Inventions: Evolution of Ideas Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Player Count Differences
• Setup
  • Main Board
  • Wealth and Progress Tiles
  • Society Board Setup
• Stone Age (Setup Round)
• The Core of the Game
• Key Concepts
  • A. Chronos, Era Track, and Milestones
  • B. Assembly, Forums, and Action Spaces
  • C. Main Action
  • D. Chain Action
  • E. Influence
  • F. Exhausted Citizens vs. Available Citizens
  • G. Specialists
  • H. The Academy / Scholars
  • I. Progress Tiles and Wealth Tiles
• How an Idea Shapes History
• How to Play
• Playing a Round
  • Taking Your Turn
  • Step 1: Prepare Chain Action Tokens
  • Step 2: Perform Actions
    • A. Influence Epoch pillars (or Season pillars)
    • B. Perform the Action
    • Aspiration Tiles
    • Performing a Chain Action
    • Milestone Tiles
    • Idea/Invention Cards
• The Actions
  • Present an Idea
  • Invent
  • Innovate
  • Share an Invention
  • Call Specialists
  • Gain Influence
  • Travel
  • Eureka
  • Send Diplomat
  • Call Diplomat
• Step 3: Aspirations Become Progress
• Step 4: Build Progress
• Next Round
• Era Change
• End of the Game
  • Era 6: Final Scoring
• 2-Player Rules
  • Setup
  • How to Play
    • Present an Idea
    • Invent
    • Share an Invention
    • Innovate
  • Alterations to Era Change
• A Glimpse of Time
  • Milestones
  • Inventions
• Iconography
  • Specialist Tiles
  • Knowledge Tiles (each requires an available Chain Action token)
  • Other Icons
  • Era Change (summary)
  • Final Scoring (IP)

Components

All components are limited in quantity to what is included in the game box.

• 1 main board
• 1 society board in each of 4 colors
• 1 rulebook and 4 player aids
• 2 Action aid cards
• 1 Chronos meeple
• Pillars of Time: 1 Epoch (big) and 2 Season (small) in each of the 4 player colors
• 30 Citizen meeples in each of the 4 player colors
• 3 Chain Action tokens in each of the 4 player colors
• 1 Influence marker in each of the 4 player colors
• 1 Scoring marker in each of the 4 player colors
• 1 Turn Order marker in each of the 4 player colors
• 1 Era marker in each of the 4 player colors
• 5 Influence tokens in each of the 4 player colors
• 12 Economy tokens
• 7 Sage meeples
• 7 Knowledge tiles
• 7 Specialist tiles
• 21 Milestone tiles in 6 decks
• 48 Idea cards in 6 decks
• 21 Private Goal cards in 3 decks
• 16 Aspiration tiles
• 21 Technology Progress tiles (3 of each from 1 to 7)
• 21 Culture Progress tiles (3 of each from 1 to 7)
• 21 Economy Progress tiles (3 of each from 1 to 7)
• 25 Wealth tiles (4 with letters A, B, C, D; 3 with letters E, F, G)
• 1 Solo rulebook
• 5 Solo cards + 1 Scoring card
• 1 Solo player board

Player Count Differences

You will make minor adjustments to how you play the game for different player counts. These will be clearly marked; you can ignore the tweaks that do not apply to your player count:

• 4-player games, which is the default player count for which the rules are written.
• 3-player games
• 2-player games

Also, the 2-player game relies on an automated opponent. Details on this can be found at the end of the rulebook (see 2-Player Rules), along with a summary of changes for easy reference.

Setup

Main Board

1. Place the main board in the middle of the table.
2. Each player chooses a color and takes 1 Era marker, 1 Influence marker, 1 Scoring marker, and 1 Turn Order marker of that color. Place your scoring marker on space 0 of the Ingenuity Points (IP) track.
3. The player who has invented something most recently goes first. The turn order is then clockwise, starting with this player. Place your Turn Order markers on the Turn Order track of the main board accordingly; the first player's marker is placed on the top space.
4. Place the Era marker for each player below the Era track on the first four spaces (in any order).
5. Place each player's Influence marker on space 1 of the Influence track.
6. Place the Chronos meeple on the leftmost space of the Era track (just below the Era 1 space).
7. Place 1 Sage meeple on the Sage space in each region.
8. Place 1 random Knowledge tile face up (IP side down) on the Knowledge space in each region.
9. Separate the Milestone tiles by letter. Shuffle Deck A and place 1 tile from it face up on each space of the Common Knowledge display.
10. Shuffle Milestone Deck B and place 1 tile from it face up on each of the 4 Player displays on the board, even if that player is not in the game. This is called the Private display.
11. Place the 3 C Milestones face up next to the board, making the Eureka display. Place Decks D, E, and F above the Eureka display.
12. Place 1 random Specialist tile face up in each Region display, to the left of the Idea space.
13. Separate Idea/Invention cards by Era (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6), creating a deck for each. Set aside Eras 1 and 2.
14. Each Region display contains a Specialist tile, which depicts a benefit. From the Era-2 Idea cards, look for the 5 Idea cards with the letter A. Place a random one of these in each region, except the two regions with the Specialist tiles depicted in the lower-left illustration on the setup diagram.
15. Separately shuffle the Idea Era 3, 4, 5, and 6 decks, then create a single face-up Idea stack by stacking the Era-6 ideas on the bottom, then atop those ideas, Era 5, then Era 4, and finally Era 3 on top. Do not shuffle the Idea stack. Place this stack next to the main board.

