Totemix Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Goal of the Game
• Overview of a Game
• Phase 1: Take Your Actions
• Powers
• Phase 2: Roll the Dice
  • 1. The Roll
  • 2. The Resolution
  • Catastrophe Die Symbols
• Pollution
• Phase 3: Add a New Animal Totem Tile
  • 1. Take 1 Animal Totem Tile
  • 2. Add an Action Cube
• Clarifications
• End of Game
• Game Modes
  • Your First Game
  • Difficulty: Hell
  • Timer Variant (via a smartphone, for example)

Components

• 36 terrain tiles, divided into 6 environments: 6 Caves, 6 Mountains, 6 Deserts, 6 Oceans, 6 Forests, 6 Sky. Each terrain tile has a blank side and a polluted side.
• 42 Animal Totem tiles, including 6 central tiles (identical front and back) for the Bat, Bear, Oryx, Turtle, Panther and Eagle, and 36 peripheral tiles (common back).
• 6 Totem pawns
• 50 action cubes
• 1 Catastrophe die
• 3 Terrain dice
• 3 player aids

Setup

A. Place the terrain tiles, blank side up, at random, while respecting this condition: each environment must be divided into three zones of terrain of the same environment:

• One zone of 3 terrains.
• One zone of 2 terrains.
• One zone of 1 terrain.

B. In each zone containing 3 terrains, turn 1 over onto its polluted side.

C. Choose an Animal Totem and place the corresponding central tile in front of you. Take 7 cubes to form your personal action reserve. Place 1 on your Animal Totem tile. Unused central Animal Totem tiles are returned to the box.

D. Then place your Totem pawn of your animal on one of the terrain tiles that corresponds to it (Turtle on Ocean, Oryx on Desert, etc.). Pawns of unused animal Totems are returned to the box.

E. Place the draw pile of peripheral Totem tiles, shuffled, back side up, within reach of all players.

F. Form the general reserve of 16 action cubes. With 5 and 6 players, put all the remaining cubes in the general reserve.

G. Place the Catastrophe die and 1 Terrain die near the board. The 2 other Terrain dice are set aside for now.

H. Create two discard areas: one for Terrains and one for Totem tiles.

Arrange these around the board, within reach of all players.

For your first game, make the adjustments detailed on page 11 (see Game Modes).

Goal of the Game

All players try, together, to reconstitute the original form of the world chosen at the start of the game. The different configurations below are classified by level of difficulty.

1. First game: All terrains of the same environment must be adjacent, blank and unstacked. The placement of the zones is free.

2. By layers (Par strates): All terrains of the same environment must be blank, unstacked and in a line, in this order: sky, forest, ocean, desert, mountain, cavern.

3. Himalaya: All mountain tiles are stacked in the center; the other terrains are blank and arranged as in the example shown.

4. Volcano: The terrains are blank, unstacked, and grouped on two lines forming a circle.

5. Flower: The sky tiles are placed at the center of rosettes of terrains, as in the example shown. One sky is stacked on a second at the center of the forests.

Overview of a Game

Each player is free to play their actions at their own pace, one after another or interleaved with the actions and phases of the other players. Each phase is personal: a player may, for example, be in phase 3 while another is in phase 1. However, each player must play the phases in this order:

• Phase 1: Take your actions. Each player is free to play their actions whenever they wish, alternately or at the same time as the other players. To perform an action, discard a cube from one of your Totem tiles into your personal reserve.
• Phase 2: Destroy a cube and roll the dice. When you have no more actions or do not want to play them any more, destroy a cube from the general reserve (if it is empty, discard a cube from your personal reserve) by returning it to the box. The action cubes in play represent the time you have left before the end of the game. If you have no more cubes to remove, the game is lost. Then roll the dice and apply their result(s).
• Phase 3: Draw a Totem tile and replace your action cubes. Draw 1 Totem tile, either from the top of the draw pile or a chosen one from the discard, and add it to your central Animal Totem tile. Then place one cube from your personal reserve on each tile making up your Animal Totem.

Phase 1: Take Your Actions

Discard 1 action cube from one of your Animal Totem tiles to choose one of the following:

• a. Move: Move your Totem pawn 1 adjacent Terrain space.
• b. Activate a power: Each Animal Totem has a particular power (see Powers below). When you want to use this power, discard 1 action cube from the corresponding tile; it is used to carry out this specific power. The action cube used is placed back in your personal reserve.

