Endangered Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• General Setup
• Scenario Setup
  • Tiger-Specific Setup
  • Sea Otter-Specific Setup
  • Tiger Scenario Sheet Reference
  • Sea Otter Scenario Sheet Reference (partial)
• Player Setup
• Gameplay
• Glossary of Symbols
• 1. Actions Phase
• How to Play Cards
• Ambassadors
• Money
• Animals
• 2. Offspring Phase
• 3. Destruction Phase
• 4. Impact Phase
• 5. Upkeep Phase
• Year End
• Winning & Losing
• Some General Rules
• Conservation Partnership
• Credits

Overview

Use a shared selection of actions—plus your own role's special advantages—to work with the other players. Keep animals out of harm's way, encourage them to produce young, limit the destruction of their environment, and deal with unpredictable events that arise. While you tackle immediate threats, you also must try to satisfy a panel of ambassadors that each have unique motivations for voting to protect the animals. Your group wins the game together if you can get 4 ambassadors to vote yes by the end of the game. Your group loses the game at the end if you can't make that happen, or immediately during the game if your animal population declines too low, or if the environment suffers too much destruction.

Endangered is also a modular game system. Each module tells a different story, offers unique challenges, and helps players understand the difficulties facing these animals and the conservationists determined to help them. These rules show the Tiger and Sea Otter modules, but other modules can be found on the publisher's website at www.grandgamersguild.com.

Components

• Double-sided game board (Shore side / Forest side), with a Calendar Track and an Actions area printed on it
• 15 Tiger tokens
• 15 Otter tokens
• 1 Year marker
• 25 Influence cubes
• 25 Money tokens
• 24 Destruction tiles (Deforestation tiles for the Forest side, Pollution/Oil Slick tiles for the Shore side)
• 1 Offspring die (red)
• 1 Destruction die (black)
• 12 Ambassador cards: 5 with blue card backs, 4 with green card backs, 3 with gray card backs. Each Ambassador card shows an instruction, an equation that results in a number, and a target number.
• 5 Turn markers, one per role (Environmental Lawyer, Lobbyist, Philanthropist, TV Wildlife Host, Zoologist)
• 15 Action dice: 3 per role (5 roles), each in that role's color. The role symbol printed on one face of each die counts as a "6."
• 5 Role boards, with different art on each side
• 10 Specialty cards, 2 per role
• 70 Player cards, 14 per role. Each card shows its deck and title, its type (Action, Continuous, or Once), and its card ability. Cards with yellow titles are unique to that role's deck.
• 36 Impact cards: 18 Tiger, 18 Sea Otter
• 2 Scenario Sheets (Tiger-Specific Setup and Sea Otter-Specific Setup), each listing that module's setup, Offspring Rules, Destruction Rules, and Easy/Normal/Hard difficulty variants

Note on this transcription: the Sea Otter Scenario Sheet is reproduced in the printed rulebook only as a small photo (partly overlapped by the Tiger sheet in the same photo), so its exact Destruction Rules wording is not legible enough to transcribe verbatim here. What is legible is recorded in the Sea Otter-Specific Setup section below; its mechanism (rolling the Destruction die to move Oil Slick tiles toward the Shore edge of the board, analogous to how Deforestation tiles move toward the nearest Tiger) is described there in general terms rather than exact card text.

General Setup

1. Place the gameboard on the table with the Year marker on Year 1 of the Calendar track.
2. Make stockpiles of Animal tokens, Influence cubes, Money tokens, and the Offspring and Destruction dice at the side of the board.
3. Shuffle the 5 blue-backed Ambassadors and deal 3 of them face-down in a row at the edge of the board. Shuffle the 4 green-backed Ambassadors and add 2 of them face-down to the row. Shuffle the 3 gray-backed Ambassadors and add 1 of them face-down to the row. Return all unused Ambassadors to the box.

Scenario Setup

Each animal module plays differently from the others, and needs a slightly different setup. As a group, decide which animal module and what difficulty level you wish to play. If this is your first game, we recommend using the Tiger module on Normal difficulty; all examples in this rulebook will use that setting. Follow the Setup rules on the module's Scenario sheet.

