Tori-Tori: Endangered Species Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Game Objective
• Course of Play
  • 1. Roll the two dice and solve the Activation cards
• How to Solve the Activation Cards
  • 1. Common Sector Activation cards
    • Invasive Bushes
    • Animals
  • 2. Human Settlement Activation cards
    • The Village
    • Industry
  • 3. Species Activation cards
  • 2. Use 4 Action points
• How to Transform Human Settlement tiles
• Difficulty Levels
• Abilities
• Ecology Concepts in the Game
• Game Summary
  • 1. Roll the two dice and solve the Activation cards
  • 2. Use 4 action points
  • The game ends as victory or defeat (pag. 6)

Components

• 2 dice: a Red letter die (A, B, C, D, E and F on the sides) and a Sky-blue letter die (A, B, C, D, E and F on the sides).
• 1 Island board: The Island board has 14 sectors:
  • 12 Common sectors: Species are located in here. There is room for 3 Species by sector.
  • 2 Special sectors: Human Settlements are located in here (Village and Industry). There cannot be Species in these sectors.
• 18 Activation cards:
  • 2 Human Settlement Activation cards (Village and Industry).
  • 12 Common Sector Activation cards (from 1 to 12).
  • 4 Species Activation cards (1 Cats, 1 Foxes, 1 Guinea pigs and 1 Tori-toris).
• 57 Species tokens: Native Species: Tori-toris, Guinea pigs, Foxes and Native Trees. Introduced Species: Cats and Invasive Bushes. Introduced Species tokens have a red outline.
• 4 Researcher pawns: Each participant takes the role of a researcher that when moving on the Island board, will carry out different actions.
• 1 Round marker
• 2 Human Settlement tiles: 1 Village tile: Sustainable Village on one side and Non-sustainable Village on the other. 1 Industry tile: Sustainable Industry on one side and Non-sustainable Industry on the other. Each Human Settlement tile always occupies a specific sector on the island.
• 4 Researcher and Aid cards

Game Setup

1. Unfold the Island board in the centre of the table.
2. Place the Human Settlement tiles in their corresponding sectors. Make sure that the Non-sustainable side of both tiles face up.
3. Take the 12 Numbered tokens and put them one by one at random in each common sector of the Island board. These will determine the number of each sector during this game and will not change at any time.
4. Put the Round marker on the round track of the Island board.
5. In each Common sector of the Island board, put a Species token on the indicated space of the board and a Native Tree token. There should be two Species tokens and an empty space in each sector.
6. Take the 12 Common sector cards, shuffle them and place six of them at random on the indicated card spaces at the left side of the Island board.
7. Take at random one of the Common sector cards left and put a Cat token on the indicated sector by that card.
8. Take the Human Settlement Activation cards, the Species Activation cards and the Common sector cards that are not used in the board (including the one you used to put the Cat token), shuffle and pile them up facing down and put them near the board. From now on this will be the Activation cards pile.
9. Each player chooses one of the Researcher and Aid cards and receives the Researcher pawn and Ability marker of the corresponding colour. Return the remaining cards, pawns and markers in the box.
10. Put the Researcher pawns in the Village.
11. Unfold the Ability map on the table.
12. Decide on a difficulty level for the game. Check the table in "Difficulty Levels" (page 16 of the rulebook) and put the Ability markers on the appropriate space of the Ability map according to the number of players and difficulty level chosen as a group.

Game Objective

The aim of "Tori-tori: endangered species" is to turn over both Human Settlement tiles, thus indicating they have become sustainable.

It is a cooperative game. The team must work together and the actions of each participant are essential to win the game. The probability of success increases if you keep a good communication, discussing as a group which are the best options in each situation. Regardless of that, only the active player will decide how to spend his or her action points.

To win the game the team has to meet a one and only winning condition:

Turn over both Human Settlement tiles to their sustainable side.

a) To turn the Industry tile over there should be at least four Tori-tori on the Island board and at least one participant should have their Ability marker on the Environmental Report space of the Ability map.

b) To turn the Village tile over you should remove every Cat and Invasive Bush from Island board.

At the lower-right corner of the Island board you will find a reminder of the winning conditions.

