Lost Explorers
Lost Explorers Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Gameplay
You now know that your goal is to be the first player to collect the 4 clues needed to locate the entrance to the lost world. Represented by magnifying glasses, the clues are found by following the footsteps of the two explorers. You have a choice: follow only one trail or both at the same time.
But how do players follow those trails? By completing Missions.
During each turn, you will send out Expedition Members do one of two things: pick up Vehicle tokens (front side up) or Mission tokens (unknown back side) in the Equipment areas; or move them on the World Map to reach the Locations specified on your Mission tokens by using your Vehicle tokens.
Each Mission token offers a unique combination of Locations. When a mission is completed, the Mission tokens allow you to get one step closer to the explorers' trails.
Content
- 1 World Map board/box containing:
- 12 Locations connected to Venice
- 1 Clue area
- 2 Equipment areas
- 1 Discovery area made up of 2 tracks
- 2 Transport areas
- 64 Vehicle/Mission tokens
- 13 Clue tiles
- 4 Validated Location markers
- 16 Vehicle/Mission starting tokens
- 4 Expedition Members per player
- 2 Expedition Leaders per player
Set up
Open the box and set it in the middle of the table.
Pick 2, 3 or 4 Validated Location markers at random for respectively 4, 3 or 2 players and place them on the corresponding Locations' photos. Put unused markers back in the box.
Shuffle the 64 Vehicle/Mission tokens and divide them equally (32 tokens) between the 2 Transport areas. Set the tokens, Vehicle side up, so that the type of each token is visible.
Place the 13 Clue tiles on the "Clue" area.
Randomly choose the First player.
For each player
Take 3 of the 4 Expedition Members and both Expedition Leaders of your color. The 4th Expedition Member of each player is set aside for the moment.
Take 1 token of each type from the reserve of starting tokens and place them in front of you with the Vehicle side visible. Put away the remaining starting tokens, they will not be used in the game.
Put an Expedition Leader on the first slot of each track in the Discovery area.
Flip one starting token of your choice, Mission side up.
Important! On the back of each Vehicle token, the mission is a unique combination of 2 or 3 Locations. Each one of these Locations is accessible with at least 1 vehicle of the same kind as this token.
First turn
The first player to play can only use only 1 Expedition Member, the second player only 2 Expedition Members. The third and fourth players can use all 3 of their Expedition Members.
Over the following rounds, all players can use all of their Expedition Members.
Game turn
Each player's turn is divided in two phases: you first send your Expedition Members on the Equipment areas or on the World Map's Locations, then you complete your missions and retrieve your Expedition Members.
Phase 1
When this phase starts, you can choose to retrieve some or all of your Expedition Members from Locations of the World Map. Any such retrieved Expedition Member is put in front of you.
You can then use your Expedition Members for the following actions, in any order:
Equipment Action: Gain Vehicle and/or Mission tokens
Move 1, 2, 3 or 4 of your Expedition Members in front of you to an empty "Equipment" area to gain respectively the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th token of the stack.
Place that token in front of you, Vehicle side or Mission side up, without checking the Mission side beforehand. A token, once set on one side, cannot be flipped on the other side.
Once an Equipment area is occupied, you cannot place more Expedition Members there. In other words, you can only get a maximum of two tokens per turn, one in each of the Equipment areas.
Players can have as many tokens as they want. When a stack is empty, you can no longer take a token from that stack. When the 2 stacks are empty, the end of the game is triggered.
Expedition Action: Move an Expedition Member to a Location
- Move 1 of your Expedition Members in front of you to a Location of the World Map. You can only do this if you have in front of you ALL the Vehicles (2 or 3) shown by the routes between Venice and the Location you want to go to.
- From the Vehicle tokens you have just used, pick one and discard it in a discard area next to the box. The discard area will be used during the game.
You can perform this action as many times as you have Expedition Members in front of you.
If one of the other players' Expedition Member is already on this Location, take its place, give the player their Expedition Member back and your Vehicle token meant for discarding (Vehicle side up).
Expedition Members can never be moved to a Location that has a Validated Location marker!
Phase 2
During this phase, you can complete Missions and move forward on the tracks of the Discovery area.
- You must have an Expedition Member on EACH of the Locations depicted by the Mission token you are trying to complete. Locations with a Validated Location marker are Locations that do not require any Expedition Members and are automatically validated.
- Retrieve one of your Expedition Members on one of the Locations needed to complete the Mission, and place it in front of you. You can choose which Expedition Member you retrieve.
- In the Discovery area, move the Expedition Leader forward on the color track matching the Mission completed, by a number of slots equal to the number of Expedition Members needed to complete the Mission. Missions involving Locations with a Validated Place marker are easier to complete, but are worth one fewer point.
If you move forward an Expedition Leader whose position was equal or lower to your other Expedition Leader's, take a token of your choice, Vehicle face up, from the discard area.
- Discard the Mission token in the discard area next to the box.
BONUS: If both your Expedition Leaders reach the 4th slot of each track, you can take the 4th Expedition Member that was set aside at the start of the game and place it in front of you.
If one of your Expedition Leaders gets to a slot with a magnifying glass, take a "Clue" tile.
You can complete several missions in one turn. But do not forget to remove your Expedition Member from the World Map for every completed mission.
Finally, retrieve the Expedition Members on Equipment areas and place them in front of you.
Each turn is played clockwise, one player at a time, until one of the players has gathered 4 clues or both token piles are empty.
End of the game
You have gathered the 4 clues? Well done! You have discovered the entrance to the lost world and win the game. Add the 4 numbers written on your Clue tokens and scan the corresponding QR code to find out where the entrance to the lost world really is.
If both token stacks are empty and no player has found the 4 clues, each player's least-advanced Expedition Leader is used to establish the winner. You win the game if that second Expedition Leader is more advanced than that of your opponents. If tied, you win if you have fewer tokens in front of you than the other players have.
The secret entrance
The final page of the rulebook is a reference sheet of 46 numbered QR codes (numbered 1 through 46), one per possible sum of Clue-tile numbers. Add up the four numbers on your collected Clue tiles, scan the QR code with the matching number, and it reveals which Location on the World Map hides the secret entrance to the lost world.
Credits
Game Designer Cédrick Chaboussit
Artist Christine Deschamps
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