Notes on Phase 1:

• The environment, pollution and stacking do not change movement.
• A pawn cannot move outside the Terrain tiles.
• Example: removing a cube from a Bear tile allows you to perform the Bear's power, and only that power.
• All of your actions do not have to be carried out in one go. You may coordinate with the other players to decide in what order it is most advantageous to play each player's actions. It may thus happen that a player plays all of their actions in a row and rolls the dice before the others, in order to replay immediately.
• When you have used up your actions or no longer wish to play any more, you may wait before rolling the dice if this proves more tactical.

Powers

Each Animal Totem tile has a specific power:

• Bear: Telluric Force (Force tellurique). This power allows you to stack, or unstack, a blank terrain located anywhere, causing it to gain or lose one or more levels.

  • The terrain concerned must be placed on an adjacent space, empty or not, non-polluted, but it MUST necessarily change level.
  • Stacking may be carried out on a blank (non-polluted) terrain of any type. Example: you can stack a forest on a desert.
  • Caution: if you are led to destroy the highest terrain of a stack of stacked terrains, destroy all the terrains situated beneath it.
  • A pawn placed on a terrain that is stacked moves with it. Likewise, it is possible to stack onto a terrain on which a pawn is placed; the pawn is then placed on the newly stacked terrain.
  • The last terrain of a stack may itself be stacked onto an adjacent terrain if it changes level.

• Panther: Atavistic Memory (Mémoire Atavique). This power allows you to draw 1 tile from the top of the draw pile or 1 chosen from the discard of Totem tiles.

  • The player who activated this power must then discard 1 Totem tile.
  • If this tile had a cube, that cube is placed on the new tile.

• Bat: Resurgence (Résurgence). This power allows you to recover a terrain from the discard. The latter is placed, blank side up, on an adjacent space to the pawn of the player who activated the power. The recovered terrain may arrive stacked or be placed on an empty space.

• Turtle: Tsunami. This power allows you to move a blank terrain located anywhere by one or two spaces. This movement is carried out on the same level, i.e. the terrain cannot go up or down.

Phase 2: Roll the Dice

Roll the dice when you have no more Animal Totem actions to carry out, or when you no longer wish to carry out any. You are not required to do so immediately.

1. The Roll

Before rolling the dice, discard a cube (either from your personal reserve or from the general reserve).

• At the start of the game, play with 1 Terrain die plus the Catastrophe die. The number of Terrain dice to roll with the Catastrophe die changes during the game.
• As soon as a player has 4 tiles on their Animal Totem, that Animal Totem adds the second Terrain die to its roll.
• As soon as a player has 6 tiles on their Animal Totem, that Animal Totem adds the third Terrain die to its roll.

2. The Resolution

For each Terrain die rolled, apply the effect of the Catastrophe die to a corresponding terrain tile.

• If you cannot carry out a Catastrophe demanded by the dice, you lose the game.
• If you can no longer discard an action cube (from the general reserve or from your personal reserve), you lose the game.

When a player rolls the dice, NOBODY may carry out actions or roll the dice again until the result of that roll has been fully applied.

Catastrophe Die Symbols

The faces of the Catastrophe die show three symbols:

• Pollution: Turn the terrain over onto its polluted side. (See Pollution below.)
• Stacking: Move the terrain onto an adjacent blank terrain.
• Destruction: Place the terrain in the terrain discard. If a Totem pawn is on a terrain that must be destroyed, it is moved onto an adjacent terrain.

Example: the Catastrophe die shows "pollution" and the two Terrain dice rolled show a forest and a mountain respectively. The player who rolled the dice must then turn a forest and a mountain over onto their polluted side.

Pollution

Polluting a terrain. The Catastrophe die sometimes forces you to pollute a Terrain. To do so, choose a terrain tile and turn it over onto its polluted side.

• For each Terrain die rolled, turn a corresponding tile over onto its polluted side.
• A polluted terrain can be neither moved, stacked, covered, nor destroyed by the Catastrophe die.
• When all the terrains of a zone are turned over, and therefore polluted, they are destroyed. Place them in the terrain discard.
• Example: when a zone of one mountain terrain is polluted, it is immediately discarded.
• Example: when a zone of three ocean terrains is entirely polluted, they are immediately discarded.
• If all the terrains of an environment are discarded, the game is lost.
• If the last terrain of a zone is polluted but, once turned over, is immediately depolluted because a Totem pawn is on it and meets the conditions, then the zone is not destroyed.
• If you play solo, terrain pollution is limited to 14.

