Journey to the Center of the Earth Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective of the Game
• Components
• Preparation
• How to Play
• Galleries
• Discoveries
• Dangers
• Characters
  • Otto Lidenbrock
  • Axel Lidenbrock
  • Hans Bjelke
• The Center of the Earth
• The Time Moves On
• End of the Game
• Scoring
• Credits

Objective of the Game

Players will draw a route from an entrance volcano to the center of the Earth and from there to one of the exit volcanoes. Along the way they must find water to survive and species to study while avoiding dangerous areas with beasts and dinosaurs. Live the unforgettable adventure created by Jules Verne!

Components

• 19 exploration cards
• 12 tunnel cards
• 3 character cards
• 3 volcano cards
• Rules
• Solo variant rules
• Journal pad printed on both sides

Preparation

1. Each player takes 2 sheets of the pad and joins the front of one with the back of the other to form the adventure journal.

   Note: If you want to play again later, just flip these pages to have another empty journal.

2. Shuffle the 19 exploration cards and the 12 tunnel cards separately and form 2 decks. Place the decks so they can be seen by all players.

3. Shuffle and place the 3 volcano cards forming a face down row.

4. Place the 3 character cards, active side up, close to the center of the table.

5. Each player must mark on the map of their journal which of the four available volcanoes they will use to enter. Draw an arrow (down arrow) in the volcano's circle pointing to the center of the Earth and a crossing gallery (a "+" shape) in the adjacent shaded cell. Draw your choice of a circle, triangle, and square in the other volcanoes' circles.

   Note: It is recommended that players select different entrances if possible.

How to Play

Each round reveal an exploration and tunnel card. All the players must draw the symbol indicated by the tunnel card on one of the cells of the row or column indicated by the exploration card.

Example: The exploration card "?" allows you to choose the row or column in which to draw the curve displayed on the tunnel card.

There are 3 types of tunnel cards: galleries, discoveries, and dangers.

Galleries

These are the tunnels constructed by the players to establish a route towards the center of the Earth and to an exit volcano. Galleries can be drawn in any free cell of the map (shaded or not) with whichever orientation is preferred.

• Straight gallery. Draw a horizontal or vertical line.

• Curved gallery. Draw a curve in any of the four possible positions.

• Runes of Arne Saknussemm. Draw a line or a curve. This card also exhausts Alex's character (see section: "Characters").

  "There, on a square tablet of granite, which had been smoothed by rubbing it with another stone, we could see two mysterious, and much worn letters, the two initials of the bold and extraordinary traveler who had preceded us on our adventurous journey.."

Discoveries

Discoveries are benefits that players will find along their route; from life saving water springs needed to calm their thirst, to undiscovered fossils, and new or extinct species.

Note: Discoveries can NOT be drawn in shaded cells or in a cell adjacent (horizontally or vertically) to another discovery already drawn.

• Water spring. Draw a drop.

  "The tunnel began to be filled by clouds of vapor, while a small stream ran away into the interior of the earth. In a short time we had some sufficiently cool to drink. We swallowed it in huge mouthfuls."

• Prehistoric fish. Draw a fish.

  "This subterranean ocean must have been tolerably well supplied with fish, for in two hours we took a large number of Pterychtis, as well as other fish belonging to another supposed extinct family—the Dipterides"

• Cemetery of bones. Draw a bone.

  "On that spot, some three square miles in extent, was accumulated the whole history of animal life—scarcely one creature upon the comparatively modern soil of the upper and inhabited world had not there existed."

• Giant mushrooms. Draw a mushroom.

  "I had heard that the Lycoperdon giganteum reaches nine feet in circumference, but here were white mushrooms, nearly forty feet high, and with tops of equal dimensions."

A discovery is found when you can trace a continuous path from the volcano entrance to the discovery cell. Circle the discovery in the map when that happens.

Note: The cell of a found discovery (circled) is considered a crossing gallery for path connection purposes. It may happen that, after finding a discovery, it links with paths already drawn that lead you to immediately find other discoveries or even to reach the center of the Earth or the exit.

Example: You must draw a fish in column 4. You can't draw it in C4 because it is adjacent to another discovery (mushroom), or in E4 which is a shaded cell. You could draw it in B4 to connect it to the entrance volcano and discover it immediately. Also, as it becomes a crossing, the route links with other paths already drawn that allows you to discover the water spring in D3.

After circling the discoveries found in the map, you must mark them on the second sheet of the journal. Circle the leftmost free space on the corresponding score track.

Example (continued): After finding the previous discoveries, the player circles the first free water space (the game begins with two spaces already marked) and a fish space.

When you complete a column of three different discoveries (fish + mushroom + bone) circle the +5 bonus just below it.

Dangers

When one of these cards is drawn, each player passes their journey map to the rival on their left or right, as indicated by the arrows on the card. Your opponent fills completely (crosses out) an empty and unshaded cell in the row or column indicated by the exploration card.

That cell can no longer connect to galleries and discoveries.