Conversely, the team loses automatically if one of the following losing conditions are met:

• One of the native species goes extinct (Tori-toris, Guinea pigs, Foxes or Native trees). A species is extinct when their last token is removed from the Island board.
• The Round marker reaches the fourth space in games of 3 or 4 participants or the third space in games of 2 participants.

Course of Play

The game is played in turns that follow a clockwise direction. The last person to see a bird is the one who will start the game. Every turn has two phases and these must be carried out in the following order:

1. The active player rolls the two dice and solves the corresponding Activation cards.
2. The active player spends his or her 4 Action points.

After carrying out both phases, it is the next person's turn, who carries out both steps and so on, until the team meets the winning conditions or one of the losing conditions is met.

1. Roll the two dice and solve the Activation cards

The first thing you have to do in your turn is to roll the dice. The letters on the dice correspond to the Activation cards placed at the side of the board. First, you must solve the card corresponding to the red die and then the one that corresponds to the sky-blue die. If both dice show the same face, you have to solve only one Activation card.

Once you have solved the Activation card(s), remove them from the side of the board and leave them facing up, forming a discard pile. Then, replace the removed cards with the first cards of the Activation cards pile.

When the Activation card pile runs out of cards, you must take the discard pile and turn it over without shuffling. This creates a new Activation cards pile and the game continues.

Each time you turn the discard pile over, advance the Round marker by 1 space. If the marker reaches the fourth space in a game of 3 or 4 participants, the game ends immediately in defeat for the team. In case of a game of 2 participants, the game ends in defeat if the marker reaches the third space.

Example: Inara rolls the dice. The red die shows the letter C and the sky-blue die the letter A, so Sector 3 is activated first and then Sector 4. Later, Inara leaves the Activation cards of both Sectors in the discard pile and replaces them with the first two cards of the Activation card pile.

How to Solve the Activation Cards

There are three types of Activation cards with different effects. Some activate a sector and cause the species in it to feed themselves and breed, others activate Human Settlements, causing adverse effects and others activate all the specimens of a species on the island.

1. Common Sector Activation cards

The Common Sector Activation cards indicate the number of the sector that is activated. When this happens, the Species tokens in that sector are activated in the following order:

1. Invasive Bush
2. Cat
3. Guinea pig
4. Fox
5. Tori-tori

Note: To remember the order of activation, each Species token has a number below. The token with the lowest number is always activated first.

Note: The Native Tree is the only species without activation effects.

Note: If a sector with more than one token of the same species is activated, it is up to the team to choose which is activated first.

Invasive Bushes

The Invasive Bush is always the first species to become activated. When it does, it turns over a Native Tree token of the sector where it is located, transforming it into an Invasive Bush. If there are no Native Trees in its own sector, it transforms a Native Tree of orthogonally adjacent sectors. It will first affect the adjacent sector with the lowest number; if there is a Native Tree, it will transform it, otherwise it will look for one in the following sector with the lowest number, and so on. If it doesn't find a Native Tree in the sector where the Invasive Bush is located nor in the orthogonally adjacent sectors, the activation has no effect.

Example: It is Bastian's turn and Sector 11 has been activated first. This causes the two Invasive Bushes to be activated. One of these transforms the Native Tree of Sector 11. Since there are no more Native Trees to be transformed in Sector 11, the other Invasive Bush, looks for one on the adjacent sectors from the lowest number to the highest. Sector 8 is the adjacent sector with the lowest number that has a Native Tree, so that one is also transformed into an Invasive bush.

Animals

When a sector with animals is activated, they feed themselves. If conditions are met, animals will breed after feeding. On the other hand, animals can die if they do not find food.

Feeding: When an animal feeds himself, you must put its token over the food token. From now on, if the animal moves, it will do so with all the tokens it has underneath.

Animals first look for their food in the sector where they are. The table shows the food preference of each species. An animal will always choose its first preference. Only if it doesn't find it, it will choose its second preference.

Species	Preference 1	Preference 2
Cat	Tori-tori	Guinea pig
Guinea pig	Native Tree	Invasive Bush
Fox	Guinea pig	Tori-tori
Tori-tori	Native Tree	Invasive Bush

Moving: in case there is no food in its sector (of its first or second preference), animals look for food in the orthogonally adjacent sectors. First, they look for food in the adjacent sector with the lowest number; if there is no food in that sector, they look in the following sector with the lowest number, and so on. When they find any of their food preferences, animals move to that sector and feed themselves.

