Fossilis
Fossilis Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object
2-5 players. Ages 8+. 45 minutes.
Overview
Use your turn to move your paleontologist pawn around the 3D dig site board. Expend increasing effort to shift terrain tiles of different weights, revealing rich deposits of bones. Gather and sell fossil Fragments to the market for indispensable Tools and Supplies. By spending Plaster to extract bones from the dig site, you'll be able to claim and complete Dinosaur cards. Scoring Dinosaurs perfectly means big points in the moment, but hurrying through them could lead to a high-scoring collection at the end of the game. Unpredictable Events divide the game into four rounds... when the dust settles, the best paleontologist wins!
Playing With Young Kids?
At KTBG we want you to be able to play with kids of all ages. Fossilis has a number of elements that you can remove to simplify the game, while maintaining the integrity. Here are the removable elements and some of our reasoning:
- The Tool cards: (Require private reading and add tactical complexity)
- Card purchasing and Fragment collection: (Involves spending and saving)
- The Skill tokens and Hammers: (Create disparity between player capabilities)
- Different Energy costs for digging tiles: (Removing speeds up game significantly)
- Characteristic Set scoring and All-nine scoring: (Rewards long-term planning)
- Majority scoring: (Involves direct competition)
Components
1 Dig Site Board
25 pits
1 Score Board
Event space, Skill Display, Plaster Pool reminder, Score track.
The back side of the Score board is called the Site Map and is used to help set up the game.
38 Terrain Tiles
21 Sand, 9 Clay, 8 Stone
1 Site Lid
Used during setup only.
1 Blocker Panel
Used during setup only, but the back side has a helpful player aid.
1 Start Player Marker
33 Dinosaur Cards
Yes, we know... not all of the creatures shown on the Dinosaur cards are technically dinosaurs, but we call them all Dinosaurs during the game for simplicity's sake!
Each Dinosaur card shows its characteristics, its Perfect score, its name and fun facts, and the needed bones (with their partial-scoring values) to complete it.
45 Bones
3 Skulls, 6 Hips, 9 Ribs, 12 Limbs, 15 Teeth (these represent Claws as well).
9 Rock Hammers
Referred to as simply "Hammers" throughout the rules.
5 Score Markers
1 Tweezers
5 Paleontologist Pawns
21 Tool Cards
Each Tool card shows a point value, its name and power, and its Fragment cost.
24 Supplies Cards
Each Supplies card shows the bone it grants (if any), the Plaster it grants, and its Fragment cost.
10 Event Cards
Each Event card shows its name and its event instructions.
5 Player Mats
Each player mat has a Flow of play reminder, Skill slots, a "Lab area," a Storage area, Plaster costs and leftover bone values, Endgame scoring, and a Player colour.
18 Skill Tokens
Skill tokens have a plain hammer back. Sample fronts include skills that pay off at game end (e.g. "Each leftover Tooth is worth 5") and skills usable once per turn (e.g. "Push 1 adjacent pawn 2 spaces"). Some Skill tokens carry a direct-conflict indicator.
40 Plaster Cubes
Setup
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Set aside three Sand tiles to form a face up discard pile (1 each of the three different Fragments: amber, egg, and footprint).
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Prepare the dig site:
- Sprinkle all the bones and hammers into the pits of the dig site, trying to evenly spread everything. Don't look too closely at where they end up.
- Place the lid onto the dig site. Pick up the board with your thumbs holding the lid down so that it stays in place. Shake it around gently so that bones move around; try to do it in a mostly up-and-down motion so that bones don't end up all bunched to one side or corner.
- Slide the site map into the slot between the lid and the dig site. Remove the lid and return it to the box.
- Add Terrain tiles face up to the dig site onto the site map in two layers. All players should help with this so that it goes quickly. The rules are:
- On the bottom layer, there should be a Stone tile on the four spaces of the site map marked X. The rest of the spaces must be Clay or Sand.
- On the top layer any tile can go anywhere, but no tiles may go in the four corners of the dig site, and Stone may not be stacked on Stone.
- There are only 10 tiles on the top layer; finish the bottom layer's 25 tiles before starting the top.
- Position the blocker upright between two of the dig site's posts and the tile grid. Hold it firmly in place, and pull the site map out from underneath the tiles.
- You now have a layered dig site where the bones and hammers are dispersed in an unknown pattern! Use the blocker as a player aid, and flip the site map over to form the Score track.
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Draw 9 random Skill tokens and place them face up on the Skill display. Return the rest to the box.
Directly aggressive Skills feature a sad-face symbol; if this doesn't suit your group, draw replacements.
