Darwinning! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Contents
• Overview
• Species Attributes
• Setup
• Start of an Era
• Playing Tricks
• End of an Era
• Survival
• Improving Species
• Traits
• Food Chain
• Game End and Scoring
• Rules for Two Players

Game Contents

• 13 Species boards
• 90 Trait Cards: 1-15 (two of each) in each of three suits (Acorn, Blueberry, and Flower)
• 2 Joker Cards: Jokers can be played as a zero in any color.
• 3 Combination Cards: overview of the order of combinations for winning tricks.
• 1 Food Chain track
• 10 Environment cards: desert, forest, highland, jungle, mountain, ocean, plains, polar, underground, and wetlands
• 6 Player markers
• 12 Bite markers
• 42 Population markers (9 with two eggs, 27 with one)

Overview

The game is played over three Eras comprising a card phase and a survival phase. In the card phase players can improve their species by winning tricks (or losing the last trick). In the survival phase, the Population needs to have enough food. Food is acquired by living in appropriate Environments and eating other species. After three Eras the player with the most successful species – and therefore the most points – wins the game.

Species Attributes

Each species starts with a basic Population, a specific starting place on the Food Chain, some Environments it can thrive in, and a few basic Traits. All of these attributes can be improved throughout the game.

Setup

• Each player randomly draws one of the species boards and puts their player marker on the corresponding spot on the Food Chain track, indicated by the Food Chain number (A).
• Each player gets a number of Population markers corresponding to the Population indicated on their species board (B).
• You are now ready to play. The first Era starts.

Start of an Era

Shuffle all the Environment cards. Shuffle all discarded trait cards into the trait card deck.

Deal random Environment cards face up on the table.

• First Era – 5 Environment cards.
• Second Era – 4 Environment cards.
• Third Era – 3 Environment cards.

Optional Rule: For a longer game, play with four geological Eras, dealing 5, 5, 4, and 3 Environment cards.

Deal trait cards to each player for a hand of 10.

The player whose species is lowest in the Food Chain chooses which player leads the first trick, even themselves.

Playing Tricks

An Era comprises several tricks. For a trick players, in turn, play a number of cards on the table. The starting player or the winner of the last trick leads a card or a combination of cards, the others follow in turn.

Rules for playing out a trick are:

• The lead player plays one card or a combination.
• In clockwise order, the other players must then beat the strongest combination played in this trick so far, or play any single card. You do not have to follow suit.
• When everyone has had one chance to play, the player with the strongest combination wins the trick.

The only possible cards and combinations you can play, in descending order of strength, are:

• Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same value.
• Straight Flush: Three numerically consecutive cards of the same suit.
• Three of a kind: Three cards of the same value.
• Straight: Three numerically consecutive cards (for example, "3, 4, 5" or "8, 9, 10") of any suits.
• Flush: Three cards of the same suit.
• Pair: Two cards of the same value.
• Single card: One card, on its own.

A player can beat a combination by playing a stronger combination, or by playing the same combination with the same or a higher sum of values on the cards.

The winner of a trick can use one of the cards they played as part of their combination to improve their species (see page 7).

All other cards played during the trick are discarded and the winner of the trick starts the next trick.

A player does not have to show how many cards they have left.

End of an Era

The card phase of an Era ends when one player has no cards left after a trick has been played. The last trick of an Era is handled differently than the other tricks:

The winner of the trick cannot improve their species, instead, all other players may improve their species using one of the cards they played in this final trick. They do this in player order, starting from the player to the left of the winner of the trick.

Every player may keep up to two unplayed cards in their hand for the next Era. All other cards in their hand are discarded.

Once the improvements are done, the survival of each species is checked (see page 6).

Survival

Starting with the lowest species on the Food Chain and moving upwards, every species must now be checked for Survival.

A species needs one food for every Population.

• If there is not enough food, the species loses 1 Population.
• If there is excess food, the species gains 1 Population.
• If there is exactly the right amount of food, the Population stays the same.

Food availability calculation:

• Being well adapted: For each match between a central Environment card for the Era and an Environment on the species board, add 1-3 food, as shown on the board. For each extra Environment adaptation your species acquired matching a central Environment card, add 2 food.

  The Paradise promo Environment counts as a joker; each species can choose separately as which Environment this should count. However, the central Environment cards can not be chosen.

• Eating other species: You may eat any species lower than yours in the Food Chain. You can eat multiple species. Add 2 food per species you ate and give the corresponding player(s) a bite marker. Note that some Traits may allow your species to eat those higher in the Food Chain (e.g. Teeth), or make you inedible (e.g. Hard Shell, Camouflage), or undesirable (e.g. Poison).

• Traits: Traits may give you extra food (for example, Food Storage).

Once all species have been checked, every species that has two or more bite markers loses 1 Population (exception: Flock Animal). Then all bite markers are put back into the stock.

A species can lose no more than 2 Population each Survival Phase: one due to lack of food and a second one due to having too many bite markers.

A species can gain no more than 1 Population each Survival Phase: by having excess food available while not being eaten more than once.

Once all adjustments have been made, the next Era starts or, if this was the last Era, the game ends and species are scored (see page 10).

