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Full rulebook
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Evolution with Flight
Introduction
In Evolution, players adapt their Species with Traits to survive in an ever changing eco-system. Which of your Species will
survive and thrive, and which will disappear forever?
End Game and Goal
The game ends after the round where the Trait Card deck needs to be reshuffled during the Deal Cards Phase. End game
scoring considers how much Food has been eaten, the Population of surviving Species, and the number of Traits on your
surviving Species. The player with the most points wins!
Setup
1. Put the Watering Hole in the middle of the table
2. Place the Cliff next to the Watering Hole.
3. Put the Species Boards and Wooden Markers within easy reach
4. Place the Avian Species Boards and 12 Flight Trait Cards next to the Species Boards
5. Put the Food Tokens to one side to form the Food Bank.
a. Food Tokens are unlimited so if you run out, substitute other counters in.
6. Give each player one Food Token Bag
7. Shuffle the Trait Card deck and place it face down on the table.
a. Also shuffle into this deck the Trait Cards and Event cards from Flight if using this expansion.
b. Note: If you play with Flight, and then later decide to remove all Flight cards and use the base game again,
you need to remember that Flight includes additional Carnivore Cards, and these extra carnivores need to be
removed (as well as the other Flight cards) if playing with just the base game. The Flight Carnivore images
are more zoomed in than the base game, to aid separation.
8. Remove 40 cards from the deck, and place them to one side to form a Reserve. When the main deck is exhausted,
use the Reserve for the last round instead of reshuffling.
9. Randomly determine the first player, and give them the First Player Marker (dinosaur).
Course of Play
The game has a variable number of rounds. Rounds are played until the End Game condition is met.
Round Summary
Each round consists of four phases. Note variations in rules for 2-player and 6-player games.
Phase 1: Deal Cards (and Species)
• Place a Species Board in front of any player who has no Species at all.
o This is all players in the first round.
o Set the Population and Body Size of any Species added in this way to 1.
• Deal 3 cards plus 1 additional card for each Species a player owns to each player
o e.g. four cards each on the first turn.
o If the draw deck is depleted during this phase, the reserve deck is used, and this round is the last round.
Phase 2: Select card for Food
Each player secretly chooses one of the Trait Cards they have in their hand, based on how much Plant Food they wish to
add to the Watering Hole (bottom right number in leaf). Each player places a Trait Card face down in the Watering Hole
(these are now known as Food Cards, and are revealed during Phase 4: Feeding).
Phase 3: Play cards
Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player has the opportunity to play as many Trait Cards from
their hand as they wish (or they may save them for future rounds). The Trait Cards may be played for any of the following
three effects, in any order and any combination:
1. Play a Trait – The player places a Trait Card face down next to one of their Species.
a. A Species may not have any duplicate Traits
b. A Species may not have more than three Traits at a time. If you wish to add a Trait to a Species with three
Traits already, discard a Trait and replace it.
2. Create a New Land Species – A player may discard a Card face up to get a new Species. He places a new Species
Board in front of him and adds Wooden Markers, setting Population and Species Size to 1.
a. The new Species can be added to the left or right of the Species Board row, but not between two pre-
existing Species.
3. Create a new Avian species – A player may discard 2 cards to create an Avian species. The player takes an Avian
Species Board, places it in front of him and sets population and body size to zero. He also takes an avian trait card
and places it above the avian species board.
4. Increase Body Size or Population – A player may discard a Trait Card face up to increase either the Population or
Body Size of a Species by 1. Move a Wooden Marker accordingly.
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a. A Species cannot have a Body Size or Population greater than 6.
5. Discard a Trait – Players may discard Trait(s) without replacing them.
6. Play an Event – If a player has an Event card (Seed Dispersal or Dive Bomb), the Event card may be discarded to the discard pile for an immediate effect.
Once a player has spent as many Trait Cards as they want, play passes to the next player clockwise, and he plays cards in the same way, and so forth until each player has played their cards. Then, the Trait Cards played are simultaneously revealed.
Phase 4: Feeding
NB: Cards with a leafy border have effects that may trigger BEFORE the Food Cards are revealed. If a player has multiple Traits that trigger at this point, he can choose what order to trigger them in. If there is any conflict in resolution of leafy border cards, resolution proceeds clockwise from the first player, and each player resolves all their leafy border effects before the next begins.
Feeding occurs in three steps:
1. Reveal Food Cards: The first player reveals the Food Cards and totals their Food value. The first player adds that much Food to the Watering Hole from the Food Bank (if a positive value), or removes Food from the Watering Hole and returns it to the Food Bank (if it is a negative value). The revealed Food Cards are placed on the discard pile. Also place food on the Cliff equal to the number of players.
