Evolution: The Beginning Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Set-Up
• Overview
• Playing the Game
• Step 1 — Gather
• Step 2 — Adapt
• Step 3 — Eat
• Step 4 — Score
• End of Game
• Game Credits
• Defensive Traits
• The Carnivore Trait
• Eating Traits
• Population Traits
• Quick Reference — On Your Turn

Components

• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Watering Hole
• 160 Food Tokens
• 88 Cards
• 5 Food Bags

Set-Up

• Place the Watering Hole in the center of the table.
• Put the Food Tokens on the table. This is the Excess Food pile.
• Shuffle the cards and place the Deck on the table.
• Each player takes a Food Bag.

Overview

In Evolution: The Beginning, your species will need to adapt in an ever-changing ecosystem where food is scarce and predators roam.

The goal is to help them multiply, thrive, and eat as much food as possible. You'll get points for the food your species eats during the game. So go forth and satisfy your hunger!

Playing the Game

The player who woke up first today is the 1st Player. After the 1st Player's turn, play proceeds clockwise. Each player's turn consists of the following four steps, described in more detail later:

• Step 1 - GATHER: Place Food on the Watering Hole and get your cards.
• Step 2 - ADAPT: Play your cards.
• Step 3 - EAT: Feed your species.
• Step 4 - SCORE: Score points for Food eaten.

Step 1 — Gather

1. Take 2 Food from the Excess Food pile and place them on the Watering Hole.
2. Take a card from the Deck and place it face-down in front of you. This is a new species with 1 Population. You always get a new species at the beginning of your turn.
3. Draw 3 cards from the Deck into your hand.

Step 2 — Adapt

There are three things you can do with your cards in your hand. You can do them in any order:

1. Create Another Species – Place a card face-down on the table to create another species with 1 Population. Create as many new species as you want.
2. Add Population – Place a card face-down on any species to add 1 Population to that species. There is no limit to the amount of Population a species can have, but remember you will have to feed them! (A Species with 1 Population; a Species with 3 Population.)
3. Add Traits – Place a card face-up above a species as a Trait. These Traits modify your species (and sometimes the rules). A species may not have more than 3 Traits and may not have any duplicate Traits. See the Trait sections below for descriptions of all the Traits in the game. (A Species with 3 Traits and 1 Population; a Species cannot have 2 of the same Trait.)
4. Discard a Trait – Remove a Trait from any species and place it face-up in the Discard pile. You will do this when a Trait is no longer helping a species or when you want to replace it with a different Trait.
5. Save Cards – Instead of playing all your cards, you can save as many as you want in your hand for your next turn.

Step 3 — Eat

This is when you feed your species. Each Population must eat 1 Food or it will starve at the end of your turn. Every Food is worth 1 point at the end of the game, so eat up!

A species is full if each of its Population cards has Food on it. A species cannot eat more Food if it is full, even if Food is still available. A species that is not fully fed must eat if Food is still available. There are two ways to get Food: eating from the Watering Hole or eating other species.

Eating From the Watering Hole — You must eat as much Food from the Watering Hole as your Population allows. Place the Food on the Food spaces, starting with the top Population card for each species.

Eating Other Species — A species with the Carnivore Trait is a Carnivore and may never feed from the Watering Hole. Each Carnivore must try to get as much Food as its population allows by attacking and eating other species. When feeding a Carnivore, do the following 3 steps in order:

1. Choose a Species (including your own) to Attack. A Carnivore can attack any species if it has the Traits needed to overcome all of the defensive Traits of that species. For example a Carnivore would need the Burrowing Trait to attack a species that has the Burrowing Trait. Likewise a Carnivore would need both the Nocturnal Trait and the Burrowing Trait to attack a species that is both Nocturnal and Burrowing. (A Carnivore needs Nocturnal to attack a Nocturnal species. A Carnivore needs both Nocturnal and Burrowing to attack a species with both Traits. A species with the Carnivore Trait cannot eat from the Watering Hole — it must attack and eat other species.)
2. Reduce the Population of the Attacked Species by 1. Remove the bottom Population card of the attacked species and place it face-up in the Discard pile. If there is Food on that card (see Scavenger Trait), place it in the Food Bag of the attacked player. If the Population is reduced to 0, then the species goes extinct. See Extinction.
3. Feed the Carnivore. Take 2 Food from the Excess Food pile and place one on each of the Carnivore's top 2 Population cards. A Carnivore cannot eat more Food than it has Population, so sometimes a Carnivore will only receive 1 Food for an attack.

Repeat these steps if the Carnivore has not been fully fed. A Carnivore must continue to attack until all its Population is fed or until there are no legal targets. This means a player might have to attack one of their own species to fill up their Carnivore!

Starvation — Every Population without a Food starves! Take those Population cards and put them face-up in the Discard pile. A species that loses its last Population card goes extinct.