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Shuffle the Events deck. Draw three random cards and stack them face down on the Event space without looking at them. Return the rest to the box.
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Make a supply pile of all 40 Plaster, then add an amount of Plaster on top of the Event stack to form the Plaster Pool (the amount is 4 plaster per player). The Plaster Pool and the Plaster supply must be kept separate. Keep the tweezers nearby.
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Shuffle the Dinosaur deck and make a Dinosaur display of 4 face up Dinosaur cards. Keep the deck face down nearby.
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Shuffle the Tools and Supplies decks separately. Make a Market display of four face up cards; 2 Tools and 2 Supplies. Keep the decks face down nearby.
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Each player takes the player mat and Paleontologist pawn of their colour, and places the scoring marker of their colour near the start of the score track.
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Pick a starting player and give them the Start Player marker. In reverse turn order, the players place their pawns onto a corner tile of the dig site. Pawns may not share a tile.
In a 5-player game only, a player may choose the center tile of the site as their starting point.
Now you are ready to begin!
Gameplay
The game proceeds in clockwise order beginning with the starting player. Play continues until the end game is triggered, then the current round is finished and each player gets one more turn. The player with the highest score wins!
On Your Turn
Your turn has three steps:
- Spend 4 Energy to take actions.
- Buy 1 card from the Market.
- Claim 1 Dinosaur card into your Lab.
At any point on your turn you may score a Dinosaur in your lab, or score a Dinosaur directly from the display if you have all the bones needed to complete it.
1. Spend 4 Energy to take actions
On each turn you start with 4 Energy points, which you will spend to perform actions. Most actions cost 1 Energy, but a few of them cost more. You may perform actions in any combination, any order, and any number of times, as long as you have the Energy to spend.
You do not have to spend all of your Energy. Unspent Energy is lost.
You may also use Tool cards on your turn (if you have any) to carry out their functions. Using Tool cards does not cost any Energy. See the Tool Cards section for details.
Actions
Gain 1 Plaster
Take 1 Plaster from the Plaster Pool (not from the supply). Keep all Plaster you gain in the storage area of your mat.
- If the Plaster Pool runs out during your turn, it will trigger the next Event at the end of your turn (see Events).
- If you gain Plaster on your turn for any reason once the Plaster Pool has run out, take from the supply instead.
Gain Plaster example: The Plaster Pool has two Plaster in it. You spend 2 Energy to take both of them, emptying the Pool and triggering the next Event at the end of your turn. You still want more Plaster, so you spend another Energy and take one from the supply.
Move 2 spaces
Move your pawn up to 2 spaces on the dig site. With each space of movement your pawn may move orthogonally or diagonally to an adjacent tile. Your pawn may pass through other pawns but you may not end your movement on the same space as another pawn. There is no extra cost to move up or down a layer of tiles.
Moving example: You want to move closer to the pit with the Rib in it. First you hop up to the Stone tile next to you, then move diagonally to the Sand tile. These 2 spaces of movement cost you 1 Energy total.
Climb onto the dig site
Your pawn may get pushed off the dig site during play. To climb back on, place your pawn on an unoccupied tile along the same edge of the dig site that your pawn fell off; if none of the spaces along that edge have tiles, you must first place a Sand tile so that there is one to climb on to (see Place 1 Sand tile).
Climbing On example: Someone pushed you off the dig site, so you must climb back on at a cost of 1 Energy. There are only two tiles along the edge of the site you fell off; you could climb onto either of them.
Place 1 Sand tile
Choose any Sand tile you wish from the discard pile and place it onto the dig site. If your pawn is off the dig site, the sand tile must be placed along the same edge of the dig site that your pawn fell off. If your pawn is on the dig site, you must place the tile orthogonally adjacent to your pawn.
- You may place on another tile, but you may not place a tile to make a stack higher than 2 tiles.
Placing Sand example: You want to move to an area you can't reach. You spend 1 Energy to take a Sand tile from the discard pile, and you place it to form a bridge that you can now move across!
Dig 1 tile: Sand · Clay · Stone
Slide 1 Terrain tile that is orthogonally adjacent to your pawn (or slide the tile that your pawn is standing on) 1 space in any direction you wish. The "heavier" the tile, the more Energy it costs to dig. The sliding tile can push any number of other tiles ahead of it, but only tiles of the same weight or lighter. Stone can push anything; Clay can push Clay and Sand; Sand can push only Sand.
By spending 1-3 Energy depending on the weight of the first tile you slide, you:
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May slide a tile into an empty space.
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May slide a stacked tile onto another tile.
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May slide a tile off a stack into an empty space.
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May not slide a tile to push a stack.