Wealth and Progress Tiles

16. Separate the Wealth tiles by letter (3 or 4 of each letter), and randomly place them face up on the indicated space in each Region display to the left of the Idea space. For each of A – D, place a number of tiles equal to the player count. For each of E – G, place a number that depends on the player count:
    • 4 players: Place all 3 for each of E – G.
    • 3 players: Place any 2 for each of E – G.
    • 2 players: Place any 2 for each of E – G.
17. Stack the Economy, Culture, and Technology Progress tiles separately. For each type of tile, create 7 stacks, one for each unique number (1 through 7). Place each stack face up on any display space for that type.
    • 3 players: Stack only 2 of each number on each display.
    • 2 players: Stack only 2 of each number on each display.

Note: Asia and North America are connected by following the indicated arrows. After all, the earth is round.

Society Board Setup

Each player takes a Society board, along with: 30 citizens; 3 Pillars of Time (1 Epoch and 2 Seasons); 3 Chain Action tokens; 5 Influence tokens; 4 Aspiration tiles; 3 Economy tokens.

A. Place 2 citizens in your academy as scholars and 1 in the Home (upper) space of each Specialty area (economy, culture, and technology) as specialists (trader, artisan, and thinker). The Specialty areas are in the upper-right portion of your Society board. Place 1 of your citizens as a diplomat on your private Milestone.

B. Sort the Private Goal cards into 3 decks by type. Take 3 Private Goal cards: 1 random card of each type. Keep these cards secret from your opponents, but you may look at them at any time.

C. Set aside your +1 Influence Influence token for now. Place your other 4 Influence tokens (Present an Idea, Invent, Innovate, Share) on the matching Influence spaces in the lower-right portion of your Society board.

D. Place 1 of your Economy tokens on its space in the lower-right corner of your Society board and the other 2 Economy tokens on the matching Progress hexes on the left half of your Society board.

E. Take the idea from the Era-2 stack of Idea cards that depicts your Milestone's name (with a B below it) in its upper-right corner. Place it to the right of your Society board.

F. In turn order, each player takes an Era-3 Idea card from the top of the Idea stack and places it to the right of their board. Now lay the top 3 cards face up to the right of the deck to create the Idea display next to the main board.

G. Take 2 random inventions from the Era-1 stack of Prehistoric Invention cards (they do not have an idea on the other side). Place them to the left of your board.

H. Place your 3 Chain Action tokens on the upper-left space of your society board.

I. Place your 3 Pillars of Time (Epoch and the 2 Seasons) near your society board.

J. Keep the 4 Aspiration tiles and your remaining citizens near your society board as your citizen supply.

Stone Age (Setup Round)

In reverse turn order (starting with the player at the bottom of the Turn Order track), each player does the following on their turn:

i. Choose a region with an Idea card.

Tip: If this is your first game, you may choose your region from your Private Goal card or just for the bonus on the Specialist tile. If you feel like you can't yet choose wisely, just choose randomly.

ii. Depending on the region, place 1 or 2 of your specialists matching the idea there on the Specialist tile to the left of it (economy: trader, culture: artisan, technology: thinker, and/or scholars who can do any of those things). As depicted on the Specialist tile to the left of the idea.

iii. Gain the benefit depicted on the Specialist tile.

iv. Place your +1 Influence Influence token on the leftmost influence space above/below the region you chose (but do not gain the IP you cover).

v. Place 1 citizen from your supply in that region on the map.

Once everyone has done this, discard all Idea cards with no specialists on their Specialist tile.

The Core of the Game

Your goal is to put your ideas out into the world so they can become inventions and then be shared with humankind. These are the three most crucial things that happen in the game because they allow you to gain IP (Ingenuity Points), increase your population, and advance your society: Present Idea → Invent Idea → Share Invention.

Note: These steps do not have to be done by the same player (more on that later)!

Tip: Over the course of a game you should try to get at least one or more Progress/Wealth tiles each turn. These are key to quickly advance your society to success.

Key Concepts

The following concepts are important to understand before you start playing the game:

A. Chronos, Era Track, and Milestones

On the Era track, Chronos' advance depicts the ever-constant march of time; however, the Era track also indicates each society's accumulation of technological advancement. If your society's Era marker becomes ahead of Chronos' era, it is because your society is ahead of the times. If your Era marker lags behind Chronos, your society is behind the times. The technological Milestones you reach will define your society's era, and thus whether you are ahead or behind the times.

B. Assembly, Forums, and Action Spaces

The Assembly on the left half of the main board provides a menu of actions for everyone to use. The Assembly is divided into 5 forums; each forum comprises 2 different Action spaces. To perform an action, you will place a pillar on an Action space.

This means that once you choose an action in a forum, you are blocking yourself from both actions in that forum until the next era, when they will become available again.

Note: An accessible forum is a forum with none of your Pillars of Time in it.

Golden Rule: Each player can have only 1 Pillar of Time (whether epoch or season) in each forum.

C. Main Action

During your turn, you must perform a main action. This involves either moving your Epoch pillar (big) to an Action space in a different accessible forum, or playing one of your Season pillars (small) on an Action space in any accessible forum. Chronos' position on the Era track will indicate whether you must play a Season pillar or move your Epoch pillar this round. If Chronos is standing on a wheel above the current era's space, you must play a Season pillar; if a pillar is depicted above the current era's space, move your Epoch pillar to a different forum.

D. Chain Action

Chain Actions are all the actions marked with a Chain Action icon and a pink background.

The number of Chain Actions you can take during your turn is limited by your influence, as indicated on the Influence track on the main board. Thus, the number of Chain Actions you can perform will change from turn to turn. At the beginning of each turn, you prepare a number of Chain Action tokens (1 to 3) that you can use for the turn.

Certain actions you take may present you with an option to perform a Chain Action, as well; these will be clearly marked with the Chain Action icon. Every time you take a Chain Action, you will place a Chain Action token close to the icon, allowing you to track your Chain Actions as you perform them. You don't have to use all of your allotted Chain Action tokens, but once you run out of your allotment for the turn, you cannot perform any more Chain Actions. You will retrieve the used tokens after you finish the Perform Actions step, so you might as well use them if you can!