Tiger-Specific Setup

Use the Jungle side of the board. Add 8 Tigers to the board in the pattern shown on the Scenario sheet; there will be 7 left in the supply. Make a supply pile of 16 Deforestation tiles; return the rest to the box.

Sea Otter-Specific Setup

Use the Ocean side of the board. Add 8 Sea Otters to the board in the pattern shown on the Scenario sheet, adjacent to the Shore; there will be 7 left in the supply. Make a supply pile of 22 Oil Slick tiles; return the rest to the box.

4. Use the correct board side (Forest for Tigers, Shore for Sea Otters) and the indicated number and configuration of Animal tokens (for Tigers it is 8 Animals, laid out as displayed on the Scenario sheet). Leave the remaining Animals in the stockpile.
5. Make a stockpile of Destruction tiles as indicated on the Scenario card (for Tigers it is 16 Deforestation tiles). Return leftover Destruction tiles to the box.
6. Find the Impact deck for your animal (Tiger). Shuffle it and create a face-down deck near the board. Return unused Impact decks to the box.

Follow any other Setup instructions on your Scenario sheet.

Tiger Scenario Sheet Reference

The full Tiger Scenario Sheet (a standalone reference card kept near the board during play) reads as follows:

Tiger-Specific Setup: Use the Jungle side of the board. Add 8 Tigers to the board in the pattern shown here; there will be 7 left in the supply. Make a supply pile of 16 Deforestation tiles; return the rest to the box.

Tiger Offspring Rules: Tigers are territorial; after a Mating Pair produces an Offspring, one of the Tigers in the Mating Pair must move to an empty adjacent space (no Deforestation tile or other Tigers). If there is no such space, the moving Tiger is lost.

Tiger Destruction Rules: Choose a row or a column (a "line") that contains at least 1 Tiger. Roll the Destruction die to determine which space in that line receives the Deforestation tile. If there is already a Deforestation tile in that space, move the tile toward the nearest Tiger in the line, until it reaches a space without a Deforestation tile (which may or may not contain a Tiger). When a Deforestation tile is placed in a space, all Tigers in the space are lost back to the supply.

Difficulty:

• Easy: You only need 3 Yes votes in a Voting Year to win the game.
• Normal: No changes.
• Hard: Begin the game with 1 Clearcutting Persistent Impact card already in play.

Sea Otter Scenario Sheet Reference (partial)

The Sea Otter Scenario Sheet is structured the same way as the Tiger sheet (Setup, Offspring Rules, Destruction Rules, and difficulty variants), but in the printed rulebook's Components photo it is largely obscured by the Tiger sheet lying on top of it. What can be confirmed:

• Setup: Use the Shore side of the board. Add 8 Sea Otters to the board adjacent to the Shore edge in the pattern shown on the sheet; 7 are left in the supply. Make a supply pile of 22 Oil Slick tiles; return the rest to the box.
• Offspring Rules: No special Offspring rules (Sea Otters follow only the standard Offspring Phase process below, with no Tiger-style territorial splitting).
• Destruction Rules: Not fully legible in the source photo. The visible fragments describe a process of rolling the Destruction die to place or move an Oil Slick tile within a row, with the tile advancing toward the Shore edge until it reaches a space without an Oil Slick tile, and any Sea Otters in a space that receives an Oil Slick tile being lost back to the supply — paralleling the Tiger Destruction Rules above, but using the Shore edge as the reference point instead of the nearest Tiger.

Player Setup

Each player performs the following setup for themselves:

For a 1-player game, set up a 2-player game and play both roles during the game, alternating turns.

A. Choose a role to play. There are five different roles: Environmental Lawyer, Lobbyist, Philanthropist, TV Wildlife Host, and Zoologist. Each role has special abilities and unique cards that make it an important part of a successful team. Take the Role board, Specialty cards, player deck, Turn marker, and all 3 Action dice for that role.

Unused roles and the components that go with them are returned to the box.

B. Choose which side of your Role board you wish to use (this choice is cosmetic only), and which Specialty you want to have. Each Specialty describes the unique power that it will grant you during the game. Slide your chosen Specialty card under your Role board as shown. Return unused Specialty cards to the box.