Remember: If there is more than one Species Token in the activated sector, you must follow the order of activation.

Breeding: When a Species token has enough food it breeds, adding a new token of its species to the Island board. At the top of each Species token there is a number of points that indicates how many tokens animals must have underneath them to breed. When a species breeds, a new Species token is added in the same sector and the tokens underneath the animal needed to breed are removed.

If there are no spaces available to put the new Species token, it must be placed in the orthogonally adjacent sector with the lowest number that has space available. In case there is no adjacent sector with available space, animals do not breed, losing the tokens they had underneath them.

Guinea pigs must have one Species token under them to breed, so when they feed, they breed immediately.

Tori-toris must have two Species tokens underneath them to breed.

Cats must have two Species tokens underneath them to breed.

Foxes must have three Species tokens underneath them to breed.

In the case of Foxes and Cats, it is not necessary that the tokens underneath them are of its food preferences. Since they are carnivorous animals, they may feed on animals that previously also fed, so they can accumulate more than one token under them immediately.

Example: Foxes breed because they have in total three tokens underneath them: A Guinea pig token, a Tori-tori token and an Invasive Bush token (The Tori-tori fed on a previous turn).

Example: Bastian's second die has activated Sector 5, so all the Species Tokens of that Sector are activated (in this case a Guinea pig and a Tori-tori token). By order of activation, Guinea pigs are activated first: as there is no food of their preference in Sector 5, they look in the adjacent sectors from the lowest to the highest number. Sector 3 has no food, so they move to Sector 8, over the Native Tree token. When eating, Guinea pigs breed immediately, since they only need one Token under them to breed. Then the Tori-tori token is activated: since there is no food of its preference in Sector 5, they look in the adjacent sectors in numerical order. Given that there is also no food in Sector 3, nor 8, they move to Sector 10, where they find food and place themselves over a Native Tree. Since they had fed themselves on Inara's turn, they also breed.

Dying: If animals do not find food in their sector, nor in the adjacent sectors, they lose one of the Species token they have underneath them and they move to the orthogonally adjacent sector, with the lowest number and available space (animals lose weight and migrate looking for food). But if animals don't have Species token underneath them, they die and their token is removed from the Island board. This rule applies to all animals, except for Cats. Cats are the only animals that do not die for lack of food. If Cats do not find food, they move to the adjacent sector with the lowest number and lose one of the Species Token they have underneath. If they do not have more tokens, they move anyway to the adjacent sector, with the lowest number and available space.

Remember: If there are no tokens of a Native Species left (Tori-toris, Foxes, Guinea pigs or Native Trees) on the Island board, it is declared extinct and the game ends immediately with a defeat for the team.

2. Human Settlement Activation cards

These cards activate the Industry and the Village as long as both Human Settlement Tiles continue with their unsustainable side face up.

The Village

If the Village is activated, a Cat token is put in the Island board. A Cat enters one of the sectors orthogonally adjacent to the Village, with the lowest number and that has food of its preference. The new Cat token must be placed directly over its food. If no adjacent sector to the Village has Guinea pigs or Tori-toris, the Cat token is placed in the adjacent sector to the Village, with the lowest number and space available. In the unlikely event that no adjacent sector to the Village has food for the Cat, or available spaces, the new Cat Token is not put in the Island Board and that Activation Card has no effect.

Example: The Village is activated and the Cats go hunting. They look for food in all the adjacent sectors, from lowest to highest number. In this example, Sector 4 has Guinea Pigs, so the Cats leave the Village and position themselves on the Guinea pigs token.

Example: The Village is activated and the Cats go hunting. As no adjacent sector to the Village has food, the Cats are positioned in the sector with the lowest number (Sector 1).

Industry

When the industry is activated, it causes a disaster in the five sectors that surround it (orthogonally and diagonally). The effect of the disaster is that all Native Tree tokens are removed from these sectors.

Example: The Industry is activated. Check all the sectors that surround it and remove all the Native Tree tokens.

Remember: If the Industry or the Village are activated, but they have already become sustainable, its Activation cards have no effect.