E. Influence

As mentioned earlier, your influence determines the number of Chain Actions you can take during your turn.

F. Exhausted Citizens vs. Available Citizens

You will deploy your citizens to advance your society. Note that your Epoch and Season pillars are not citizens. Sometimes, an icon depicts a citizen lying down, which means they are exhausted. When that happens, you move your citizens to the Exhausted (lower) space of their Specialty area, lying down. When an icon depicts a citizen standing up, they are available to work, and you should move them to the Home (upper) space of their specialty area. You can only deploy citizens that are home!

G. Specialists

Citizens can specialize in certain skills, becoming traders, artisans, or thinkers. Citizens' specialties are related to the three types of Idea cards and Progress tiles: economy, culture, and technology, respectively. Once a citizen is assigned a specialty, that citizen is called a specialist.

The relationship between specialists, ideas, and progress is very strong:

• Traders drive economy.
• Artisans drive culture.
• Thinkers drive technology.

H. The Academy / Scholars

Your academy hosts scholars who are resilient citizens who can work in any specialty. Your Milestone's era number is the maximum number of scholars you can have at your academy.

A scholar can act as any specialist; however, when you must exhaust the scholar, the scholar permanently commits to a specialty: Move the scholar to the Exhausted (lower) space of the chosen specialty's area. If you do not need to exhaust them, the scholar remains at the academy, still resilient and ready to take on any task.

I. Progress Tiles and Wealth Tiles

There are 3 types of Progress tiles — economy, culture, and technology — as well as Wealth tiles. Once you build these onto the Progress map on your Society board, you can use them.

• Economy tile: Provides you with a benefit you can activate once per era by placing an Economy token on it. At the end of the era you get your Economy tokens back to use next era. You start the game with 1 Economy token, but can gain more by building progress or Wealth tiles over the spaces of your Progress map that have Economy tokens on them. You can only have 1 Economy tile of each number.
• Culture tile: Provides you with a permanent improvement to the action depicted at the top of the tile. Every time you perform that action, you get the benefit depicted in the middle. You can only have 1 Culture tile of each number.
• Technology tile: Provides you with a paired Chain Action that depicts 2 actions — let's call them A and B. If you perform Action A, you can chain Action B. If you perform Action B, you can chain Action A. So, you have some flexibility. You can only use 1 Technology tile per turn, it costs you 1 influence, and when you use it, you must flip it face down, never to be used again. You can only have 1 Technology tile of each number.
• Wealth tile: Provides you with an endgame scoring goal regarding the tiles on your Progress map. You can only have 1 Wealth tile of each letter.

(See the player aid for a detailed explanation of each Progress tile.)

How an Idea Shapes History

Milestones determine how advanced your society is, they are the building blocks of your society's understanding. Some inventions require certain prior knowledge of technology (Milestones). For example, you cannot bake bread if you do not yet know how to make fire.

First, a society conceives and Presents an Idea. Eventually, someone will realize that mere idea by Inventing it, assuming they have knowledge of the appropriate Milestone already. Sometimes, another society will Innovate upon an invention, improving it forever. Ultimately, though, someone involved in that process Shares the Invention with the world, and that society strides forward in the race for wealth.

The evolution of ideas: Present Idea → Invent Idea → (optional) Innovate Invention → Share Invention.

How to Play

The game takes place over 6 eras:

1. Stone Age (3.2 million years ago) — 1 Round
2. Neolithic (12 thousand years ago) — 3 Rounds
3. Metal Age (3300 BCE) — 3 Rounds
4. Classical/Middle Age (500 BCE) — 3 Rounds
5. Modern Age (17th Century) — 3 Rounds
6. Computer Age (21st Century) — Scoring Round

Each era consists of 3 rounds: playing your 2 Season pillars and then moving your Epoch pillar. The exceptions are the Stone Age (Era 1), which consists of only 1 round, in which you only move your Epoch pillar, and the Computer Age (Era 6), which is exclusively endgame scoring. At the end of each era (except Era 5), there is an era change procedure to mark the turning of the wheel of time. All of this is depicted in iconography along the Era track to help you remember (see Era Change).

Playing a Round

At the beginning of each round (except in Era 1), Chronos advances 1 step on the Era track. Then, each player takes a turn that consists of a main action and, optionally, one or more Chain Actions.

Taking Your Turn

Your turn is divided into the following steps (these are depicted on your Society board, as a reminder):

1. Prepare Chain Action Tokens
2. Perform Actions
3. Aspirations Become Progress
4. Build Progress

Note: At the end of step 2, return all of your Chain Action tokens to the left space in the upper-left corner of your Society board.

Step 1: Prepare Chain Action Tokens

Move the number of Chain Action tokens (on your Society board) indicated by your space on the Influence track from the left space to the right space in the upper-left corner of your Society board. You will place these as you perform Chain Actions, and you cannot take more Chain Actions than the number of Chain Action tokens you prepared this turn. After you finish Step 2: Perform Actions, return them to the left space again.

Step 2: Perform Actions

In this step, you will either play a Season pillar from your Society board on an accessible Action space or move your Epoch pillar to an Action space in another accessible forum. Either way, the Action space must not be in a forum that has one of your Pillars of Time in it, making it accessible. Whether you play a Season pillar or move your Epoch pillar is indicated by the space of the Era track on which Chronos stands.

If Chronos' space depicts the Epoch pillar, you must move it. Otherwise he will be on a wheel space, so you must play a Season pillar.

Reminder: In Era 1, there is only 1 round, in which you place your Epoch pillar on the main board. In Era 6, you take no main actions. Otherwise, each era comprises 3 rounds. In rounds 1 – 2, play the Season pillars; in round 3, move your Epoch pillar to a different forum. All of this is indicated on the Era track.

Once you have played your Season pillar or moved your Epoch pillar, you will influence other players' Epoch pillars that are on the chosen Action space (see below), and then perform the action.