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May slide a tile to push other tiles... but not if any of those tiles are heavier than the first.
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May slide a tile with a pawn on it, obeying all the above rules.
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May slide the tile you are standing on, obeying all the above rules.
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2-tile stacks may never be pushed (though the top tile of a stack may be slid or pushed off its stack).
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You may slide (or push) a tile with a pawn on it; the pawn goes with the tile.
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If any tile falls off the dig site as a result of your dig action, you get to claim that tile. Tiles have Fragments on them that you can spend to buy cards from the Market (see Buy 1 card from the Market).
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If any pawn falls off the dig site (including your own, which can happen if you dig the tile you're standing on), that pawn must stay off the dig site (on the side it fell) until the player spends 1 Energy to climb back on (see Climb onto the dig site).
What if a pawn gets pushed?
Pawns may be pushed by sliding tiles (when a top layer tile moves towards a pawn standing on a bottom layer tile). A pushed pawn moves into the next space in the same direction (or off the dig site if it is at the edge).
- If a pawn is pushed into a pit, the owner fishes it out and places it off the dig site, on any side they wish as if they had fallen off that side.
- If a pawn is pushed so that it would be "squished" between two top-layer tiles, the pawn hops up onto the tile it is being pushed toward.
- If a pawn would be pushed onto the same tile as a second pawn, the second pawn is pushed ahead of it into the next space, itself following the rules for when a pawn gets pushed.
Extracting
If you have enough Plaster, you may extract a bone or hammer from an open pit that your pawn is orthogonally adjacent to (the height of the tile stack your pawn is on does not matter). To extract, spend the amount of Plaster indicated on your player mat, then use the tweezers to extract the bone or hammer. Spent Plaster goes into the supply (not the Pool).
For example, it costs 4 Plaster to extract Ribs, or 0 Plaster to extract a Hammer.
When you extract a bone, it goes into storage on your player mat. Bones may be kept for their endgame value (displayed on your mat), but they are more valuable if you can assign them to particular Dinosaurs that need them. You may assign a bone from your storage to the Dinosaur card that is in your lab whenever you want, but once a bone is assigned, it may not be removed.
For example, you have just spent 4 Plaster to extract a Rib. The Rib goes right into the storage area on your mat. The Icthyosaurus card in your lab (which already has a Limb assigned to it) does need a Rib, so you could assign the Rib to that card whenever you want by placing it there.
When you extract a hammer, you must swap it for a Skill token from the Skill display, and add the token to the leftmost empty Skill slot of your player mat (imagine that you have returned a lost tool to its owner, who teaches you a skill in gratitude). Covering up the shield symbols in the 2nd and 3rd slots means that you won't earn those points at the end of the game, so be sure you really want that Skill! When you gain a Skill token, you immediately gain the benefit described on the token for the remainder of the game.
For example, you have just extracted a Hammer (for 0 plaster). You choose a new Skill from the display and swap the Hammer with it. You already have a Skill from earlier, so the new one you choose will go into the next skill slot on your player mat, covering up the icon there.
One hammer per turn only! Hammers are easy to extract since they don't cost any Plaster. But you may only extract a maximum of 1 Hammer (plus any number of bones) on a single turn.
Tool Cards
You may use any number of Tools cards on your turn (if you have any) to carry out their functions. Each Tool describes how it works. Using a Tool does not cost any Energy.
- Unlike the normal Dig actions, Tools that let you slide or remove tiles do not require your pawn to be adjacent to the affected tile; you can affect tiles from any distance.
- Similar to the normal Dig actions, you gain any tile that is removed or slid off the board by a Tool effect; the Fragment symbols on tiles can be used to buy cards from the Market later in your turn.
- If a pawn (even your own) is on a tile that you remove, the pawn's owner places it off the dig site on any side they wish. That player will need to spend 1 Energy on their turn to climb back on (see Climb onto the dig site).
- You may hold any number of unused Tool cards.
- When you use a Tool, flip it face down. You will score the value displayed on all of your Tools at the end of the game whether you used them or not.
2. Buy 1 card from the Market
You may spend the Fragments on your collected tiles to buy 1 card from the Market… either a Tools card or a Supplies card. Each card displays its cost in fragments at the bottom. Whichever one you buy, replace it in the display with a card from the matching deck. Spent tiles go into the discard pile.
There are four Fragment types: Amber, Footprint, Egg, and Wild (any fragment may be used as a Wild fragment).
- If you are forced to "overpay" for a card because of how your fragments are split up on your tiles, you do not get change.
Tools are action cards that you can save to use during the action step of a future turn (but not on this turn, as the action step of your turn is already over). They also may provide endgame points. When you gain a Tool, keep it face up to show that it hasn't been used yet. Each Tool card describes its effect.