3. Species Activation cards

Species Activation Cards activate all the tokens of that species that are in the Island board. Every Species token must be activated, starting with those in the sectors with the lowest number and continuing in ascending order. To activate them you must follow the same activation rules described in "Activating Common Sector cards" (page 8) for each token.

Note: In case the Cat Activation card is activated, and there are no Cats in the Island, the Activation card has no effect.

Note: If an animal breeds from its Species Activation card, and the new specimen is put in a sector with a higher number than that of its parents, this new specimen is not activated.

Example: When solving the Guinea Pig Species Activation card, the first one activated are those in Sector 1, which breed in that sector. Then those in Sector 4; some breed in the same sector and others feed themselves in sector 7 and breed there. In this case, Guinea Pigs in sector 7 are not activated, because one of the tokens was previously activated and the other one is a new token.

2. Use 4 Action points

After solving the Activation cards shown in the dice roll, the second phase of your turn begins, in which you must spend your four action points.

All abilities require an action point to be used. You can use the same ability several times during the same turn, using the required action points. You must decide the order in which you spend your action points, because this can affect on the final result.

Your Ability marker on the Ability map shows the options on which you can spend your action points. When you advance with your marker on the Ability map, you will get new abilities without losing the ones you had already obtained, i.e., the different abilities accumulate.

To check the existing abilities and how they work, check out "Abilities" below.

How to Transform Human Settlement tiles

The Village: To turn the Village into a Sustainable one the team must eradicate all introduced species of the island. This means that there cannot be Invasive bushes, nor Cats in the Island Board. To achieve this, at least one participant must arrive with his or her Ability marker to one of the "Veterinary" and "Gardening" spaces on the Ability map.

The Industry: To turn the Industry into a sustainable one the team must achieve (in any order):

1. That there are at least four Tori-tori tokens on the Island board.
2. At least one person must arrive with his or her Ability marker to one of the Environmental Report spaces in the Ability map.

Once the team turns the Village and Industry into sustainable settlements, the team made it to the victory. The order in which human settlements are transformed does not matter.

Congratulations on restoring the natural balance of the island!

Difficulty Levels

Once you have mastered the game, you can try with levels of more advanced difficulty. The game works in the same way, the only difference being the initial position of the Ability markers in the Ability map. To have more challenging games, put the Ability markers in the space indicated for Medium or Expert level.

Letters refer to the spaces of the Ability map.

Players	Basic	Medium	Expert
2	C	B	A
3	D	C	B
4	E	D	C

Abilities

• All abilities (except "Environmental Report") are used by spending action points.
• Throughout the game the Abilities you get accumulate. During the game you can use any of the Abilities you have acquired in previous turns.

The three basic Abilities with which everyone starts the game are: Study, Move and Plant Native Tree.

Study: It allows you to advance your Ability marker one space on the Ability map. The new Ability is learned immediately and you can use it in the same turn (as long as you have action points). The Abilities accumulate, that is to say, when you advance in the Ability map you can use all the Abilities you have passed during the game.

Move: It allows you to move your Researcher pawn on the Island board to any orthogonally adjacent sector using an action point. You can move around all the sectors with your Researcher pawn. Researcher pawns do not occupy space in the sectors, so there can be more than one pawn in the same sector.

Plant Native Tree: It allows you to add a Native Tree token in the sector where your Researcher pawn is located, using an action point. There must be space available in the sector for the new token.

Animal Tracking: It allows you to move an Animal token located in the same sector as your Researcher pawn, to the adjacent sector with the lowest number and available space, using an action point. In case there is no adjacent sector with space available, this ability cannot be used.

Example: It is Blas' turn, who's playing with the blue Researcher pawn. In the images we can see how Blas uses his four action points step by step. First, he uses an action point in "Study", this is how he acquired the Ability of "Animal Tracking". He then uses an action point in "Plant Native Tree", so he puts a Native Tree token in Sector 5. Then, he uses an action point in "Move" and moves his pawn to Sector 10. Finally, he uses his fourth action point in "Animal Tracking", the Ability he just acquired, and moves the Fox to Sector 4, the adjacent sector with the lowest number and available spaces.

