Paleo
180 questions players ask about Paleo. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-06.
Setup and Modules
- Can I play Paleo solo, and where are the solo rules?
- In the solo variant, do I take wounds from red cards I discard to pay for the helper die?
- How do multiplayer-only cards such as Ahab's secret or the Overboard cards work solo?
- Can I play with only one module, or with none?
- Can I add a third module to a scenario?
- Can I play Module J on its own?
- How do I set up the decks for the first game with modules A and B?
- Do the colored symbols on the card packs (eye, rock, coin, mountain) mean anything?
- Where do dream, mission or other cards that come with a module go during setup?
- Where do the secret (mystery) cards go during setup, and which ones do I use?
Day Phase and Going to Sleep
- When choosing among my top three cards, can I look at their fronts?
- When I pick one of my top three cards, in what order do I put the other two back?
- Is the three-card choice secret, or can other players see my top three cards?
- If I go to sleep early, do the red cards I discard hurt me?
- Does the day phase end when I can no longer draw three cards?
- Can I choose an action whose cost I cannot fully pay, such as discarding two cards when I have one?
- Can I reveal a card and then take no action?
- Can I take more than one action from the same card?
- Where does a card go after I resolve, ignore or pay with it?
- Can I use a resource another player gained earlier in the same turn?
Helping Other Players
- What do I need in order to help another player?
- Can I help another player who does not need my help, just to share the reward?
- Can more than one player help the same player?
- If I help another player, do I share the reward?
- While helping, can the two groups use each other's items and abilities?
- Can I give or trade tools, cards or humans to another player while helping?
- When I craft with another player's help, who receives the crafted item?
- Can a helper discard cards to pay the cost for the player they help?
- Can a helper take the wounds meant for the player they help?
- When must I ask for help on an action that uses dice?
Wounds, Damage and People
- When I discard several red cards for one cost, can I split the damage between humans?
- Can damage from one card or effect be split between several humans?
- What happens to damage beyond a human's health?
- Do I take a wound for each red card I discard to pay for an action?
- Do I take wounds when a dream or special card makes me discard red cards?
- When a reward tells me to discard one red card, which card do I discard and does it hurt?
- Can I send the cards I discard as a cost to the cemetery?
- How much does a clothing (cloth) token prevent, and is it discarded after one use?
- Does Chieftain's Clothing stop me from splitting damage?
- Can a fur token prevent a death, and can a healing root revive someone?
Costs, Dice and Negative Actions
- How do the dice on an action card work?
- If a dice roll makes the action impossible, can I switch to another option on the card?
- Can I use a rope or torch after rolling the dice?
- What happens if I cannot fully pay a negative action, such as discarding 3 wood when I have 2?
- When one negative option is impossible, must I take the other, and can I pick one with no effect?
- Do negative actions give a reward if I only partly resolve them?
- Can I ignore a card that has a negative action?
- Can I decline a positive action even if I meet its requirements?
- Can I use a pelt or skin I get as a reward to prevent damage from the same action?
- When a card says to draw a card and 'resolve' it or take wounds, what counts as resolved?
Tools, Crafting and Resources
- How many idea cards fit on the workbench?
- In the optional Backpack mode, do tools count against the two-resource limit?
- Which tools are used up, and which stay permanently?
- When I pay a tool token, where does it go, and can I craft it again?
- Are tokens, resources and cards limited to what is in the box?
- How many wolf and clothing tokens are in the game?
- Are crafted tools communal, or only shared through helping?
- Are food, wood and stone shared between all players, and can I pool them to craft?
- Can I craft tools at any time, or only with a craft symbol?
- If a card lets me craft two items, do I pay resources twice and can the first help build the second?
Dream, Idea and Secret Cards
- Where does a dream card go when I gain it, and must I play it right away?
- After I resolve a dream card, where does it go, and can I pay costs with it?
- What do dream cards that move discards, or let me peek, do?
- When a card sends me to a secret card, do I resolve it right away?
- Where does a secret card go if I cannot perform its action?
- How is a revealed red secret card resolved, and can I delay it?
- If a requirement says to remove or destroy a card, is it met when that card is already in the graveyard?
- Can a card with no help icon that I added to my group be used any time?
Night Phase and Missions
- Must I complete both night mission cards every night, or can I take a skull instead?
- Are mission cards resolved every night, and can they be removed?
- Do I feed my people before the mission cards?
- What happens if I cannot feed a human at night?
- Does food spoil at night in the base game?
- Can I craft or share resources during the night phase?
- What are cards with the moon symbol in my group?
- What happens to the cards at the start of a new day?
Winning, Losing and Player Count
- If I gain the fifth victory token and the fifth skull at the same time, do I win or lose?
- What happens to victory points I gain after the five on the cave painting are filled?
- Can one player lose while the others keep playing?
- Is Paleo competitive in any way, or is there a semi-cooperative mode?
- Can Paleo be played with five players?
- When do I take a skull?
Module Cards: Wolves, Wishes and Heroes
- Which cards count as wolves for the Howls in the Night mission?
- When the fifth wolf is in the graveyard, who gets the dream card from Howls in the Night?
- Does Wolf Pack go to the cemetery when I have a torch, and does it count as a destroyed wolf?
- Are additional-action cards like Howls in the Night discarded or kept after resolving?
- Can food from two Dodo cards replace the Honey requirement on Orru's wish or dream?
- In Module E and Level 3, do unfed wishes cost one skull each or one skull in total?
- Do heroes count toward tribe size and night feeding?
- How do Draca and Darca work, and can others help or take the reward?
- How do Draca's Wish and its tools work?
- Can Jhula take wounds, and what does she heal?
Module Cards: Warriors, Rivers, Winter and Secrets
- How do the Warriors in Module I work?
- Where do river cards go in Module H, and how does the mission end?
- What do the four upper-left icons on river cards mean?
- How do the Handicraft card and the waiting cards from Module D work?
- How do Careful Stranger / Vorsichtiger Fremde cards work?
- How do Secret 11 and the Old Bear work?
- How do Secret 23 and the Invention card work?
- How do Snowfall, Ground Frost and the winter cards resolve?
- How do I remove the Snowstorm, and can Freezing Cold do it?
- Do I need to feed or heal the female warriors in Module I?
Paleo: A New BeginningExpansion
- Can I combine A New Beginning modules with base-game modules, and play base missions with the farm?
- Does A New Beginning raise the player count above four, or add solo rules?
- What do dream cards pointing to Secrets 6 or 7 do?
- Where does the Brewing dream card go during setup, and how does it resolve?
- Does the Xrib tribe start happy or angry at night?
- Can I take a Xrib option that makes them angry or leaves them unfriendly when they already are?
- Do secret tokens count as buildings for the five-buildings mission?
- Do 'capture 3 animals' quests need three animals at the same time?
- In the Volcano level, can I discard my remaining cards without effect to go to sleep early?
Paleo: The Terror BirdsExpansion
Paleo: The Initiation RiteExpansion
- Can my partner flip my candidate when I reveal a Test card?
- Does the Assistance card's six-symbol requirement need six of one symbol?
- What does the die roll on the Mentor card do?
- Does Overzealous's 'reveal the next Test card' mean searching my facedown deck?
- Who may reveal a totem challenge, and can I move tools to another player's initiate?
- Once an aspirant joins the tribe, whose group is it in and does it need feeding?
- When is Mission card L resolved, and when does its 3 food cost stop?
- Can I help my partner's youngling task, and what if I cannot do the first option?
- Which modules can I combine with The Initiation Rite?