A. Influence Epoch pillars (or Season pillars)

Each player with an Epoch pillar (or Season pillar) on the Action space you chose gains 1 influence (advance 1 space on the Influence track). The maximum influence you may have is 10.

B. Perform the Action

Then, perform the chosen action (for what each action does and how it works, see The Actions). You may also perform any number of your prepared Chain Actions for the turn.

Aspiration Tiles

Some actions will grant you an Aspiration tile for either economy, culture, or technology, or even one of your choice. Aspiration tiles are placeholders that you will replace with Progress tiles during Step 3 of your turn.

When you gain an Aspiration tile, rotate it so the symbol matching the type awarded is at the top, then place it in the leftmost empty space of the tiles display at the bottom of your Society board. If you gain more Aspiration tiles than your tiles display has empty spaces, then at the end of your turn you must choose which of the new tiles to gain; the excess Aspiration tiles return to your supply.

Performing a Chain Action

Performing a Chain Action is almost identical to performing your main action; but instead of using a pillar, you place a Chain Action token close to the Chain Action icon you wish to use.

Milestone Tiles

A Milestone tile depicts: (1) Diplomat spaces; (2) Name; (3) Milestone Era; (4) Diplomat Action; (5) society's New Era.

Idea/Invention Cards

Idea side: (1) Name of Idea; (2) Specialty Type; (3) specialists to be exhausted; (4) Milestone needed to invent; (5) Chain action for Innovating on the invention side; (6) IP for Inventing (Era 6 Cards only).

Invention side: (1) Name of Invention; (2) Share Action available; (3) Invention era and IP when shared; (4) Chain action.

The Actions

Each action can be performed as a main action or as a Chain Action. The action involves the same steps, no matter whether you perform it as a main action or as a Chain Action.

Important: If (and only if) you cannot take any of the main actions, just play your Season pillar or move your Epoch pillar and gain 1 influence. Avoid this at all costs.

Present an Idea

Present the ideas that may eventually become inventions. You will be known as the presenter. This is one of the core actions in the game.

1. Place one of your Idea cards from the right of your Society board in a Region display with no card in it.
2. The Specialist tile (to the left of the card you just played) indicates the number of specialists and/or scholars required to present your idea in this region. Move the required 1 or 2 available specialists of the same type as the card you played (and/or scholars) from your Society board to stand atop the Specialist tile. Gain the benefit depicted on the Specialist tile.
3. At the end of Step 2: Perform Actions, for each Idea you have presented, perform the following steps (you might be able to present multiple ideas during your turn; don't do the following until all of them are done): a. Select an Idea card from the Idea display (the 3 cards plus the top card of the deck next to the main board) and place it to the right of your Society board to fill the gap left by the idea you just placed. b. Slide the cards of the Idea display to the right (away from the stack) to fill any gaps, and place the next card from the stack on the newly empty space.

Invent

Inventing ideas advances your society's technology and allows the new invention to be shared with the world. This is one of the core actions in the game.

1. Choose any presented idea on the board to whose required Milestone you have access (see Access to Milestones below). The required Milestone is depicted on the upper-right corner of the card.
2. Place an Aspiration tile on the leftmost empty space of the tiles display at the bottom of your Society board, rotated so technology is at the top.
3. Move an available specialist of the same specialty as the idea (or move a scholar) from your Society board to the Invent space to the right of the idea (same icon as this action). An idea may also require you to exhaust additional specialists (and/or scholars) for you to invent it. This requirement will be depicted to the left of the Invent space (on the card), next to the required Milestone. If so, exhaust specialists of the type indicated there (and/or scholars).
4. Flip the Idea card over to its Invention side.

Access to Milestones: Having access to the Milestone required to invent an idea means any of the following is true:

• Private display: The Milestone is in a player's Private display on the board, and one of the following is also true:
  • It is in your own display.
  • It is in an opponent's, and one of your citizens is on it.
  • It is in an opponent's, and it is from an era earlier than Chronos' current era.
• Common knowledge: The Milestone is on the board in the Common Knowledge display, or has been pushed off the board, and is in the discard.

Exhausting Specialists: To exhaust a specialist, simply move the citizen from the Home (upper) space of the specialty area to the Exhausted (lower) space, and lay it down. This specialist is no longer available until the specialist returns home.

Tip: You can tell that a card on the board is still an idea if it has no citizens standing to its right.

Innovate

Innovating on someone else's invention brings new specialists to your society. This action allows you to take a Chain Action.

Note: You can only innovate on inventions; you cannot innovate on mere ideas. If it is not an invention yet (no citizen on the top space to the right of the card), or if you were the inventor, you cannot take this action. You will see a reminder about this on the board above the Innovate space.

1. Move an available specialist of the same specialty as the invention you want to innovate (or a scholar) from your Society board to the Innovate space to the right of the invention (same icon as this action).
2. Gain 1 specialist of the same type as the invention (take a citizen from your supply). Place the new specialist in the Home (upper) space of that Specialty area on your Society board.
3. If you still have a Chain Action token, you may perform the Chain Action depicted to the left of the Innovate space (on the card). If you do so, place a Chain Action token on the card.

Share an Invention

Sharing an invention advances your societal wealth, increases the innovator's population, gives the invention card to the inventor, and earns IP for the idea's original presenter. Sharing a mere idea impresses no one; you must share an invention. This is one of the core actions in the game.

Note: If you do not have citizens beside any inventions, you cannot take this action. Remember that an invention will have its Chain Action at the bottom of the card, and at least 1 citizen to its right (if this is not the case, it is a mere idea, and you cannot take this action). You must have a citizen beside the invention in order to share it.

Choose an invented idea on any Region display where you have a citizen next to the card as either the presenter, the inventor, or the innovator.

