Paleolithic Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Map Setup
• Basic Rules
  • Game Object
  • Starting a Game
  • A Game Round
  • Ending the Game
• Complete Rules
  • Change of Ending Conditions
  • Tribal Features
• Advanced Rules
  • Role Settings
  • Using the Character's Skill
  • Special Skills & Replacement
  • Legendary Characters

Components

• Legendary Characters x4 (figures). Reminder: do not unplug a legendary character figure after it is plugged in, or it may loosen up.
• Dice x2
• Legendary Character Cards
• Culture Boards x6
• Artifact Cards
• Tribal Tiles
• Tribal Stands x4
• Caveman Tokens
• Tribal Tokens
• Animal Companion Tokens
• Game Resources: Red Clay Resources, Jade Resources, Stone Resources, Black Clay Resources
• Food Tiles
• Adventure Board

Map Setup

1. Artifact Cards: After a shuffle, open five artifact cards and place them on the map. The rest remain covered on the desktop.
2. Tribal Tiles: Place two tribal tiles on the map. The rest remain covered on the desktop.
3. Legendary Character Cards: Select a legendary character card and place it on the map.
4. Game Resources and Food Tiles: Place the four types of resources and the food tiles on the table based on their categories.

The map setup guide labels the parts of the Culture Board as follows:

• a. Basic Tribal Groups: Tribal Stands & 3 Tribal Tokens.
• b. Artifact Cards Placement Area.
• c. Cultural Achievements: Points can be awarded for each artifact card belonging to its own culture. Points can also be awarded for successfully combining specific artifact categories. The Culture Board's achievement icons are pictorial: a white culture icon marked "+2" and a combination of two grey stone pieces with two brown pottery pieces marked "+4".
• d. Dedicated Animal Companions.
• e. Culture Name.
• f. Culture Excavated Area: the star (★) represents the location to start the game.
• g. Resources and Food Tiles Placement Area: each player may only have a total number of 12 Resources at most.

An artifact card shows its Score (top left), its Culture (the culture name and icon), its Year (bottom, in BP), its Resource Requirement (the resource icons along the bottom of the card), and its Artifact Category (the icon on the card's top corner).

The artifact categories are: Black Pottery, Jade Relics, Stone Artifacts and Red Pottery.

Basic Rules

Game Object

Players will play as the tribal elders of the six cultures to lead tribal fellows and animal companions on the journey. Along the way, players will expand territories, collect resources, produce culture artifacts and build prehistoric tribes. At the end of the game, the player with the highest score will be the prehistoric Great Elder!

Starting a Game

1. Set up the map. Please refer to the Map Setup section.
2. Each player picks a culture in the game.
3. Initiate the basic tribal groups following the settings and place them on the culture boards.
4. Start with 2 caveman tokens and 1 animal companion and place them in the ★ position marked on the culture boards.

A Game Round

In each round, players can choose from "Explore" or "Workshop" actions.

I. Explore: this action is divided into the following two steps in sequence.

1. Migration: A player can choose to move one of their caveman or animal tokens to an adjacent ring, or choose not to move at all.
2. Collection: By rolling a die, any ring occupied by a player's caveman or animal tokens can generate resources. Resources are calculated based on the "dice points + number of tokens," corresponding to the list of resources next to the occupied ring. The collected resources or food tiles are placed on the player's culture board.

Example a: If the player rolls the die to 2, and 2 tokens are placed on the ring, the number of points will be recorded as 4 points (2 + 1 + 1).

Example b: If the player rolls the die to 0, and there is only 1 token on the ring, the number of points will be recorded as 1 point.

Note: Tokens with different cultures can be placed on the same ring at the same time. Only the tokens belonging to one's own culture can be included in the calculation.

II. Workshop: A player can choose either to "Produce Artifacts" or to "Build Tribes" in this action.

1. Produce Artifacts: If resources owned by the player meet the requirements of any artifact card on the map, an artifact can be produced. The player can consume the corresponding resources to acquire the card, place it on their culture board and open a new card from the pile to replace the old one. The score of the artifact is displayed on the card.
2. Build Tribes: If resources owned by the player meet the requirements of any tribal tile on the map, the tribe can be built. Players will consume the corresponding resources to acquire the tile and open the next tribal tile on the map. Each tribal tile in the game accounts for 3 points.

Take a tribal token from the stand, and place it on a ring where the player's caveman or animal token occupies.

Note: Only one artifact card or tribal tile can be made in a single workshop action. Each player can only build tribes at most 3 times.

Ending the Game

According to the basic game rules, when a player obtains a total of 5 artifact cards and tribal tiles, the game is over and scores are calculated.

1. Basic score calculation: The score of each artifact is displayed on the card. Each tribal tile accounts for another 3 points.
2. Achievement score calculation: Refer to the achievements on each culture board. If the artifact cards in any player's hand match the cultural achievements, the player can gain extra points.

The player with the highest score is the great elder of the game!

Example (as illustrated): Four artifact cards are shown beside a culture board. The culture icon "×2 = +4" is counted first, and the two grey stone pieces and two brown pottery pieces shown beside it add a further "= +4".

Complete Rules

Change of Ending Conditions

According to the complete rules, when a player obtains a total of 8 artifact cards and tribal tiles, the game is over and scores are calculated.

Tribal Features

In the exploration action, the tribal tokens placed on the map will also be counted as the player's tokens and included in the point calculation.

Unlike caveman tokens and animal companions, tribal tokens cannot be moved after placement.

Advanced Rules

When players are familiar with the basic game rules, legendary characters can join in and start an adventure together!

Role Settings

At the beginning of the game, players select a legendary character and place the corresponding card on the map. The rest of the character cards are not used in this game. Place the legendary character on the "No. 0" ring in the center of the map.

Using the Character's Skill

When a player's caveman or animal and legendary character are in the same ring, after choosing the workshop action, the player can use the special skill of the character once. After each use, the player throws 2 dice, adds up the points, and determines the character's new location. When the "replacement requirement" of the character is met, the player flips the card and replaces a new character on the map after moving.

Special Skills & Replacement

Elder's Exchange and Witches' Altar: Place three resources on the card at the beginning of use (1 gray, 1 red, and 1 black). When a player activates the skill, use 1 resource to exchange 1 from the card. Replacement requirement for this skill: all 3 resources on the card are from the same type.

Hunter's Zone and Warrior's Guild: When a player activates this skill, place 1 food tile on the card and throw 1 die. If the die is rolled to 3, then collect 1 black resource; if the die is rolled to 4, collect 1 jade resource. The food tile cannot be retrieved. Replacement requirement for this skill: there are 3 food tiles placed on the card.

Legendary Characters

• Bean: Profession Elder. Location: Eastern Mountains. Special Skill: Summon.
• Jack: Profession Warrior. Location: Northern Hills. Special Skill: Encourage.
• Julia: Profession Witch. Location: Western Plains. Special Skill: Ritual.
• Fluffy: Profession Hunter. Location: Western Coast. Special Skill: Treasure Hunt.