Supplies gain you some combination of Plaster, bones, and endgame points. Take any Plaster immediately from the Pool (or from the supply if the Pool runs out, triggering an event as normal). Flip the card face down unless it grants you a bone.
If the card grants you a bone, keep the card face up beside your mat; treat the card as if it were a bone in your storage.
If there happens to be a bone matching the one shown on the card in the discard pile, flip the card face down and take that bone from the discard into your storage instead; it's easier to manage that way.
3. Claim a Dinosaur card into your Lab
If there isn't currently a Dinosaur in your lab and you have at least one of the required bones of a displayed Dinosaur in your storage, you may claim that Dinosaur from the display into your lab. When you claim a Dinosaur, you must immediately assign at least one bone from your storage to it, placing it on the Dinosaur card.
- You may only have 1 Dinosaur in your lab at a time.
- If there is a Dinosaur in your lab and you want to claim one from the display, you must first score the Dinosaur in your lab to clear it away (see Scoring a Dinosaur below).
- Keep an eye not only on the bones and shield value of a Dinosaur when you're choosing it, but also on its characteristics; each Dinosaur has three characteristics that will provide valuable end game scoring (see Final Scoring for details).
The nine characteristics are: Carnivore, Herbivore, Biped, Quadruped, Aquatic, Avian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous.
For example, you have a Tooth in your storage and no Dinosaur in your lab, so you could claim a Dinosaur from the display.
Two of the Dinosaurs in the display need a Tooth: The Apatosaurus and the Deinonychus. You could claim either one of those into your lab and place the Tooth onto it.
You decide to claim the Deinonychus since it has a higher Perfect Score, and you like the characteristics it provides.
Scoring a Dinosaur
There are two ways to score a Dinosaur: from your lab, or from the display.
At any point on your turn, you may score a Dinosaur from your lab.
- If the Dinosaur has all of the required bones, immediately gain the Perfect Score shown on the card.
- If it does not have all of the required bones, you may still perform a Partial Score: immediately score only the values of each bone you have assigned to the Dinosaur, as displayed on the card.
At any point on your turn, you may score a Dinosaur directly from the Dinosaur display (skipping your lab altogether even if there's a Dinosaur in it), but only if you have all of the required bones in your storage. Immediately score the Perfect Score shown on the card, claim the Dinosaur card face down in front of you, and draw a fresh Dinosaur from the deck to add to the display.
- It is possible to score multiple Dinosaurs on the same turn.
- However you score, immediately reflect the earned points by moving your scoring marker. Turn the scored Dinosaur face down into your "scored" pile. Discard any bones you used.
For example, you've already got a Tooth and a Hip on the Arizonasaurus in your lab. You could score it right now to get a Partial Score of 11 (4 for the Tooth and 7 for the Hip), or you might want to see if you can hunt down the second Tooth you need to earn a Perfect Score of 21.
Perfect scores are far higher than Partial scores even if you added all of the needed bone values together... but sometimes you want to hurry a Dinosaur out of your lab so that you can claim another, or maybe you're just trying to complete many Dinosaurs!
Events
An Event is triggered when the Plaster Pool runs out. Give the next Event card (still face down) to the active player until the end of their turn. When the turn is over, they reveal the Event card and carry out its instructions.
- The "active player" mentioned on many Events is the player who triggered the Event.
- Any Plaster gained during an event will come from the supply, since there is currently no Pool.
After the Event is resolved, replenish the Plaster Pool from the supply with 4 Plaster per player. This replenishment does happen after the third Event card is resolved, meaning that after the third Event there will be one final Plaster Pool before the end game is triggered.
There will be four full Plaster Pools total over the course of the game.
For example, the Rockfall! Event card reads: Start to the right of the active player. In reverse turn order: Players place any 1 Stone tile back on the dig site until 2 total have been placed. If Stone runs out, place Clay; if Clay runs out, place Sand; if Sand then runs out, stop placing.
Game End
Once the fourth and final Plaster Pool runs out, finish the current round (use the Start player marker to figure out where the round ends), then play one last round so that each player gets one final turn. Then the game ends and final scores are calculated!
Any Plaster gained after that final Pool runs out is taken from the supply.
Final Scoring
You will likely have gained some points during the game, mostly from scoring Dinosaurs. Now score the categories below in order, to add to your final score!
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Final Dinosaurs. If there is a Dinosaur remaining in your lab, score it now (Partially or Perfectly, whichever you can manage). You may add needed bones to it now from your storage, if you have them.