C. Place your turn marker and dice in their slots on your Role board (the numbers on the dice don't matter yet).

D. Your Specialty card indicates a starting card from your Player deck. Find it in your deck, and check the black bar to see what type of card it is. Then immediately (before the game starts) resolve it as described here. If it says:

• ACTION — put it into play by laying it face up in the Action zone at the side of the board. This card is now an active Action that players may activate on their turns by placing dice there.
• CONTINUOUS — put it into play by laying it face-up near your Role board. This card describes an ongoing effect that you may benefit from.
• ONCE — immediately follow the instructions on the card and then place it into your own personal face-up discard pile.

E. Shuffle your Player deck and form a face-down deck for yourself, keeping it near your Role board. Draw two cards from it to form your hand. You do not have to keep your hand secret from the other players.

When all players are ready, the game begins!

Gameplay

The game is played over a number of rounds called Years. The game lasts a number of Years based on the number of players (see Year End for details). Each player will get one turn per Year; turn order is determined by you as a group during the game. To begin the game, randomly pick a starting player.

When your turn begins, place your Turn marker on the calendar track on top of the Year marker (and on top of any other Turn markers already there). Then perform the following phases in order:

1. Actions Phase — Reclaim and roll your Action dice, and place them on active Actions to perform abilities.
2. Offspring Phase — Roll the Offspring die to increase animal population.
3. Destruction Phase — Roll the Destruction die to add destruction to the environment.
4. Impact Phase — Play the top card from the Impact deck.
5. Upkeep Phase — Draw a new Action card, and pick a player with a Turn marker to go next.

If no player has a Turn marker at the end of your turn, the Year is over (see Year End).

Glossary of Symbols

Here is a glossary of the pictogram symbols seen on the various game materials, rendered here as words:

• Player card
• Draw a player card (a card icon with a plus sign)
• Play a player card (a card icon with an arrow)
• Impact card
• Persistent Impact card
• Ambassador card
• $1 Million Dollars
• 1 Influence cube
• 1 Destruction tile
• 1 Animal
• A Mating Pair
• All players
• A die
• Reroll a die
• +1 / -1 (add or subtract from a die)
• Environmental Lawyer (role icon)
• Lobbyist (role icon)
• Philanthropist (role icon)
• TV Wildlife Host (role icon)
• Zoologist (role icon)
• "Continuous" player card
• "Once" player card
• Instant Impact
• Persistent Impact
• Yes vote

1. Actions Phase

Reclaim and roll your Action dice, and place them on active Actions to perform abilities.

Retrieve your Action dice from the Actions they are sitting on (sometimes, including if this is the first turn of the game, they will already be in your play area), and roll them. Then, one at a time in the order of your choice, place each die onto an active Action, and perform the ability described on that Action. Resolve each Action fully before proceeding to the next.

• You may not place your die on an Action if one of your own dice is already there.*
• The die you are placing must display a higher number than any other die already on the Action.* In a 2-player game, the die you are placing must be at least 2 higher than any other die there.*
• At the start of the game there will be 4 starting Actions printed on the board, plus possibly some Action cards in the Action zone that were laid there during Player Set-up; these are collectively the active Actions. As the game continues, more Actions will become active as players add cards to the Action zone. Cards in your hand do not count as active.
• It does not matter whose deck the active Action cards came from; all Actions are available for all players to place upon once they are in play.
• Your dice will remain on the Actions until the start of your next turn, when you retrieve them to roll.
• Each die has the player's role symbol on one side. This side is equivalent to the number "6", which means that it counts as the highest value possible.

*There is a special starting Action called Social Media Campaign. This location has no limits on placement; you may place there even if one of your own dice is already there, and the numbers on the dice there don't matter.

Worked example: You have rolled a 1, a 4, and a 5. You can place them on any available Action and perform the ability there. The 1 is tricky because your die must be the highest one on its Action. Replant is empty, so you place there, pay $1mil, and remove a Deforestation tile from the board. The 4 has more options: you place it on Relocate (your 4 is higher than the Zoologist's 3 already there) and move a Tiger 1 space to a safer position. Things are looking okay so you decide to plan ahead: you place the 5 on Research (topping the 4 that's already there) and reveal the top Impact. It's a nasty one, so you discard it!