Extinction — A species goes extinct when it has no more Population cards. Discard the Trait cards on that species and draw new cards equal to the number of Traits discarded. The new cards go into your hand to be played on your next turn. You never draw cards to replace lost Population.

Step 4 — Score

Now place all of your eaten Food in your Food Bag to be scored at the end of the game. This is the only time you place Food in your Food Bag. Any food left on the Watering Hole remains there for the next player's turn. The player to the left now begins their turn starting with Step 1.

End of Game

When the Deck runs out, shuffle the Discard pile to create a new Deck. Then play until the player to the right of the 1st Player finishes their next turn. At this point, every player has had the same number of turns, and that's the end of the game.

It's time to count your score! Players get 1 point for each of the following:

1. Each Food in their Food Bag and on their Population cards.
2. Each of their cards on the table (Population and Traits).
3. Each card in their hand.

The player with the highest score is the winner. If there's a tie, order pizza and play again!

Game Credits

• Lead Game Designer: Dominic Crapuchettes
• Development Team: Ben Goldman, Jonathan D'Angelo, Nick Bentley
• Project Manager: Dominic Crapuchettes
• Box Cover Artist: Catherine Hamilton, Ben Goldman
• Graphic Designer: Ben Goldman
• Card Artist: Catherine Hamilton
• Card Designer: Ben Goldman
• Packaging: Matt Mariani, Satish Pillalamarri, Ben Goldman
• Rules: Dominic Crapuchettes, Matt Mariani, Satish Pillalamarri, Edoardo Kulp, Jonathan D'Angelo, Scott Rencher, Ben Goldman, Ken Goldman
• Production Manager: Edoardo Kulp
• Playtesters: Satish Pillalamarri, Matt Mariani, Kristen Rahman, Scott Rencher, Jeffrey Bennett, Vivek Kotecha, Bayard Catron, Bruce and Francine Crapuchettes (Mom & Dad), Daniel Crapuchettes

Defensive Traits

Grey cards protect your species from Carnivores.

Nocturnal — A Carnivore needs Nocturnal to attack this species.

Burrowing, Flight, Nocturnal, and Speed all work the same way. Your species is protected from any Carnivore that does not have the same combination of these defensive Traits. So if your species has Burrowing and Flight, a Carnivore would need both Burrowing and Flight to attack it.

Defensive Horns doesn't prevent a Carnivore from attacking a species, but it does provide a deterrent. Any time a Carnivore attacks a species with Defensive Horns, the Carnivore loses 1 Population at the same time as the attacked species. This happens before the Carnivore gets Food from the attack, which means the Carnivore might go extinct from the attack without getting Food.

The Carnivore Trait

The red card turns your species into a Carnivore!

Carnivores can never eat from the Watering Hole. They only eat by attacking other species. Feed each Carnivore by doing the following 3 steps in order:

1. Choose a species to attack. An attack can be made if the Carnivore has the Traits necessary to overcome the targeted species' defensive Traits.
2. Reduce the Population of the attacked species by 1. The attacked species discards a Population card.
3. Feed the Carnivore. The Carnivore gets 2 Food from the Excess Food pile. Every Scavenger also gets 1 Food from the Excess Food pile.

A Carnivore must continue to attack until all its Population is fed or until there are no legal targets.

(This species cannot eat from the Watering Hole. It must attack and eat other species.)

Eating Traits

Green cards help feed your species.

A species with Long Neck must eat 3 Food from the Excess Food pile before it eats any other Food.

A Scavenger eats 1 Food from the Excess Food pile every time a Carnivore attacks, even if the Scavenger is getting attacked or doing the attacking.

Food scavenged when it is not your turn will stay on your Population cards until the end of your next turn.

Population Traits

Yellow cards help the Population of your species.

A species with Fat Tissue may eat a second Food for each Population. Each Population starves at the end of your turn only if it has not eaten at all.

If the species with Fat Tissue is a Carnivore, it can continue to attack until each Population has eaten 2 Food. However, it is no longer forced to attack once each Population has eaten 1 Food. (This species may eat 2 Food per Population.)

A species with Fertile gains a Population before you draw 3 cards at the beginning of your turn. Take a card from the Deck and place it face-down as another Population on this species.

Quick Reference — On Your Turn

1. Gather: Add 2 Food · Get 1 new species · Draw 3 cards

2. Adapt: These are the things you may do — Create new species, Add Population, Add Traits, Remove Traits. You may save cards for your next turn.

3. Eat:

• Non-carnivores eat from the Watering Hole.
• Carnivores eat from the Excess Food pile:
  1. Choose a species to attack.
  2. Reduce the Population of that species by 1.
  3. Feed the Carnivore 2 Food.

Extinction: Draw new cards equal to the number of Traits discarded.

4. Score: Put the Food from your Population cards into your bag.