Drifting Lands Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Effect Target
  • Drifting Phase
  • Selecting Phase
  • Playing Phase
  • End Phase
• About Cards
  • Drifting / Ultra Drifting
  • Splitting / Ultra Splitting
  • Orogeny
  • Moving / Migrating
  • Breeding / Reproducing
  • Evolving / Mutating
• Scoring
  • Scoring the Continents
  • Scoring the Pawns
  • Unused Cards
• 2-Player Mode
• Team Variety

Setup

Open and place the game board on the table. Use the Devonian map in your first game.

Place all 28 land tiles face-up as illustrated to form 4 continents with 7 land tiles each. All 28 tiles must be used regardless of the number of players.

Each player pick a species, and take all components of it (24 basic cards, 9 pawns and 1 player board). Put all unused components back into the box. Do not use the advanced cards in your first game.

Each player choose one starting continent. Place 4 level-1 pawns on the illustrated spaces.

Player who recently visited a science museum becomes the starting player, and takes the starting player marker.

Gameplay

The game consists of 4 rounds of play. Each contains four phase: Drifting phase, selecting phase, playing phase, and end phase.

Game ends at the end of last round, and a scoring will take place.

Effect Target

An effect with this symbol targets any continent on the board.

An effect with this symbol targets one of your pawn on the board.

An effect with this symbol targets any continent with your pawn on it.

Drifting Phase

Starting from the first player in clockwise order, players take turn to choose a continent with at least one of his/her pawns on it, and move that continent by one space.

When moving the continent, all tiles on it must move together in the same direction. Players shall not move any tiles outside of the map, but could move them adjacent to another continent.

When drifting, if any tile moves into an ocean space with a pawn, that animal unit will be removed due to the earthquake caused by the continent drifting. Put it back to its owner's supply.

Selecting Phase

After the drifting phase, each player chooses 4 cards from his/her deck. Players could choose any combination of cards except the cards in their discard pile.

Playing Phase

Starting from the first player in clockwise order, players take turns to play one card from his/her hand, discard the card after fully resolving its effect. Discarded cards cannot be used again. The playing phase ends after the last card in hand is played.

End Phase

After the last card in hand is played, the round ends. Pass the Starter Mark to the next player clockwise. If it' s the end of fourth round, end the game and start scoring.

About Cards

Drifting / Ultra Drifting

When you play Drifting, move a continent like the Drifting phase.

Splitting / Ultra Splitting

When you play Splitting, drift a part of the chosen continent from the rest. You can only split a continent with at least 2 tiles.

A continent must be split into 2 separate parts. You cannot move the remaining part.

Orogeny

When you play Orogeny, choose a plain tile adjacent to ocean space, and flip it to the Mountain side. Then place it on the top of an adjacent plain tile. All pawns on both tiles will be rernoved due to the volcanic eruption. Place them back to the owner' s supply.

Moving / Migrating

When you play Moving, move one of your pawns on the board up to 3 steps. You can move the pawns into any empty plain, mountain or ocean spaces. Moving into a same-or-lower-level space cost 1 step. Moving into a higher-level space cost 2 steps (for example, moving from ocean to plain, or plain to mountains). And moves from an ocean space direct into an adjacent mountain space cost 3 steps.

When you play Migrating, move one of your pawns on the board up to 5 steps. Note that you cannot distribute the steps into multiple pawns. Each card can move one pawn only.

During moving, you can move a pawn through another pawn of your own, but you cannot end the move in a space containing your pawn. You can change the direction during the movement.

You cannot move your pawns through your opponents' pawns. However, you can end the move in a space containing your opponents' pawn with a lower-level than your pawn. You will expel that animal and move it 1 space in any direction you like (ignoring the landscape). If there's no adjacent empty space, remove that pawn instead.

Breeding / Reproducing

When you play Breeding, take a level-1 pawn from your supply, and piace it on an empty space adjacent to one of your pawns on the board. You can breed on any landscape, including ocean, plain, and mountains.

If there's no level-1 pawn left in your supply, make an Evolving instead. See evolving section for more details.

When you play Reproducing, simply breed twice. You could breed twice adjacent to the same or different pawns. You can even breed adjacent to a newly spawned pawn. There's a very small chance that you might have level-1 animal in your supply but there is no empty space available on the board. In this case, you cannot evolve instead.

Evolving / Mutating

When you play Evolving, upgrade one of your pawn by 1. Level-4 pawns cannot be evolved. The amount of pawns in each player's supply is limited. If the pawns of a certain level is used up, then no Evolving shall take place.

When you play Mutating, upgrade one of your pawn by 2.

Scoring

You will score from continents, pawns on board. and unused cards. Use the scoring pad to help you.

Scoring the Continents

First, score each continent by adding the points of each tiles. The points of a tile depend on its location. Mountain tiles will score double points.

For each continent, players add their levels of the pawns on it and compare with each other. The first place will score full points of that continent. And the second place will score half (round down). Note that the amount of pawns will not affect the scoring.

If a continent is controlled by only one player, that player will score the full points of that continent and no player win the second place.

In case of tie for the first place, divide the full points of that continent between the tied players (round down). The second place is not scored. In case of tie for the second place, divide the half points of that continent between the tied players (round down).

Scoring the Pawns

For each pawn on the board, the owner scores the same points equal to its level.

Unused Cards

Each player reveals 8 unused cards from his/her deck, and scores each card's basic points.

Add up the scores from continents, pawns and unused cards. Player with the highest sum wins the game. In case of tie, tied player with more pawns on the board wins! If still ties, they share the victory.

2-Player Mode

When playing a 2-player game, follow the basic rules with these additions:

01-When setting up the game, players must choose the continents in 2 diagonally apposite corners.

02-When scoring the continents, your total level must be greater than 2 to win the score of that continent.

Team Variety

When playing a 4-player game, the team variety is recommended. Follow the basic rules with these additions:

01-When setting up the game, players sit at diagonal positions form a team.

02-When choosing the target of effect, your teammate's pawns are not considered as yours. When moving, your pawns cannot move through your teammate's pawn, but you can expel teammate's lower-level pawns.

03-At the end of game, two members in the same team score separately.

04-After scoring, add up scores of the 2, players in the team. The team with higher sum wins. In case of tie, the team with more pawns on the board wins. If still ties, two team share the victory.