1. The presenter (the player whose citizens are to the left of the invention) scores IP equal to the era of the invention, as indicated in the lower-left corner of the card, for each of their citizens to the left of the card.
2. The inventor moves the invention to the left of their Society board.
3. The innovator (if any) places a citizen from their supply in the same region on the map.
4. You (the player sharing the invention) take either any 1 Wealth tile from this region, or an Aspiration tile set to Wild (see below), and place it in the leftmost empty space of your tiles display. If your tiles display has no empty spaces for it, either replace any Aspiration tile in your tiles display, or do not take the tile at all.

All of the citizens that were beside the invention are moved into the matching region on the map.

Note: You can only ever have 1 Wealth tile of each letter, so if you already have a Wealth tile of the same letter as the one you wish to take, or there are no more Wealth tiles in the region, or you just don't want one, you may instead take an Aspiration tile set to wild: Place an Aspiration tile on the leftmost empty space of the tiles display at the bottom of your Society board, but rotate it so the question mark is standing upright (i.e. no single color is at the top). This is to remind you that you get to choose the type of Progress tile that replaces it.

Call Specialists

All societies need specialists to advance and progress. Independent of their time, societies always look for geniuses to help their growth and develop their economy. This action allows you to take a Chain Action. This action brings citizens from one region back home, available to work. This also advances your society's economy.

1. Place an Aspiration tile on the leftmost empty space of the tiles display at the bottom of your Society board, rotated so economy is at the top.
2. Choose 1 region and return 1 or more of your citizens from that map region (not the Region display) home to the specialty area matching the idea/invention in the region from which they returned. If there isn't a card in the region, their specialty is determined by the rightmost card of the Idea display. In the rare case that there also are no Idea cards in the display, you choose their specialty; however, they must all go to the same specialty. In any case, they go to the Home (upper) portion of the specialty area, so they are available.
3. If you have any Chain Action tokens remaining, you may perform a Chain Action from any one of the inventions to the left of your Society board. If you do so, place a Chain Action token on the card.

Note: If you perform more than one Call Specialists action in a single turn, you cannot chain the same invention's action twice.

Gain Influence

Throughout history, societies increased their power and influence by numerous means. From war, to diplomacy; from small communities assembling, to modern global conferences. This action represents those events. This action allows you to take a Chain Action. This action allows you to gain influence and IP using your specialists' work in a region.

1. Choose a region where you do not have an Influence token (no player can have 2 Influence tokens on the same region), and where you have more citizens on that region than anyone else, and where you have at least as many citizens as the number depicted on your Society board above the Influence token you wish to place in the region (it can be any Influence token on your Society board).
2. The number of citizens depicted above the chosen Influence token return home from the map (not the Region display) to the specialty area matching the idea/invention in the region from which they returned. If there isn't a card in the region, their specialty is determined by the rightmost card of the Idea display. In the rare case that there also are no Idea cards in the display, you choose their specialty; however, they must all go to the same specialty. In any case, they go to the Home (upper) portion of the specialty area, so they are available.
3. Place the chosen Influence token on the leftmost empty Influence space in the region (above/below the card space) and gain the IP you cover. Gain influence equal to the number of face-up Influence tokens you have on the board.
4. If you have any Chain Action tokens remaining, you may perform the Chain Action on one of your face-up Influence tokens from any region. If you do so, permanently flip the used Influence token face down, and place a Chain Action token atop it.

Travel

For millennia, there was no better way to share discoveries, inventions, culture, and knowledge between societies than traveling among the civilizations of the world. This action allows you to take a Chain Action. Traveling improves your society's culture and allows you to learn from the sages you encounter.

1. Place an Aspiration tile on the leftmost empty space of the tiles display at the bottom of your Society board, rotated so culture is at the top.

2. Move 1 of your citizens on the map (not a Region display) to an adjacent region, following a blue rope.

3. If a sage is in the new region and you still have a Chain Action token, you may place it near the Knowledge tile and do one of the following as a Chain Action:

   • If the Knowledge tile shows a Chain Action, perform that action, then flip the Knowledge tile to the scoring side.
   • OR if the tile is showing its 2-IP side, gain the IP of each Knowledge tile on the map showing its 2-IP side. Then flip all Knowledge tiles to the non-IP side (not just those with sages above them).

   Then, in either case, move the sage from that region to the academy on your Society board.

Note: You can move from North America to Asia, and vice versa (i.e. between regions 4 and 6).

Designer note: The regions on the map are numbered according to one popular understanding of prehistoric human migration. This particular choice works very well because, in a 2-player game, these region numbers also serve as your virtual opponent's path around Earth.

Eureka

Eureka moments are rare, but they can propel a society into a new era, acting as a gateway to numerous further inventions. With a shout of "Eureka!" a society gets ahead of the times.

You can only perform this action if the Milestones of the Eureka display are from a later era than your private Milestone.

1. Move the bottommost card out of the Common Knowledge display, and splay it on the discard pile. Then, move your private Milestone to the Common Knowledge display along with any diplomats on it, inserting it above all Milestone tiles with the same or an earlier Deck letter on it (shift the earlier ones downward to make room). If your old Milestone's letter is earlier than even the bottommost Milestone in the Common Knowledge display, splay it on the discard pile. Keep all discards' names still visible.

   Whenever a Milestone leaves the Common Knowledge display: All citizens that were on it are returned to their owners' Society boards as scholars.

   Limit: Your Milestone's era number is the maximum number of scholars you can have at your academy. Any beyond that return to your supply; however, with Eureka, you use the new Milestone's era as your academy maximum.

2. Select a Milestone from the Eureka display, and move it to your private Milestone display on the board. Place a citizen from your supply on the left side of the new Milestone, but don't take the action on it.

3. Advance your Era marker to the new Milestone's era, as depicted in the bottom of the Milestone tile, in one of the unoccupied spaces there. Take the benefit on the chosen space unless it is the turn order action, which occurs during Era Changes.