The Eudimorphodon in your lab has a single Limb assigned to it. Unfortunately you have no other Limb in storage to complete it for a Perfect score, but you still score it Partially for the bone value of 5.
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Empty Skill Slots. If you have any empty Skill slots that show a shield, score the displayed amount.
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Skill scores. Some Skills grant points at endgame.
Your one empty Skill slot is worth 4, and you have a Skill that earns you 5.
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Leftover bones. Leftover bones in your storage are worth points as displayed on your mat.
- Skulls aren't needed by any Dinosaur, so this is the only time they'll score.
Your 2 leftover Skulls and 1 Tooth score a massive 26!
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Leftover Plaster. Gain 1 point for every 2 Plaster you still hold, ignoring remainders.
Your 5 leftover plaster is worth 2.
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Market cards. Reveal all of the Tools and Supplies cards that you purchased over the course of the game. Many Tools cards (whether they were used or not) and Supplies cards award points. Score them now.
The combined score from your four Market cards is 17.
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Characteristic Sets. Reveal your collection of scored Dinosaurs. For each characteristic that you have at least 3 of, score its displayed set value.
For example the set value for Bipeds is 5.
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Variety. If you have at least one of all 9 characteristics in your Dinosaur collection, score 12.
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Majorities. As the final step of scoring, go through each characteristic one by one and compare your collections. (For example, first each player calls out how many Carnivores they have.) For each of the 9 characteristics, the single player with the most of that symbol gets 3. If there is a tie for most in a category, nobody scores for that category.
Your collection of six scored Dinosaurs (which includes the Eudimorphodon you scored after the game ended) scores: 3 for your Carnivore set; 5 for your Biped set; 6 for your Jurassic set; 12 for variety because you have at least 1 symbol of all 9 characteristics!
Let's say you were the player with the most Carnivores, Bipeds, and Triassic Dinosaurs... you would score 3 for each, for a total of 9 more points.
Once final scoring is complete, the player with the most points wins!
In the event of a tie, the tied player with more Dinosaurs in their collection wins. If that's also a tie, the tied players share the victory!
Fossilis at a Glance
The entire game explained in one simple page.
Setup
Set 3 Sand aside. Prepare the Dig Site. 9 Skill tokens in the display. 3 random Events face down. Make a Plaster supply, put 4 per player in the Plaster Pool. Make a Dinosaur display of 4 cards and a Market of 2 Tool and 2 Supplies cards; shuffled decks nearby. Players get mats, put score markers on track at zero. Pick a Start player and in reverse order place pawns.
On Your Turn
- Spend 4 Energy to perform actions, plus use Tools for free.
- Gain 1 Plaster (Event at turn end if Pool runs out).
- Move 1-2 spaces (Diagonal permitted).
- Climb on to the dig site (Same side you fell off).
- Place 1 Sand (Adjacent to you if you're on the site, along your site edge if you're off it).
- Dig Sand · Dig Clay · Dig Stone. Slide adjacent tile in straight line, pushing tiles of same weight or less. Claim tiles that fall.
- Spend Plaster to extract bones and/or hammer (Maximum 1 hammer). Put bones in storage or assign to Dino in lab, swap hammer with Skill from display.
- Buy 1 card from the Market. Spend collected tiles. Supplies give Plaster from Pool and/or bones. Save Tools for later use.
- Claim 1 Dinosaur to your Lab. Must have empty lab and at least 1 needed bone. Refresh display.
Scoring Dinosaurs
Score a Dinosaur from your lab (Perfectly or Partially) at any time. Score a Dinosaur from the Display (Perfectly) at any time.
Events & Endgame
When Plaster Pool runs out, Event is triggered. Resolve at turn end, then refresh Plaster Pool. After fourth Pool runs out, finish the round. Then take one more turn each, and end the game.
Final Scoring
Add to points scored during game: Score Dino in lab. Score empty Skill slots and Skill bonuses. Score leftover bones as displayed. Score 1 point for every 2 leftover Plaster. Score Market cards as displayed. Score your Dino collection: As displayed for characteristic sets of 3 or more; 12 points if you have all nine characteristics; 3 points for each characteristic majority you have. Highest score wins!
Credits
Game Design: David Diaz Illustration: Apolline Etienne Graphics & Rulebook: Josh Cappel 3D Game Board: Noah Adelman at Game Trayz 3D Bone Models: Marcus & Pujin Nguyen-Kirk Publisher: Helaina Cappel Development: Sean Jacquemain & KTBG Paleontology Consultant: Ashley Reynolds, PHD Candidate
Published with love by KTBG — www.kidstablebg.com — © 2020 All rights reserved