S-Evolution Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Material
  • Components
  • Boards
• Installation
• Round of Play
  • 1. New hand
  • 2. Resources (tricks)
    • Tricks
    • Playing cards
    • Play a Discovery
    • Example 1
    • Example 2
    • End of a trick
  • 3. Action
    • Cards Collection
    • Needs
    • Victory Points
    • Management
• End of the Game
• Appendix
  • Buildings
  • Advantages
  • Disasters

Material

• 4 individual boards (1 by player)
• 1 common Evolution & score board
• 120 cards (1 set of 30 cards by player, backs red, green, blue, yellow)
• 28 pawns (7 by player)
• 20 markers (5 by player)

Components

• Strength of a card: the number on the card (e.g. 5).
• Resources to collect: the resources shown on the card (e.g. 2 Science).
• Type of card: Food, Tools, Science, Disaster or Joker (e.g. Science).
• Color of play: the card's color (e.g. Orange).
• Evolution Age: the Age of Evolution shown on a Discovery card (e.g. Age IV).
• Discovery Card and Color: the labelled parts of a card on the material illustration (the Discovery card and its color).

Boards

1. S-Evolution Track: shows at which Age your civilization is and, below, in which needs you must satisfy your population. Above, you find icons for the rules of tricks of each Age.
2. Score Track.
3. Resources Tracks: show the resources of Food, Tools and Science you have.
4. Population Track: shows how much population you have available, i.e. the maximum number of "Pops" (pawns) that you can place on Buildings and Advantages.
5. Buildings (Farm, Factory, Research Centre) and Advantages (Trade, Prestige, Shield): respectively, they produce resources and give different game benefits. To use them, you must place a Pop (only one) on them. The level on which it is placed indicates its efficiency.

Installation

Each player chooses a color. He places his board in front of him, with his pawns, markers, and his 30 cards.

He removes the 6 Progress cards out of his deck and places them at the left of his board, face down.

He shuffles his remaining 24 cards and places them on a face down pile in front of him.

On his board, the player places a marker under each of the resources tracks, a marker on the second step of the Population track, and keeps 6 pawns (his "Pops") near his board. He also places a pawn (it's not a Pop!) on the Age I of the Evolution & Score board, and a marker on 0 on the Score track.

The first player is the most civilized. Sit around the table in this order: Red-Green-Blue-Yellow (clockwise).

• 3 players: Red-Green-Blue.
• 2 players: Red-Green.

Round of Play

The game proceeds in 6 rounds. Each round is divided into the following phases:

1. New hand
2. Resources (tricks)
3. Action
   • Cards collection (Disasters first)
   • Trade and needs
   • Victory points
   • Management

1. New hand

Each player draws in hand the 4 first cards of his deck. He adds to them his Progress card of his Age, unless this Progress is yet face up near his board.

Attention: when a player is at Age I (Primitive) or is a victim of Disaster "Obscurantism", he does not look at the cards he has taken. He just shuffles and places them in front of him, face down. So, in the first round, all players play without seeing their cards... Use your divination skills to play well!

2. Resources (tricks)

With their 5 (or 4) cards, players will compete to avoid Disasters, make a good Discovery, and especially get the resources they need.

Attention: no Calamities in the 1st round! If a player gets one (or more), he instead plays the first card of his deck. At the end of the first round, he shuffles back the Disaster(s) with his deck.

Tricks

The players play tricks until all cards in their hands are used. During a trick, each player plays one of his cards face up in the middle of the table, in the turn order (clockwise).

The player who starts the first trick is always the one who played last the Action phase. Thereafter, it is always the player who has just won the previous trick.

Tie rule: in case of a tie, the tied player with the higher Age of Evolution always wins. If there is still a tie, it's the player who has the most population. Otherwise, the first in the turn order. Do that to decide all ties in the game.

Playing cards

Each player uses a different rule according to his Age of Evolution.