Send Diplomat

Send a diplomat to another society to learn about their new technology. This action allows you to send any available citizen as a diplomat. The citizen can either be used to gain knowledge of a society's Milestone or a Common Knowledge Milestone. Regardless of the method used, you benefit from the milestone where your diplomat is placed.

1. Move any specialist or scholar from your Society board to a Milestone tile on the board (in a Private display or the Common Knowledge display) with at least one free space on its left side, and on which you don't already have a citizen. If the Milestone belongs to another player and is from a more advanced era than yours, that player gains 1 influence.
2. Take the benefit depicted above the handshake on the Milestone tile.

Call Diplomat

Bring a diplomat home. Having completed their assignment, the diplomat returns as an academic, eager to demonstrate what they learned about the new technology while away. This allows you to use the action of the Milestone your diplomat is studying one last time.

1. Bring 1 of your citizens on a Milestone home as a scholar. Your Milestone's era number is the maximum number of scholars you can have at your academy; any beyond that return to your supply.
2. Take the benefit depicted above the handshake on the Milestone tile your diplomat just left.

Note: You never lose access to your private Milestone, but if the Milestone is from another player, you can no longer use it to Invent.

Step 3: Aspirations Become Progress

During your turn, you may have accumulated several Aspiration tiles, which serve as placeholders for specific types of Progress tiles. Now is the time to replace them with actual Progress tiles. (See the player aid for a detailed explanation of each Progress tile.)

Replace each Aspiration tile in the tiles display at the bottom of your society board with any Progress tile of the same type from the display. You can replace wild Aspiration tiles with any Progress tile. Return the replaced Aspiration tiles to your personal supply.

Remember that you can only have 1 tile of each number/letter.

Note: This placeholder approach minimizes disruptions to your turn and train of thought because you do not need to stop what you are doing to choose among the 7 types of Progress tiles each time.

Step 4: Build Progress

During this step, you may use your available specialists to build any tiles from your tiles display onto your Progress map, developing your society.

1. If you wish to build any tiles this turn, first you have to pay a one-time cost of influence based on how many tiles are in your tiles display. This cost is unrelated to how many tiles you actually intend to build.
   • a. 4 tiles: you do not have to pay any influence.
   • b. 3 tiles: you must pay 1 influence.
   • c. 2 tiles: you must pay 2 influence.
   • d. 1 tile: you must pay 3 influence.
2. You can only build a number of tiles up to your Milestone's era minus 1. Example: At the beginning of the game, everyone's Era marker and Milestones are Era 2, so at first, everyone can build 1 tile (Era 2 − 1 = 1).
3. For each tile you wish to build, perform these steps: a. Place the tile on any space on your Progress map that has no tile in it, and immediately gain the benefit from that space. (Because you gain the benefit immediately, you may use it to pay for the following step.) b. Pay the placement cost in specialists/scholars: i. If this is an Economy, Culture, or Technology tile, you must exhaust specialists of the same type (or scholars). If this is a Wealth tile, you may exhaust specialists of any mix of types (or scholars). ii. As a base cost, you must exhaust 1 specialist. If you are placing a Wealth tile, you must instead exhaust 2 specialists. iii. Additionally, you must exhaust 1 more specialist for each previously placed tile directly adjacent to the new tile. iv. Reduce the total cost for this tile by 1 for each Invention card you have to the left of your Society board that is the same type as the tile. (Note: Wealth tiles get no such discount because they don't have a related invention!)

Check your society board for a reminder of these steps.

Next Round

After all players have taken 1 turn, advance Chronos to the next space of the Era track. If Chronos is still in the same era, continue with another round as explained above. If Chronos has just entered a new era, perform the Era Change procedure to transition into the new era.

Era Change

At the end of the final round of Eras 2, 3, and 4 (i.e. after you've all moved your Epoch pillars), perform the following steps:

1. Adjust turn order: If at least one player's Era marker is on a Change Position in Turn Order space on the Era track, the player whose marker is on the furthest right Turn Order space moves their Turn Order marker to the space of their choice, and shifts the other Turn Order markers to fill the gap while maintaining their relative order. If no player is on a Turn Order space, skip this step.

2. Adjust influence: Lose or gain influence as depicted to the left of your space of the Influence track:

   • At 0 influence, you gain 1.
   • At 1–3 influence, nothing happens.
   • At 4–7, you lose 1.
   • At 8–10, you lose 2.

   Era 1 → 2: If you are changing from Era 1 to Era 2, skip the rest of the steps (this exception is depicted on the Era track as a reminder).

3. All exhausted specialists become available again: Move all exhausted specialists to their corresponding homes.

4. Retrieve Season pillars. Your Epoch pillar remains on the board.

   • Sages inspire study: For each sage on your society board, place a citizen from your supply on your academy as a scholar. Remember, your Milestone's era number is the maximum number of scholars you can have. Return each sage to an empty sage space on the main board.
   • Retrieve Economy tokens: Return any Economy tokens that you placed on Economy Progress tiles back to their spaces in the lower-right corner of your Society board.

5. Milestones from the previous era become public: Move all Milestone tiles remaining in the Eureka display (if any) into the Common Knowledge display. For each Milestone that is pushed out of the bottom, splay it on the discard pile so the names of the discarded Milestones are still visible. All citizens on it return to their owners' Society boards as scholars. Your Milestone's era number is the maximum number of scholars you can have at your academy; any beyond that return to your supply. Reveal the next set of Milestones from the next Era stack.

   • 2-player game: If there are any Milestone tiles remaining on the Eureka display, first, move the non-player private Milestone to the Common Knowledge display, then replace it with the rightmost Milestone of the Eureka display.

6. Untended ideas get invented by some "lesser-known" societies: Discard all Idea cards from the previous era that are in the Idea display. In turn order, check the Idea cards to the right of your Society board, and discard ideas from the previous era. For each card you discard, take a new one from the display. Discarded Idea cards can be removed from the game, they are no longer relevant.

