Nuevos Mundos Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• How to Play
• End of Game
• Scoring
  • Biodiversity
  • Dominant Biomes
  • Natural Balance
  • Final Score
• Advanced Mode
  • Human Settlements
  • Global Natural Balance
  • Vital Capacity
  • Discord
• Publisher's Note

Components

• 64 biome cards (8 types), numbered 01 to 64
• 8 human settlement cards (one for each biome type)
• 1 universe board (numbered 0 to 6)
• 1 scoring pad
• 4 help cards

Biome card types: ocean, coast, jungle, savanna, desert, high mountain, taiga, and arctic tundra.

Biome card details:

• Value (the number printed on the card, 01 to 64)
• Nature icons (sun, water, plants, animals, minerals, ice; see Advanced Mode)
• Biome icon

Note: the printed card detail marks the nature icons with an asterisk referring to "see Advanced Mode."

Setup

First, place the universe board in the center, within reach of all players. The human settlement cards are set aside; they are only used in Advanced Mode, explained at the end of these rules.

Shuffle the 64 biome cards and deal 4 cards to each player. This is their starting hand. Players may look at their cards, but may not show them to the other players.

Place the remaining cards in a face-down pile on the space of the universe board numbered 1. This is the creation pile.

Take the first card from the creation pile and place it face up on the space numbered 0 on the board. This is the discard pile. Then draw the next 5 cards from the creation pile and fill the remaining spaces on the board (2 to 6).

Finally, deal one help card to each player, which summarizes the actions of the turn and the scoring. The player who most recently planted something goes first.

How to Play

Play proceeds in turns, clockwise. On their turn, each player must perform one action, chosen from the following three:

1. Play a card from your hand to take all the cards visible on the board of the same biome as the card played. The player lays these cards out in their play area, in front of them. Then they place the card played face up on the discard pile (space 0).

   Example: Roberto plays an ocean card and takes all the ocean cards visible on the board: the ones on spaces 4 and 5, and also the one on the discard pile (space 0). Then he places the card he played face up on space 0.

2. Play a card from your hand to take the cards visible on the board that correspond to the two digits of the card played. This includes taking cards from the discard pile (space 0) or from the creation pile (space 1), if the digits of the card indicate them. If the card shows a number that does not exist on the board (7, 8 or 9), no card can be taken for that value. If the card played has a repeated number, only one card is taken (for example, with card 55, only the card from space 5 is taken). The player lays these cards out in their play area. Then they place the card played face up on the discard pile (space 0).

   Example: Alicia has a high mountain card with the value 42 in her hand, plays it and takes the cards on the board corresponding to spaces 4 and 2. Had she played the jungle card 18, she would take the top face-down card of the creation pile, but could not take a card for the number 8, since no space with that number exists.

3. Play a card from your hand and lay it directly in the player's play area.

   Example: Noa takes the ocean card 02 from her hand and lays it directly in her play area, adding a new biome to her world.

   Note: We recommend organizing each player's play area (their world) by placing the cards in columns, by biome type, in ascending order: from lowest to highest and from left to right. This makes it easy for all players to see each other's worlds and which cards have already come out in the game.

After performing the chosen action, the player fills the empty spaces on the board (if there are any) with cards from the creation pile, and draws a card so that they again have 4 cards in hand. Then it is the next player's turn.

Note: If the creation pile runs out, take the cards from the discard pile, except the first one, which stays on space 0, and shuffle them. Then place them face down on space 1, forming a new creation pile used to refill the universe board or to draw a card.

End of Game

When a player, at the end of their turn, cannot fill all the empty spaces on the universe board, every player except the one who just played may, following turn order, lay down one last card from their hand in their play area. The remaining cards in hand are discarded. The game ends and each world is scored. The player who receives the most points is the winner. In case of a tie, count the nature icons of each world, starting with the sun (see the order under Vital Capacity), until the tie is broken.

Scoring

Biodiversity

Each player gains 1 point for each type of biome laid out in their world. The player with the greatest number of different biomes earns 3 extra points. In case of a tie, each tied player receives the bonus.

Example: 4 different biome types would give 4 points.

Example in the rulebook: Roberto has 8 different biomes in his world, Alicia has 7 and Noa has 5. Roberto gets the 3 extra points for having the most biomes, for a total of 11 points.

Dominant Biomes

The player with the greatest number of cards of a given biome type gains 2 points. Points are scored for each biome type. In case of a tie, the player with the card of the highest value of that biome wins the points.

Example: Roberto has 3 ocean cards and Noa has only 2. Roberto gains 2 points.

Example in the rulebook: Roberto has the most ocean, coast and high mountain cards, so he gains 6 points (3 x 2). Alicia wins the count for savanna and desert, and Noa wins it for jungle and arctic tundra. There is a tie in taiga cards, but Alicia has the highest value in this biome (55 against 52), so she takes the points for this biome. Alicia therefore has 6 points and Noa has 4.

Natural Balance

Each player gains 1 point for each card with consecutive values (minimum 3 cards) within each biome. Example: 3 desert cards with consecutive numbers would be worth 3 points.

Example in the rulebook: Roberto has not formed a sequence of at least three cards with consecutive values, so he gains no points in this count. Alicia gets 3 points for the three taiga cards with consecutive values. Noa has six jungle cards with consecutive values and three other taiga cards, earning 9 points.

Final Score

The final score in this example is as follows:

• Roberto: 11 + 6 + 0 = 16 points
• Alicia: 7 + 6 + 3 = 16 points
• Noa: 5 + 4 + 9 = 18 points

The world of Noa is the most habitable!

Advanced Mode

The following advanced rule modules can be added individually or together. The game keeps the same rules, except for the modifications indicated.

Human Settlements

During setup, add the 8 human settlement cards (one for each biome type) to the rest of the cards and shuffle them all together.

When played, since these cards have no numerical value, they can only be used to take all the cards visible of the same biome they represent, or to be laid directly in the player's play area. If they are on the universe board, they can be taken like any other card.

Once in the player's play area, they function as a wildcard: they can represent any value they wish, within the values of that biome (even if that value is already in another player's play area).

A human settlement may change its value within its biome, but at the end of the game the player must decide which value it represents, because once scoring begins it can no longer be changed. In case of a tie, the biome card wins over the human settlement card.

Global Natural Balance

When scoring Natural Balance, the consecutive values (always a minimum of 3 cards) may come from neighboring biomes.

Example: 2 coast cards and 1 jungle card with consecutive numbers = 3 points.

Vital Capacity

A new form of scoring is added to the three existing ones. Each player counts the nature icons in the upper part of their cards (see the illustration on the right), and whoever has the most of each icon gains 3 points. In case of a tie, the card with the highest value bearing the corresponding icon wins.

The order of the icons is: Sun, Water, Plants, Animals, Minerals, Ice.

Example: this taiga card has 1 sun icon, 1 plants icon and 1 minerals icon.

Discord

At the end of scoring, the player with the least Biodiversity, Dominant Biomes and Vital Capacity (if this variant is played) loses 1 point for each minority. That is, the player with the least variety of biomes loses one point, the player with the fewest cards of each biome type loses one point, and the player with the least amount of each of the nature icons loses one point. In case of a tie, each tied player loses one point. If all players are tied on a score, the player with the card of the highest value escapes the penalty.

(The Discord icon, a skull, marks the scoring pad's Discord row.)

Publisher's Note

This game reproduces examples of biomes that exist on our planet, but both the species in them and the proposed human settlements may differ from reality (for example, polar bears and penguins do not coexist on our planet). If you use this game in the classroom, you may plan activities around it to discover more about our planet.