• Ages I and II (Primitive & Barbarian): your cards do not have any color (to show it, play your card horizontally, see example). If you start the trick, you don't set a color for the trick. During a trick, you can always play any card. The Primitive plays without seeing his cards. The Barbarian sees his cards!

• Ages III and IV (Middle Ages & Renaissance): your cards have a color. If you start the trick, or if you are the first in the trick to play "with color cards", you set the color of the trick with the color of your card. If you do not start the trick, you must play a card of the color set by the first player of the trick. If you have not it, you can play any card. If you play the trump chosen by a player of the Age V or VI, play your card horizontally to show that it is not trump (you do not have the right to use trump yet!).

• Ages V and VI (Industrial & 3rd Millennium): now you can use the Trump, a color higher than others. The trump color is valid for the whole round and can be used by all players who are at Ages V and VI. It's the player who is at the higher Age (so, only V or VI) who chooses the Trump color and announces it before the first trick of the round. At the same Age, use the tie rule.

  To play the cards, you apply the same rules as Ages III and IV. But now, when you do not have a card of the color set by the first player in the trick, and only in this case, you (like all players at Ages V and VI) can play a Trump card ("to trump"): you're now better! Instead of "trumping", you can also choose to play any other color card.

Play a Discovery

You can always play a Discovery, when you want. The card is neutral, without strength, without color, without effect.

Example 1

A & D: Age II / B & C: Age III

B goes first and plays the 5 Orange which sets the color of the trick. C must play Orange and plays the 2. A and D, which are not yet playing the colors, play what they want, A the 1 Purple and D the 6 Orange.

Order of choice: B first (6 D is higher, but actually colorless). Then C (second in the color set). Finally, between A and D, it is simply the highest, so D then A.

Example 2

A: Age VI / B: Age V / C & D: Age IV

A (highest Age) goes first and chooses Green as the Trump color. He plays the 6 Purple. B has no Purple card and he trumps with the 3 Green. C must play the color set and plays the 4 Purple (a Disaster). D also has no Purple card, he plays the 2 Green, but it is not Trump, because he's only at Age IV.

Order of choice: B (trump) / A (highest card of color set) / C (lower card of color set) / D (other color).

B wants 3 Foods and chooses the 3 Green, A wants Foods also and takes the 2 Green, C takes the 6 Purple (Joker), and finally the poor D gets the Disaster!

End of a trick

At the end of each trick, each player chooses one of the cards played in the trick.

Discoveries: treat them first. These cards concern only the players who have played one.

A player takes back his Discovery. Or he can take the Discovery played by another player if the card is the same Age, and if he can choose before him because of the tie rule.

The player places the Discovery card face up at the left of his board.

Resources: then, each player who has played a Resource card chooses one played in the trick, in this order:

• first, the highest player(s) in the trump color (if there's a trump)
• then, the highest player(s) in the color set (if there's a color set)
• finally, the highest player(s), regardless of color.

The player takes the Resources card chosen and places it visible near his board.

Tricks phase ends when all players have played all their cards. A trick is played even if only one player still have card in hand.

3. Action

The players take turns performing the Action phase as a whole, starting with the player who won the last trick.

Cards Collection

The player first applies the consequences of the Disaster(s) he collected, in the order of his choice.

Then he adds on his Resources tracks the Resources given by his collected cards, plus the production of his Buildings. A Joker card gives 1 Resource player's choice.

You can not store more than 8 Resources in each type. Beyond that, they are lost.

Needs

The player must satisfy the Needs of the Population in every type asked by his Age (see these types below the Age track). He must spend a Resource of each of these types by Pop. The player lowers accordingly his Resources markers. If he can not satisfy all its Pops in a Need, he spends the maximum and then lowers this Resource to 0.

Trade: if the player has a Pop on Trade, he can change the type of some Resources in his stock, only before spending Resources for the Needs.

To satisfy or dissatisfy the Population has immediate consequences:

Bonus:

A player that fully satisfies its Pops in all requested needs immediately rises to the next Age.