Improving Species

You can use a card from your trick (see page 4 and page 5) to do one of four things. You can never have the same environment or trait twice.

• Move up on the Food Chain: Put a card with a Food Chain Icon at the top of your species board to move up on the Food Chain track. (See page 9.)
• Increase Population: Put a card with a population icon to the right of your species board and increase your Population by the amount indicated on the card (1 or 2). There is no limit to the number of Population you can add in this way.
• Adapt to an Environment: Put a card with one of the environment icons to the left of your species board.
• Gain a Trait: Put a card on one of the five spaces on your species board to gain the effect the Trait gives. You may replace existing Traits, even the starting Traits. Any Trait cards replaced in this way are discarded.

Traits

Jokers can never be played as traits.

No.	Name	Effect
1	Pheromones	+1 food, you can eat 1 step above you on the Food Chain.
2	Symbiosis	During survival, use one of another player's Environments as your own. The Environment must match one on the table and cannot be one you already have.
3	Flock Animal	You need 3 or more bite markers (instead of 2) in order to lose Population.
4	Hard Shell	Cannot be eaten.
5	Communication	Can only be eaten by species below you on the Food Chain.
6	Teeth	+1 food. You can eat up to 2 steps above you on the Food Chain.
7	Food Storage	+3 food.
8

Food Chain

For each point of movement on the Food Chain you move a number of steps as follows.

• If the next slot is empty: Move one step.
• If the next slot is occupied: Jump over all occupied slots, moving directly beyond them.

Bonus for small animals: If you are on spaces 1-5 on the food chain when you start moving, you get one bonus point of movement.

The highest value on the food chain is 20. You can never get higher, and no one can jump over a species in that spot (or the ones queued up immediately behind) either.

Example: The players' species are currently in positions 1, 4, and 9. If the player on 1 gets two points of movement on the Food Chain they would get one extra point (bonus for small animals) and move to 5 (skipping 4 because it is occupied).

Game End and Scoring

At the end of the game, every species is scored as follows:

• Food Chain: Score points equal to your current Food Chain position.
• Population: Score 1 point for each Population up to and including your starting Population. Score 2 points for each Population above your starting Population.
• Environments: Score 1 point for each Environment you have on your species board. Score 2 points for each additional Environment gained.
• Traits: Score 1 point for each Trait with a number from 1-9. Score 3 points for each Trait with a number from 10-15. The starting Traits of a species as printed on the board and cards in the "zero points" slot do not score.

The species with the highest score is the winner. In the case of a tie, the winner is the species with the highest Population. If there is still a tie the winner is the species highest on the Food Chain.

Scoring Example: In the picture, the green dinosaur player scores 12 points for his position on the Food Chain, 7 points for his 4 Population, 5 points for Environments, and 5 points for his Traits, for a total of 29 points. The red fish player has 9+9+4+2=24, the yellow bird player has 14+7+5+3=29 and the blue frog player wins the game with 8+12+4+7=31. The blue frog player gets no points for Pheromones, because they are on the zero points box.

Rules for Two Players

The two player version uses a simple "dummy player". The "dummy player" is present on the food chain and will be represented during trick taking by three cards that are useable by the human players. Both human players (from now on referred to as player/players) set up their boards normally.

Draw three cards and put them face-up next to the main deck.

Assign one colour to the dummy player and put its scoring token in between the two players on the food chain. If it is not possible to place it at an equal distance to both players it should be closer to the player lower on the food chain. If both players are directly next to each other, put the dummy player's token one step above the higher player.

The game is now played normally with the following exceptions:

• Players do not have to play higher. They can always play any combination of cards or a single card.

• The three cards on display can be used by any player as part of their trick. At least one card of the trick must be from the player's own hand. Example: If there is a 7, an 8 and a 3 on the table the active player may play a 3 of any colour to make a pair, a 9 to make a straight flush or a 6 to make a flush (as well as other combinations). Afterwards the second player can also use any of the same three cards in any combinations.

  Once both players have played their cards, they declare in player order which of the dummy player's cards (if any) they want to use for the trick, without removing them from the display. Whenever a player wins the trick that player also takes and removes any cards from the display used to win the trick, then picks one to add to their tableau as normal. The person who loses the trick only discards their own cards as usual, even if this means that the cards played would have been invalid. This could lead to a situation where a dummy player's card (if part of a losing trick) could be used several times.

  If any of the players played one or more cards that in themselves would be valid (for example one single card or a pair) but could also be used in combination with cards from the dummy player (say for example a player played a pair of 3s and there is another 3 on display) the player may choose whether to use them or not.

• If no player uses any of the cards in the display, the dummy player will move up on the food chain by the combined food chain value on the cards lying in the display. This happens immediately after the winner of the trick is decided but before the winner picks their card. This can potentially happen after every trick.

• At the end of an Era, the dummy player will be considered to have the abilities of all the cards in the display (also for the purpose of copying or stealing effects/cards). The dummy player will never activate Mutation and therefore will never steal player cards.

• The dummy player will always bite if able and can be bitten (cards like Teeth and Camouflage count as long as they are on display).

• At the very end of an Era any cards remaining in the display are removed and three new ones are dealt. (The dummy player's cards are not replenished during an Era.)