Bicycle: It allows you to move your Researcher pawn diagonally in the sectors of the Island board using only one action point.

Advanced Botany: It allows you to plant Native Trees in all the available spaces of the sector where your Researcher pawn is located using only one action point.

Example: the game advances and it is Matilde's turn, who plays with the green Researcher Pawn. In the images we can see what Mathilde does with her four action points. First, she uses an action point in "Study", thus acquiring the Ability of "Bicycle". Then, she uses an action point in "Bicycle" to move to Sector 5. Later, she uses an action point in "Move" and moves her pawn to Sector 3. Lastly, she uses her fourth action point in "Advanced Botany", and plants three Native Trees in Sector 3.

Veterinary: It allows you to remove a Cat token that is in the same sector as your Researcher pawn, using an action point.

Note: this ability is the only way to remove Cats from the Island Board.

Gardening: It allows you to remove a Vegetation token (Invasive Bush or Native Tree), which is in the same sector as your Researcher pawn, using an action point.

Protect Animal: It allows you to put your Researcher pawn over an Animal Species token that is in the same sector as your Researcher pawn, using an action point. This Animal Species token is under your protection until the second phase of your next turn. When an animal is protected, it will not be activated nor will it be eaten by their predators.

Move another pawn: It allows you to move the Researcher pawn of other participants. You can move others' pawns by using their own movement Abilities, but not yours.

Example: It is Bastian's turn, who is playing with the red Researcher Pawn. In the images we can see how Bastian uses his four action points step by step. First, he uses an action point in "Gardening", so he removes the Invasive Bush token that was in Sector 6. Then, he uses two action points in "Move" to reach sector 5. Finally, he uses its fourth action point in "Protecting Animals", placing his Researcher pawn over the Tori-toris of Sector 5.

Example: It is Inara's turn, who is playing with the yellow Researcher pawn. In the images we can see how Inara uses her four action points step by step. First, she uses two action points in "Move another Pawn", thus moving the red Pawn to Sector 11. Then, she uses an action point in "Study" to get the ability of "Veterinarian". Finally, she uses her fourth action point in "Veterinarian", and removes the Cat Token from Sector 4 of the board.

Activate Animals: It allows you to activate a Species token that is in the same sector as your Researcher pawn using one action point. The species is activated by following the rules set out on page 8 of this rulebook (Common Sector Activation cards).

Specialized Animal Tracking: It allows you to move an Animal Token that is in the same sector as your Researcher pawn to an adjacent sector by choice, using an action point. If there is no adjacent sector with space available, you cannot use this Ability.

Environmental Report: It is the ability that will allow you to turn the Industry Tile over. Upon obtaining this Ability, an Environmental Report is presented, that forces the Industry to become a Sustainable Industry. For it to have effect there must be at least four Tori-tori on the Island Board. This is the only ability that does not require an action point to be used.

Example: the game advances and it is Blas's turn again, who is playing with the blue Researcher pawn. In the images we can see how he uses his four action points step by step. First, he uses an action point in "Plant", and adds a Native Tree in Sector 10. Then, he uses an action point in "Activate Animal", making the Tori-toris feed themselves. Then, he uses another action point in "Activate Animal" so that the Tori-Toris move to Sector 5, where they feed themselves again and also breed. Finally, he uses its fourth action point in "Studying", getting the Environmental Report, which exerts immediate effect on the Industry, as there are four Tori-toris on the board, so the Industry automatically becomes a Sustainable Industry.

Motorcycle: It allows you to move your Researcher pawn up to two times with only one action point. They can be orthogonal or diagonal movements or a combination of both.

Transforming Plants: It allows you to turn over a Vegetation token that is in the same sector as your Researcher pawn, turning the Invasive Bush into Native Trees, using one action point.

Advanced Gardening: It allows the removal of up to three Vegetation tokens (Invasive Bush or Native Tree) that are located in the same sector as your Researcher pawn, using an action point.

Example: the game advances and it is Matilde's turn, who is playing with the green Researcher pawn. We can see what Matilde does with her four action points step by step. First, she uses an action point in "Motorcycle", so she moves her pawn to Sector 11. Then, she uses an action point in "Study", getting the ability "Specialized Animal Tracking". Later, she uses another action point in "Specialized Animal Tracking", and moves the Guinea pig token to Sector 12 (regardless of the fact that Sector 8 is the orthogonally adjacent sector with the lowest number and available spaces). Finally, she uses her fourth action point in "Study", advancing one more space in the Ability map.