Depolluting a terrain. To depollute a terrain and turn it back onto its blank side, a Totem pawn must go to that terrain with an Animal Totem power greater than or equal to the number printed on the polluted terrain.

• The power of an Animal Totem is 1 per Totem tile possessed. Example: an animal made of 3 tiles has a power of 3. It can depollute terrains showing a number of 3 or less.
• You may join forces by going together to the same terrain and adding your respective powers. Example: to depollute a terrain of level 8, one or more players must be on this terrain and have a combined power equal to or greater than 8.
• The Oryx's power, Regenerative Power, doubles this power for one action.
• Depolluting is not an action: it is enough to pass through or stop on the concerned terrain.

Phase 3: Add a New Animal Totem Tile

1. Take 1 Animal Totem Tile

Take 1 Animal Totem tile:

• Either the first tile of the draw pile.
• Or any tile of the discard.

Add it to your central Animal Totem tile.

Example: François has just fully reconstituted his Animal Totem. He can now use, for each of his actions, any Animal Totem power.

Clarifications:

• When you reconstitute your entire Animal Totem, of a single type, all parts acquire all the powers of the other Animal Totems. (The source wording is "toutes les parties aquièrent"; this is rendered as printed, and the example confirms the intended meaning: the player may then use any Animal Totem power.)
• You may attach tiles of different Animal Totems to your central Totem tile.
• Except for the central tile, you may at any time get rid of a tile placed on your Animal Totem by putting it in the discard.
• You may replace any tile of your Animal Totem with a new tile. The replaced tile is discarded. If it had an action cube, that cube is placed on the new tile that replaces it.
• The drawn tile may also be immediately discarded.
• You may not exchange Animal Totem tiles between players.

2. Add an Action Cube

Place a cube from your personal reserve on each tile making up your Animal Totem.

At the end of the game you will probably no longer have enough cubes to place one on each tile. Choose carefully where you place them.

Clarifications

Terrains are considered as a single mass. If a terrain or a group of terrains becomes separated from the main group of terrains, it is destroyed.

Example: François rolls the dice and must destroy 1 Desert terrain tile. The Desert tile is the only junction between 2 parts of the board. He therefore also destroys all the tiles of the smaller part of the rest of the board.

End of Game

Victory condition: You have reconstituted the puzzle chosen at the start of the game before the global stock of action cubes runs out. See the various configurations under Goal of the Game.

Defeat conditions: You lose the game if any of the following conditions is met:

• No terrain of one environment type remains in play. Example: there are no more mountains in play.
• You have exhausted all the action cubes.
• You cannot apply an action demanded by the dice.

Game Modes

Your First Game

Setup:

• Remove from each environment the two terrains with the highest pollution number. Return the 12 unused terrains to the box.
• Place the remaining terrains in two zones of two, and turn over, polluted side up, one terrain of each environment.
• Return to the box all the tiles of the Panther and Oryx Animal Totems. You will not play with them in this learning version. Choose an Animal Totem from the four remaining. Then return the unused central tiles to the box.
• Each player forms a personal reserve of nine action cubes, and returns the remaining cubes to the box. Place a cube on the central tile of your Animal Totem.

Goal: All terrains of the same environment must be adjacent and depolluted. The placement of the zones is free.

Difficulty: Hell

You must respect the order of placement of Totem tiles on their animal. Each tile has a number of marks at its periphery that indicates its unique location.

Example: tile 1 must be placed next to tile 2, etc. Tiles that cannot be placed at the indicated location are discarded.

Timer Variant (via a smartphone, for example)

For tenser and more lively games around the table, you may also play against the clock. Your actions are no longer limited, but your time is counted.

In this mode, do not form a general reserve, and do not discard cubes when you roll the dice.

"Nice" timer (+2° in 2050):

1. Start the game without a timer.
2. As soon as a player has 4 tiles on their Animal Totem, add the second Terrain die and start an 8-minute timer.
3. At the end of this first timer, add the third Terrain die and restart an 8-minute timer.

You lose the game if you do not reach your initial objective before the end of this last timer.

"Mean" timer (+2.5° in 2050):

1. Start a 6-minute timer at the very beginning of the game.
2. At the end of it, add the second Terrain die and restart a 6-minute timer.
3. At the end of this second timer, add the third Terrain die and restart a 6-minute timer.

You lose the game if you do not reach your initial objective before the end of this last timer.

The publisher's closing advertisement (a solo variant, scenarios and music on the publisher's website) and the credits page are not transcribed.