not be chosen. The only action that meets this requirement is "Novel Behavior," which allows the player to draw the top card from the Era I deck. The card drawn is "Raft."

Player A, Turn 1, Phase 2 – Resolve Catastrophes

The "Raft" card does not contain a Catastrophe icon, so this Phase is skipped.

Player A, Turn 1, Phase 3 – Play Cards

The left side of the Raft card contains two prerequisite conditions: Neocortex and Limbic System. Since the neocortex area is covered by a Brain Unit, the left side of this card may not be played.

Player A decides to play the right side of the card. There are two icons: Encephalization and a Fecundity decrease. The Encephalization is not optional but the Fecundity decrease is. In this case, Player A decides to perform both actions in the order Encephalization first and Fecundity second. The Encephalization action removes the Brain Unit from the Neocortex of the Brain map; this block is placed on the rightmost vacant slot on the Innovation track (covering the "1*" slot). The Fecundity decrease moves that same block (thus uncovering the 1* slot on the Innovation track) to the rightmost vacant slot on the Population track (covering the 1* slot on the Population track). The last step is to place the Raft card face-up on Player A's discard pile.

Player A, Turn 1, Phase 4 – Stability Roll

The symbol directly beneath Player A's rightmost uncovered Population number is a happy face. This means that no Stability Roll is required, so play moves on to the next Phase.

Player A, Turn 1, Phase 5 – Population Actions

The number of Population Actions Player A can take is one, since that is the number in the rightmost vacant Population Track slot. Player A does not have any Elders, so he may not expend Elders to increase this number. Player A decides to perform a Population Increase action. To do so, he takes the leftmost unit on the Population Track (which, you'll remember, went from the Brain map to the Innovation track to the Population track) and places it on the same spot as the unit already on the board. Since only one unit can occupy each spot and since the Population Increase action allows a free Migration Action, the unit is now moved up to five spaces. One thing to remember is that each player's Footprint Infrastructure is one (this becomes important in Phase 7). To prevent starvation, the new unit must be moved far enough away so it is not in the same hex as the already existing unit. In this example, this Map Unit is moved five spaces to the east and is placed in the land spot beneath the Bactrian Camel.

Player A, Turn 1, Phase 6 – Resolve Sieges

There are no foreign metropolises on the map, so this Phase does not apply.

Player A, Turn 1, Phase 7 – Resolve Starvation Hexes

Player A only has one unit in each of two hexes. There are no foreign units in either of these hexes, so they do not count against Player A's units. Therefore, Player A's Map Units do not exceed their footprint are and not removed from the map. Player A's first turn is now complete.