End of the Game

Era 6: Final Scoring

1. Score IP based on the level you reached on the Influence track: 1, 5, or 10 IP.
2. Score each Wealth tile on your Society board (see player aid).
3. Score any 2 of your Private Goal cards (see player aid).

The winner is the player with the most IP.

Tiebreakers:

• In case of a tie, the tied player with the most tiles on their Progress map wins the tie.
• If there is still a tie, the tied player with the most inventions to the left of their Society board wins.
• If there is still a tie, the tied player whose society's population is highest (fewest citizens left in their supply) wins the tie.

2-Player Rules

Setup

You are playing a 2-player game against Chronos. Set up accordingly with the following changes for Chronos:

1. Choose a color for Chronos, and create a supply of his citizens, Influence tokens, Era marker, Turn Order marker, and 1 Season pillar. Assign the players' and Chronos' starting turn order at random.
   • He does not use the Epoch pillar (he always performs 1 of 4 core actions per round), and he does not take any Chain Actions.
   • He does not use a society board, Aspiration tiles, Influence marker, or score marker.
   • Chronos will always take his ideas directly from the Idea display rather than having 2 that are his.
2. Place Chronos' Season pillar in Africa unless Africa is already occupied by another player or there isn't an Idea card from Era 2 there. In that case, place Chronos' Season pillar in the next available region after Africa, following the migration path numbers depicted on each region.
3. As usual, place the required 1 or 2 specialists to the left of his starting idea, put 1 citizen in that region on the map, and place any one of his Influence tokens face down on leftmost (highest-value) space above/below the card.
4. Place any 3 Chronos Influence tokens face down on the Era track between Eras 2–3, 3–4, and 4–5.
5. Separate the Wealth tiles by letter. For each of A–D, place 3 tiles (Chronos counts as a player). For each of E–G, place any 2.
6. For Economy, Culture, and Technology tiles: stack only 2 of each number on each display.

How to Play

You have the same rules as in a 3- or 4-player game, except you also receive influence when an opponent performs a main action on the same Action space as your Season pillars (see A. Influence Epoch pillars).

All of Chronos' citizens are scholars (with no academy limit), and he only ever needs to use 1 scholar when inventing, ignoring how many are printed on the card. He also has access to all private Milestones on the game board, common knowledge Milestones, and Milestones in the discard, not just his own.

On Chronos' turn, move his Season pillar to the next region in the migration path (e.g. if it's in Region 4, move it to Region 5; from region 7 move it to region 1) and try to perform one of these four actions, preferring:

Present an Idea > Invent > Share > Innovate

Present an Idea

• If this region already has an idea, skip this action (Chronos tries to Invent the idea).

Take the rightmost idea from the Idea display and place it in the region. Place the required 1 or 2 of his citizens on the Specialist tile to the left of the idea. Chronos does not receive the bonus from the Specialist tile. Remember: Chronos always has the matching specialist type because all of his citizens are scholars.

Invent

• If this region already has an invention, skip this action (Chronos will try to Share the invention).

Chronos' citizens are all scholars, and he only needs 1 to invent (he ignores any additional exhaustion required). He takes a Progress tile from the display matching the type of idea he invented and the region number. This is different from the usual procedure.

However, he cannot invent the idea if the required Milestone has not yet made it onto the board. If this occurs, he moves his pillar to the next region and goes through the actions list starting from the beginning again.

If no Progress tiles of that region number remain, or if he already has a tile with the same number, he looks for a tile matching the next region number, and then the next one until he can take one. Discard the Progress tile and place it next to his supply.

Share an Invention

• If Chronos cannot Share an Invention in this region, skip this action (Chronos tries to Innovate).

As usual, Chronos can only share inventions that he either presented, invented, or innovated. He does not score IP. As usual, move all citizens from the invention to the connected region following the normal rules. Then he discards the topmost Wealth tile from the stack and places it next to his supply. If there are none left, he takes a Progress tile matching the type of invention he shared and the region number. If no Progress tiles of that region number remain, he looks for a tile matching the next region number, and next until he can take one.

• If he was the inventor, he simply discards the card.
• If he was the innovator, he places a new citizen in the map region.

Innovate

• If Chronos cannot Innovate, skip this action; move his pillar to the next region in the migration path, and once again go through the list of actions until you find one he can perform.

As usual, place a citizen from Chronos' supply on the Innovate space. Chronos never performs the Chain Action from an Innovate action. Once Chronos takes one of the above actions, his turn ends.

Alterations to Era Change

Before doing any of the Era Change steps, first do the following:

1. Chronos places one of his Influence tokens on the main board. To determine where to place it, check where his Season pillar is on the map. Without moving his Season pillar, if Chronos doesn't have an Influence token in the next region in the migration path, place one of Chronos' Influence tokens in the leftmost space in that region. If Chronos already has an Influence token in that region or no spaces are empty, check the next region, and so on, until Chronos can place an Influence token. Move the Season pillar to that region.

2. In each era change except after Era 1 and before Era 6, Chronos will take a new Milestone, and advance his Era marker on the Era track. Take Chronos' current Milestone and place it in the Common Knowledge display, sliding the others down as usual. Take the rightmost Milestone of the Eureka display and place it on Chronos' private Milestone space. Move Chronos' marker on the Era track to the era matching his Milestone, placing it in the rightmost available space. (If Chronos' marker ends up on the rightmost Turn Order space with an Era marker on it, he will adjust turn order to put himself first if possible during the Era Change steps.) Follow the usual Era Change steps; when moving Milestones in Step 5, use the rules for a 2-player game.