How to Play Cards

There are three types of cards in your Action deck: Action cards, Continuous cards, and Once cards. Regardless of the type, you may only put a card from your hand into play by placing a die on an Action that allows you to Play a Card (there is a starting Action called Plan that does this; more such Actions may become active as the game proceeds).

Action. When you play an Action card, lay it face up in the Action zone. This Action is now immediately available for any player to place dice on to activate its ability on their turn, following the normal rules (even you, on this same turn, if you have any dice left). There is no limit to the number of Actions that may fit into the Action zone; card position in the zone doesn't matter. (You can tell an Action card by the ACTION banner and the beige background on the bottom.)

Continuous. When you play a Continuous card, lay it face up into your own play area. This will provide an ongoing benefit that you can take advantage of without any additional cost unless it describes one. Your Continuous cards remain in play unless you are instructed to remove them. You may have multiple active Continuous cards. (You can tell a Continuous card by the CONTINUOUS banner and the light blue background on the bottom.)

Once. When you play a Once card, perform its described ability, then immediately discard it into your own discard pile. (You can tell a Once card by the ONCE banner and the yellow background on the bottom.)

Ambassadors

You are going to eventually need to satisfy the Ambassadors' criteria in order to convince them to vote yes so that you can win the game. The Ambassadors begin the game face down, so you won't know what their criteria are right away.

To reveal an Ambassador, you must take an Action that allows you to Place Influence. As soon as an Ambassador receives its first Influence token, flip it over to reveal it (the Influence token stays on the Ambassador after it is flipped). Instructions on an Ambassador card (such as counting things or rolling dice) are not followed when it is revealed. Those instructions are followed only during a Voting Year (see Year End).

Note: None of the starting actions (and frequently none of the player Actions that will begin the game in play) permit you to place Influence. It's important to work out as a group how quickly you want to get Influence-generating actions into play so that you don't open those Ambassadors too late!

Worked example: You perform an action that permits you to place an influence. You place a cube from the supply onto a card and flip it over to reveal it. It's Mexico! Now you can read the card and learn what it's going to take to get a Yes vote from the Mexican Ambassador. Getting 4 or more Yes votes is the only way to win the game, so getting those Ambassadors revealed is important!

Money

Some Actions involve paying or gaining Money. Each Money token in the game represents $1 Million US dollars. When you pay money, it goes into the supply. When you gain Money, it comes from the supply. Keep your own Money separate from the other players; you don't share Money unless a game effect permits you to.

Animals

You will want to use Actions to move animals; either to get them out of harm's way or to form Mating Pairs (see below). Animals may not move into or through Destruction tiles unless instructed otherwise. Animals may move into and stay in the same space as other animals unless instructed otherwise. When animals are added to the board, they come from the supply. When they are lost, they return to the supply. If the Animal population on the board ever drops to 1 or 0, you all lose the game immediately (see Winning and Losing for details).

2. Offspring Phase

Roll the Offspring die to increase animal population.

Hopefully, your animals on the board will produce offspring. If there is at least 1 Mating Pair on the board, perform the following (two animals sharing a space on the board counts as a Mating Pair; 4 Animals in a single space counts as 2 Mating Pairs, and so on):

Count the number of Mating Pairs on the board and add 1 to get your target, then roll the Offspring die. If the result is less than or equal to the target, then an offspring (1 new animal) has been produced by one of your Mating Pairs, and is placed on the board.

• Place the Offspring on an empty space (unoccupied by an animal token or Destruction tile) that is adjacent to a Mating Pair.
• You may choose which Mating Pair, if there are more than one.
• Diagonal spaces are not adjacent.
• If there are no empty spaces next to any of your Mating Pairs, or if there are no animals left in the supply, an Offspring is not produced (even if you rolled successfully).

Check the Scenario sheet for any additional Offspring rules. For example with Tigers, the Mating Pair splits up after producing the Offspring; if there is no empty adjacent space for one of the Tigers in the Mating Pair to move to, it is lost. (Sea Otters have no special Offspring rules; see Sea Otter Scenario Sheet Reference above.)