"Plesiosaurus and Ichthyosaurus attacked one another with inconceivable fury. They raised mountains of water, which dashed in spray over the raft, already tossed to and fro by the waves. Twenty times we seemed on the point of being upset and hurled headlong into the waves. The awful combatants held each other in a tight embrace. I could not make out one from the other. Still the combat could not last forever; and woe unto us, whichsoever became the victor."

Danger cards exhaust the character Otto or Hans, as explained below.

Characters

The three protagonists of the novel are available to help the players on their journey. During a round, if you want to ask one of them for help you should circle the leftmost available number on the help track from your journal and then execute the skill of one of the characters that displays his active side.

Characters and their useful abilities will not always be available. If one of the two danger cards or the gallery card "Runes of Arne Saknussemm" is drawn, players cannot use any character that turn.

Additionally, the character that appears in the box of that card must be flipped to show its exhausted side. As the other cards are drawn, the other characters will be exhausted. When the tunnel deck runs out and recreated (see "The Time Moves On"), the three characters will return to their active side.

Note: If you cannot draw on any cell in the row or column, you can ask a character for help. If you choose not to ask for help, don't draw anything. For this reason, it is possible that an opponent will not be able to fill a cell when a danger appears.

Otto Lidenbrock

Prestigious professor of mineralogy, famous as much for his impatient and irascible personality as for his brilliant mind.

You can ignore the tunnel card and draw a star instead. You can do this in cells adjacent to another discoveries. When your route reaches a star, choose one of the discovery tracks (water, mushroom, bone, fish) and circle the leftmost free number.

Axel Lidenbrock

He is the Otto's nephew and a diligent student of mineralogy. His cautious and thoughtful personality contrasts with his uncle and allows him to analyse better the paths to take.

You can draw in the rows or columns adjacent to the one indicated by the exploration card. If the card indicates a row or column at the edge of the map (1, 9, A, I), you can choose only between the single adjacent row or column.

Hans Bjelke

Icelandic hunter and guide that Otto hire for their adventure. He is a silent and impassive man, but also strong and very skilled with mountain tools.

You can ignore both cards (exploration and tunnel) and add a fork to one of your previously drawn galleries to turn it into a "T" intersection.

The Center of the Earth

If you reach the center of the Earth with your route, circle the +3 in the corner of your journal and, if you are one of the first three to arrive, circle the corresponding bonus: +3, +2, or +1 point depending on whether you are first, second, or third.

If several players arrive in the same turn, they all circle the same corresponding bonus. The rest of the players cross out that bonus on their journals.

Note: The cell in the center of the Earth is considered a crossing gallery.

The Time Moves On

When the tunnel deck runs out, all players must consume one point of water. To do this, cross out one of the circles in the water bottle section of your journal (every player starts with two points of water).

Note: If you don't have a water point to cross out, you are eliminated from the game.

After that, the three characters return to their active side and the tunnel deck is prepared again by shuffling its discard pile.

When the exploration deck runs out, one of the exit volcanoes erupts and can no longer be used as an exit. The first volcano card is flipped over, and all players cross out the same symbol on their map.

The exploration deck is formed again by shuffling the discard pile and the game continues. The game ends immediately if the third and final volcano card is revealed.

End of the Game

The game ends in 3 possible ways:

• All but one player has run out of water. In this case, that player will be the winner of the adventure. It is also possible that, on the same turn, everyone dies of thirst and loses the game.
• The third exit volcano erupts. In this case, the adventurers go out through the same volcano they used as entrance. Continue with scoring.
• A player reaches the center of the Earth and manages to escape through an exit volcano. That player circles the +7 indicated in the corner of their map. If more than one player escapes on the same turn, they all circle the bonus. Continue with scoring.

Note: You cannot escape and end the game if you have not reached the center of the Earth. If you first complete a route to the exit, you must continue drawing until the path also reaches the center of the Earth.

Scoring

Score the following:

• The highest valued circle on the water track.
• The highest valued circled in each of the fish, mushroom, and bone tracks.
• All +5 bonuses circled for each complete group of fish + mushroom + bone discovered.
• The +3 bonus if you reached the center of the Earth and any bonuses you may have for being the first, second or third player reaching it.
• The +7 bonus if you managed to escape through an exit volcano.
• Subtract the highest value circled in the help track.

The player with the highest score is the winner. In case of a tie, the winner is the player with the highest number of discoveries (water/mushroom/bone/fish).

Credits

Game design: Alberto Millán Illustration and design: Pedro Soto Development and rules: Pedro Soto Translation: Pako Cantarero Proofreading: Suzanne Sheldon

Designer's thanks: To my brother Javier, who discovered the novel to me, to Mélanie for being always available to test my new ideas, to LUDO and Pati Llimona for turning my prototypes into games, to Looping Games for making this game a reality and to Julio Verne for making us dream.

© 2020 Looping Games S.L. - A game by Alberto Millán - All rights reserved. www.loopinggames.com