Example: it is Bastian's turn again, who is playing with the red Researcher pawn. In the images we can see how he uses his four action points step by step. First, he uses an action point in "Study", getting the ability of "Advanced Gardening". Then, he uses an action point in "Advanced Gardening", by removing all the Bush tokens from Sector 11. Then, he uses another action point in "Move" and moves his Pawn to Sector 9. Finally, he uses his fourth action point in "Transforming Plants", turning the Bush token of Sector 9 into a Native Tree.

You already have all the tools to restore the balance to the island. Will you be able to make it?

Ecology Concepts in the Game

This game serves as a tool to understand some basic ecology concepts:

1. The elements of interest in ecology are: organism, population, community and ecosystem. These are present on the tokens and on the gameboard. The board represents the complete ecosystem. One sector represents a community. All tokens of a species represent a population. A token represents a sub-population, composed by organisms.

2. Ecosystems are made up of living (biotic) and non-living factors (abiotic). Biotic factors can be producers, such as plants, or consumers, like animals. Consumer organisms can be primary consumers (herbivores), or secondary consumers (carnivores). Abiotic factors are for example temperature changes. Abiotic factors are not represented in the game, however the biotic factors are represented by Native Trees and Invasive Bushes as producers, the Tori-toris and Guinea pigs as consumers (primary) and Foxes and Cats as secondary consumers.

3. Energy flows in ecosystems through food webs and chains. At each level of the food chain, energy is lost as heat. Therefore, a vegetarian diet is more energetically efficient than a carnivorous diet. We can observe this in the game because at the beginning there is a greater number of producers, as they are the most effective users of energy, then there is a majority of primary consumers and finally of secondary consumers, who also need a higher number of tokens to breed.

4. Exotic invasive species are introduced species to an ecosystem that did not evolve in relation to them, these are one of the most important causes of biodiversity loss. In the game they are represented by Cats and Invasive Bushes, and to eradicate them is a condition for winning.

5. Ecosystems are strongly interrelated for which the actions we exercise over them can have unexpected consequences. This is represented by the general mechanics of the game, where participants must reflect on each of their actions, act with caution and try to predict how the ecosystem will react to each change.

Planet Earth is, to date, our only home. So, we should take care of it, for the future of its inhabitants depends on it.

Game Summary

The game is played in turns that follow a clockwise direction. The active player must perform 2 phases:

1. Roll the two dice and solve the Activation cards

Common Sector Activation cards (pag. 8): The Species tokens in the sector are activated according to the activation order.

• Each Invasive Bush transforms a Native Tree of its sector or an orthogonally adjacent one from lowest to highest number.
• Each Animal feeds according to its food preferences in its sector or in an orthogonally adjacent one from lowest to highest number.
  • If after feeding the Animal has enough tokens under, it reproduces.
  • If the Animal can't find food, it loses one of the tokens it has under.
  • If the Animal can't find food, and it doesn't have any tokens under, it dies (Cats don't die).

Human Settlement Activation cards (pag. 12):

• Industry: Withdraws all Native Trees from the five sectors that surround it.
• Village: Adds a Cat token to the Island over its food, to the adjacent sector with food from the lowest to highest number.
• Once the Industry and the Village are transformed in Sustainable, their activation cards no longer have effect on the board.

Species Activation cards (pag. 14): All species of this type are activated on the board, from the lowest numbered sector to the highest.

2. Use 4 action points

All abilities except the Environmental Report require one action point. During the game abilities accumulate. Read from page 16 all the available abilities.

The game ends as victory or defeat (pag. 6)

Victory condition: flip Industry and Village tiles.

• The Industry flips automatically once there are 4 Tori-tori tokens on the board and at least one Ability marker is over the Environmental Report.
• The Village flips automatically once there are no Cats nor Invasive Vegetation tokens on the board.

Defeat condition:

• Any native species goes extinct, or
• The Round marker advances until the third space (2 players) or fourth space (3 and 4 players).