Worked example: There are two Mating Pairs on the board, so you add 1 to get a target of 3. You roll the Offspring die and get a 3... success! Only one of the Mating Pairs has any empty spaces beside it, so that pair must produce the offspring. You place the new Offspring from the supply into one of those spaces. Tigers have a special rule where one of the animals in the Mating Pair must move to an adjacent empty space; luckily there's one available so you move one of the pair there.

3. Destruction Phase

Roll the Destruction die to add destruction to the environment.

Sadly, your animals' environment will steadily worsen if you don't do something about it. Destruction is different from module to module; the Scenario sheet describes which Destruction tiles to use, how many form the supply, and how they are added to the board in this phase.

For Tigers, it is encroaching deforestation that is savaging their environment. Follow this process:

• Choose a row or a column (a "line") that contains at least 1 Tiger.
• Roll the Destruction die to determine which space in that line receives the Deforestation tile.
• If there is already a Deforestation tile in that space, move the tile toward the nearest Tiger in the line, until it reaches a space without a Deforestation tile (which may or may not contain a Tiger).
• When a Deforestation tile is placed in a space, all Tigers in the space are lost back to the supply.

Worked example: You choose the line shown here (column 2, outlined in red) and roll the Destruction die. You get a 4. There's already a Deforestation tile in spot 4, so it slides towards the nearest animal in the line, which is in spot 1. Happily it reaches an empty space in spot 2 and doesn't end up on an animal... this time!

Whenever Destruction tiles are removed from the board (by whatever effect), they return to the supply. If you ever need to place a Destruction tile and there are none in the supply, you all lose the game immediately (see Winning and Losing for details).

For Sea Otters, see the Sea Otter Scenario Sheet Reference above for what is legible of their parallel Oil Slick process.

4. Impact Phase

Play the top card from the Impact deck.

The Impact deck is a variety of events that will affect the game… most of them are not good news for you! Reveal the top card from the Impact deck and resolve its described effect. Complete as much of its text as possible, ignoring anything that can't be completed. Impact cards will be marked either Instant or Persistent.

Instant Impact. Instant Impacts are carried out immediately and then put into a face-up Impact discard pile.

Worked example: You draw a Save the Tiger Fund Instant Impact. One player could pay $3Mil to remove an existing Persistent Impact, but nobody has enough money at the moment, so the opportunity is lost. You discard the card. (Each Impact card has a roman numeral on it which tells you how many of that card exist in the deck... could be useful information!)

Persistent Impact. Persistent Impacts are placed face-up in a line next to the Impact deck. Each Persistent Impact describes the ongoing effect it will have on gameplay, or it describes the circumstances that will cause it to be triggered. Persistent Impacts stay in play until you are instructed to remove them (to the discard pile). When multiple Persistent effects are triggered, resolve them in order from oldest to newest.

Worked example: You draw a Government Upheaval Persistent Impact and place it beside an older Clearcutting already in play. They will both be triggered later if a Tiger Sighting occurs!

• If there is ever a tie for most (or least, or nearest, etc) of something an Impact is affecting, the players together choose which tied element the effect applies to.
• If the Impact deck ever runs out, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.

5. Upkeep Phase

Draw a new Action card, and pick a player with a Turn marker to go next.

At the end of your turn, draw 1 card from your Action deck and add it to your hand. There is no hand limit. You are free to show other players your cards and discuss your plans.

Then, pick a player that still has a Turn marker to go next; they begin their turn immediately by placing their Turn marker on top of the Year marker and starting their Action phase. In a 2-player game, the two players simply alternate turns.

If no player still has a Turn marker, that means the Year has ended; carry out the Year End process (see Year End, below) before selecting the next player to take their turn.

Year End

Important: Sometimes players instinctively want to gather up their dice at Year End. Do not do this. You only retrieve your dice at the start of your own turn.

If the Year that is ending is marked as a Voting Year for your player count, check to see if the group has won the game! There are two Voting Years for each player count, indicated by blue and red icons on the Calendar track. The first Voting Year is marked with a blue icon, and the second Voting year is marked with a red icon. For example, in a 4-player game, the first Voting Year is Year 4, and the second Voting year is Year 5.