Penalties (except Ages I & II):

• A player who satisfies none or only 1 of the Needs of its Pops goes down one Age. He put face down the Discovery of the Age he's leaving.
• A player who provides no Resource (0!) to its Pops in one or more Needs loses 1 Pop. He lowers his Population marker. If all available Pops were already on Buildings or Advantages, he removes one of his choice and puts it back beside his board.

Note: both penalties can add. At Age I & II, they have no effect at all. You can never have less than 1 Pop.

Victory Points

For every Need fully satisfied, the player scores as many victory points as the number of its Population. He scores these points on the scoring track.

Example: Paul has a population of 4 at the Age V. By paying 4 Food, 4 Tools, but only 1 Science he fully satisfied only 2 of the Needs of his Population. So he scores 4 x 2 = 8 points.

Management

The player can now use the remaining Resources to manage his world. He can do whatever he wants, in any order... as he has the Resources to pay!

• Population: raise your Population by 1 for 1 Food, by 2 populations for 3 Food (once per round). Score that on your Population track.
• Age of Evolution: the player can evolve to the next Age for 3 Science (once per round). Score that on the S-Evolution track.
• Buildings and Advantages: placing only one Pop on a Building or on an Advantage is enough for benefit. As he does not exceed the number of its Population track, the player can place new Pops. He can also increase the level of a Pop already placed, or move a Pop to another building or Advantage. Each time, the player must pay the corresponding Resources (indicated on his board).

End of round

Resources cards collected are discarded out of the game.

End of the Game

The game ends at the end of the sixth round (the deck of each players is also exhausted), just after the last phase of Victory Points (there is no Management phase).

Players add to their score the Discoveries they have made (face up). For each set of Discoveries of the same color, they count:

• 1 point for 1 card
• 3 points for 2 cards
• 6 points for 3 cards
• 10 points for 4 cards
• 15 points for 5 cards
• 21 points for 6 cards.

Note: If your score marker goes higher than 50, continue on the track from 0.

The player with the highest score is the historical winner of the Social Evolution!

In case of a tie, see tie rule...

Appendix

Buildings

(cost: 1 Tools level 1, 2 Tools level 2)

Farm, Factory and Research Centre respectively produce Food, Tools, or Science Resources, 1 or 2 by round, according to the level of the Pop which is placed there.

Advantages

Trade (cost: 1 Science for each level)

Just before paying the needs of the population, the player can change the type of resources of its stock, 1, 2, or 3 according to the level of the Pop which is placed there.

Prestige (cost: 1 Science level 1, 2 Science level 2)

By his charisma, the player scores Victory Point(s) (instead of 0) for only one dissatisfied Need per round, 1 or 2 Points according to the level of the Pop which is placed there.

Shield (cost: 2 Science for each level)

It only protects from a single disaster by round. The player does not suffer the effects of the Disaster with a Pop on level 1. With a Pop on Level 2, the Disaster gives also to the player 2 Resources of his choice.

Disasters

• Famine: All the collected food Cards are immediately lost and discarded. The player can not use a Joker as Food. Fortunately, the Farm continues to produce.
• Earthquake: Same rule as Famine, but with Tools (and Factory).
• Fanaticism: Same rule as Famine, but with Science (and Research Center).
• Epidemic: The player loses 1 Pop. He lowers his Population marker. If all available Pops were already on buildings or advantages, he removes one of his choice and puts it back beside his board.
• Invasion: This Disaster applies to the following round (note: no effect on the 6th round). The player will place his cards face up on the table, visible to all other players.
• Hurricane: The player loose one food, one tool and one Science of his stock.
• Decline: The player goes down one Age of Evolution.
• Obscurantism: This Disaster applies to the following round (note: no effect on the 6th round). The player will draw his cards without looking at them, will shuffle them, and will play without seeing them, exactly as at Age I. Of course, he will not have to play by the rules of color or trump.

Note: on rare occasions, a player can suffer Invasion and Obscurantism in the same round. In this case, he draws his cards without looking at them, shuffles them, and then holds them in hand the back towards him, visible from all the others, except him!