A Glimpse of Time

Milestones

Technology milestones determine how advanced your society is, they are the building blocks of your society's understanding; but milestones also serve as stepping stones. Some inventions require certain prior knowledge (milestones). For example, you cannot bake bread if you do not yet know how to make fire.

• A: Stone Age (began 3.2 million years ago) — The Australopithecus, the earliest human species, learned to create stone and bone tools, while Homo erectus discovered how to control fire, and Homo habilis used their backs for transportation. Homo sapiens, our own species, invented language by creating recognizable sounds.
• B: Neolithic (began 12 thousand years ago) — Players begin the game with these milestones. Agriculture was in use by the Sumerians between 12 to 11 thousand years ago. The Indus planted cotton in Mehrgarh around 5000 BCE, and the Anatolians were smelting copper at the same time. The Egyptians began actively mining for ores and stone before 3500 BCE.
• C: Metal Age (began 3300 BCE) — Iron was utilized by the Hittites, while the Babylonians and Egyptians applied arithmetic, geometry, and algebra. By 5500 BCE, the Egyptians were already sailing, establishing the groundwork for the numerous inventions of the Bronze and Iron ages that followed.
• D: Classical/Middle Age (began 500 BCE) — Significant progress was made in science, philosophy, and mathematics. The Chinese created paper around 200 BCE, the Byzantines used explosives known as "Greek fire" in the 7th century, and the Greeks pioneered the use of cranes, on which the Romans built.
• E: Modern Age (began 17th Century) — Brought forth a multitude of inventions including electricity (Benjamin Franklin, 1752, developed by Faraday, Volta, Edison, and Tesla), the telegraph (Claude Chappe 1792, Samuel Morse 1837), Edward Jenner's vaccination against smallpox (1798), and Nikolaus Otto's internal combustion engine (1876).
• F: Computer Age (21st Century) — Advanced technologies such as the Internet, solar panels, artificial intelligence, multi-use rockets, and quantum computers accelerated the pace of technological progress significantly.

Inventions

Inventions set the pace of the game. The following lists the inventions you will create, by era and required Milestone letter.

Era 1: Stone Age (began 3.2 million years ago) — Boats, Cloth, Projectile, Star Map, Flute, Bread, Trade, Domestication: Dog, Ceramics & Pottery.

Era 2: Neolithic (began 12 thousand years ago) — Domestication: Horse (A: Transport), Seawall (A: Stone & Bone Tools), Wheel (A: Transport), Fermentation (A: Control of Fire), Tanned Leather (A: Stone & Bone Tools), Irrigation (B: Agriculture), Silk (B: Cotton), Proto-City (B: Mining), Plumbing (B: Copper Smelting).

Era 3: Metal Age (began 3300 BCE) — Coins (B: Copper Smelting), Writing (A: Origin of Language), Glass (A: Control of Fire), Lighthouse (C: Sailing), Musical Notation (A: Origin of Language), Steel (C: Iron).

Era 4: Classical/Middle Age (began 500 BCE) — Mariner's Compass (C: Mathematics), Catapult (D: Crane), Eyeglasses (C: Mathematics), Caravel (C: Sailing), Printing Press (D: Paper), Windmill (D: Crane).

Era 5: Modern Age (began 17th Century) — Steamboat (C: Iron), Dynamite (D: Greek Fire), Calculator (C: Mathematics), Automobile (E: Internal Combustion), Telephone (E: Telegraph), Light Bulb (E: Electricity), Aircraft (E: Internal Combustion), Television (E: Telegraph), Microscope (E: Vaccination), Locomotive (E: Internal Combustion), Penicillin (E: Vaccination), High-Density Battery (E: Electricity).

Era 6: Computer Age (began 21st Century) — Satellite (F: Solar Cell), Machine Learning (F: Computer), Quantum Computing (F: AI), Solar Sail (F: Solar Cell), Internet (F: Computer), Reusable Rocket (F: AI).

Iconography

Specialist Tiles

• Present an idea.
• Invent an idea.
• Share an Invention.
• Gain 3 IP.
• Increase influence by 1.
• Gain a scholar, but don't exceed your academy limit.
• Place a new citizen in any map region of the world.

Knowledge Tiles (each requires an available Chain Action token)

• Present an idea.
• Invent an idea.
• Share an Invention.
• Innovate.
• Call Specialists.
• Gain Influence.
• Place a new citizen in any map region of the world.
• Gain 2 IP for each tile flipped.

Other Icons

• Build a number of Progress tiles equal to your era − 1.
• Build a number of Progress tiles equal to your era − 1 with a cost of 2 influence.
• Build this Progress tile with a discount of 2 citizens.
• Gain an Economy token.
• Increase influence by 1 (max 10).
• Bring citizens home from a region as specialists (traders/artisans/thinkers).
• Gain a new specialist of the shown type.
• Place a new citizen in any map region of the world.
• Gain a Scholar.
• Chain Action.

Era Change (summary)

1. Adjust turn order.
2. Adjust influence based on your position on the Influence track.
3. Exhausted citizens become available.
4. Return Season pillars, sages, and Economy tokens.
5. Cycle Milestones. First move any non-player Private Milestones, then the remaining display Milestones.
6. Discard uninvented ideas from previous eras next to your Society board and the display.

Final Scoring (IP)

At the beginning of Era 6, perform final scoring. To the score track, add:

1. IP from position in Influence track.
2. IP from your Wealth tiles.
3. IP from 2 of your Private Goal cards.

Tiebreakers: (1) Most tiles on Progress map; (2) Most inventions to the left of your board; (3) Most total citizens.

The player with the most IP wins.

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Credits: Game Design: Vital Lacerda. Game Art, Graphic Design & 3D Illustrations: Ian O'Toole. Rulebook & 3D Illustrations: Vital Lacerda. Game Developers: Shelley Danielle and Scott Hill. Solo Version: Vital Lacerda. Published by Eagle-Gryphon Games. © 2023 FRED Distribution Inc.