Check each face up Ambassador separately (in any order you wish) to see if you currently meet their criteria; if you have, that counts as a Yes vote. Each Ambassador has an instruction in the black bar, an equation that will result in a number, and a target number you need to reach for a Yes.

For example, the Chinese Ambassador tells you to check the board; if the number of Animals in play plus the number of Influence on the Chinese Ambassador card equals 10 or more, China will Vote Yes. The Indonesian Ambassador tells you to roll 2 dice; if the dice result plus the number of Influence on the Indonesian Ambassador card equals 10 or more, Indonesia will Vote Yes. The Japanese Ambassador tells you to add up the player hands; if the total cards held by players plus the number of Influence on the Japanese Ambassador card equals 16 or more, Japan will Vote Yes. ...and so on through the face-up Ambassadors.

If you get 4 or more Yes votes in a single Voting Year, the resolution to protect the species has passed and the group has won the game!

If it was not a Voting Year, or if it was the first Voting Year and the group failed to win, move the Calendar marker to the next Year. The player who went last takes the stack of Turn markers (you'll remember who went last because their Turn marker will be on top of the stack), distributes the Turn markers back to their owners, and then picks any other player to go next. The chosen player begins their turn immediately by placing their Turn marker on the Calendar and starting their Action phase.

If it was the second Voting Year and you failed to get 4 or more Yes votes, the game is over and the group has sadly lost the game.

Winning & Losing

There is only one way to win the game: Get 4 or more Yes votes from the Ambassadors in either of your two Voting Years.

There are three ways to lose the game:

• If the Animal population on the board is ever reduced to 1 or 0 Animals, the group immediately loses the game.
• If the group is ever required to place a Destruction tile on the board and there are none left in the supply to place, the group immediately loses the game.
• If the group fails to get 4 or more Yes votes from the Ambassadors in the second Voting Year, the game is over and the group loses the game.

Some General Rules

• If you are ever instructed to do something that you can only complete partially, complete as much as you can and ignore the rest.
• If there is ever a tie for something (most, least, furthest, nearest, etc), the players as a group decide how to break the tie.
• Unless otherwise instructed, "adjacent" always means orthogonal, never diagonal.
• Although there are 3 faint dice spaces on most of the Action cards, this is not a limit. More than 3 dice could go there if placed legally.
• All components are limited. If the supply runs out of (for example) Money or Influence, no more can be gained unless some goes back into the supply.

Conservation Partnership

The race to save endangered species is real. Scientists estimate that dozens go extinct every day. By the middle of the century, as much as 30 to 50 percent of all species could be on the path to extinction.

We have teamed up with the Center for Biological Diversity, a national nonprofit conservation organization. The Center's amazing attorneys, scientists and activists work around the clock to save species from extinction, from wolves, sea turtles and polar bears to birds, fish, plants, mussels and insects. All species, great and small, deserve a shot at survival. Over the past thirty years, the Center has protected more than 700 endangered animals and plants and more than half a billion acres of habitat. Through our alliance, every game played will advance the Center's mission and help increase awareness about the vital need for action now to save the wild.

Find out how you can help the Center for Biological Diversity win for wildlife. You can get a free game-changing, power-up card for Endangered at www.BiologicalDiversity.org/game.

Credits

Game Design: Joe Hopkins Graphic Design and Rulebook Development: Josh Cappel Illustrations: Beth Sobel and Ben Flores Publisher: Marc Specter

Marc would like to thank Katia Howatson, for her enthusiastic support and friendship.

Joe says: Thank you to my wife, Amanda Hopkins, for your unending support and love during all my gaming adventures. Thank you to my son, James Hopkins, for your passion for the environment. Thank you to Marc Specter for giving chances to unknown designers. Thank you to Matt Sever, Nick Hounshell, Sarah Knapp, Angela Knapp, Rick Churchill, Eric Bird, Spencer Capp, James Arnoldi, Brendan Pratt, Steve Hopkins, Michigame Design Lab, Protospiel MI, Table Treasure, Grand Gaming Academy, my family, and many others for countless playtests.

Published by Grand Gamers Guild — www.grandgamersguild.com — ©2020 All rights reserved.