2. Feeding Species: Beginning with the first player and continuing clockwise, each player must feed a hungry Species. A Species is hungry if it has less Food than its Population. A Species can never eat more Food than its Population. When a Species takes Food, it is placed in the Food Track on the board of the Species that is eating, starting from the 1 position. Any Food eaten is worth 1 point per Food Token at the end of the game.
a. Feeding non-Carnivores – Take one plant Food from the Watering Hole, and place it on the Species you are feeding.
i. Some Traits (e.g. foraging) may modify the amount of Food taken from the Watering Hole, but a Species can never take more Food than it has Population.
ii. Non-Carnivores normally eat plant Food, but they can also eat meat Food with Traits such as Scavenger and Co-operation.
iii. An avian species can take food from the watering hole or the cliff, but not both at the same feeding (e.g. when using co-operation or foraging). Cooperation triggers as normal. An avian species must take food equal to its body size before it can feed its population, and this upkeep food is placed on the bottom of the avian species board.
b. Feeding Carnivores – Carnivores can never eat Plant Food, even using Traits such as Long Neck or Co-operation. They feed by attacking other Species. A Species must attack if it is hungry, even if it means attacking a Species with horns, or another Species belonging to the same player. A player may attack any Species, including their own. Carnivores can continue to feed (attack) after the Watering Hole runs out of plant Food. An attack can be made if:
i. The Carnivore’s Body Size is larger than the Body Size of the Species being attacked, AND
ii. The Carnivore has the necessary Traits to overcome the attacked Species’ defensive Traits.
When a successful attack has been made:
i. Reduce the Population of the attacked Species by 1. If this reduces the Population below the amount of Food already consumed, the attacked player puts the excess Food in their Food Token Bag. If the Population is reduced to zero, the Species becomes Extinct (see Extinction below).
ii. The attacking player takes meat Food from the Food Bank equal to the Body Size of the attacked Species and places it on the attacking Carnivore’s Species Board.
3. End of feeding – Feeding ends when all Species have eaten Food equal to their Population size, or when all hungry Species are no longer able to eat.
a. If a Species did not manage to eat as much Food as its Population, reduce its Population to the same level as the Food eaten. If the Species failed to eat any Food, it becomes Extinct.
b. Each player places all Food eaten by their Species in their Food Token Bag.
c. Upkeep food for avian species is returned to the Food Bank, and not added to the player’s Food Token Bag.
d. Any plant Food remaining on the Watering Hole stays in place.
e. Pass the start player marker to the left.
feeding Feeding ends when all Species have eaten Food equal to their Population size or when all hungry Species are no longer able to eat a If a Species did not manage to eat as much Food as its Population reduce its Population to the same level as the Food eaten If the Species failed to eat any Food it becomes Extinct b Each player places all Food eaten by their Species in their Food Token Bag c Upkeep food for avian species is returned to the Food Bank and not added to the player s Food Token Bag d Any plant Food remaining on the Watering Hole stays in place e Pass the start player marker to the left
Extinction – If the Population of a Species is reduced to zero, it goes extinct. Immediately discard the Species Board and Trait cards on that Species and draw a number of Trait cards equal to the number of Trait cards discarded. The cards drawn in this way may be used from now onwards for Intelligence. If the extinct Species was between two other Species, close the gap. If the main deck is exhausted due to the drawing of Trait cards, use the reserve deck and the next round is the last round of the game. Any Food that was on the Species when it became extinct goes in the Food Token bag.
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End of Game Scoring
If the main deck is exhausted during Phase 1: Deal Cards, then add the reserve deck to the main deck, and the game ends at the end of the current round. If the main deck is exhausted for any other reason, play one more full round, and then the game ends. End of game scoring is then conducted as follows:
1. Each Food in a player’s Food Token bag is worth one point
2. Each surviving Species is worth points equal to its Population
3. Each Trait card on a surviving Species is worth one point.
Add up the points, and the player with the most points wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most Trait Cards is the winner, with Population points as the second tie breaker.
FAQs:
Significance of colours on cards:
• Red = Helps Carnivores
• White = Helps protect Species from Carnivores
• Green = Relates to getting Food
• Yellow = Population / other.
Playing with the Promo Cards
If you wish to add some of the promo cards to Evolution, select 1-3 sets of Traits, and substitute them for an equal number of the promo cards. Also remember to remove Traits and substitute them in matched pairs. i.e. if you are removing Warning Call, also remove Ambush, and similarly add promo cards in, in the same way. Treat Unstable DNA as a promo card, not a base game card. Do NOT just shuffle in the promo cards, or you will have a terrible mess.
Trait Card Reference Sheet with Clarifications
Ambush:
Negate warning call when attacking.
Allows a Carnivore to attack a Species protected by the Warning Call Trait.
Brood Parasite:
Land Species: No effect
Avian Species: Before the food cards are revealed, gain 1 population and take 1 Plant or Meat Food if you have any other Avian species.
Before the food cards are revealed, an Avian species with Brood Parasite gains 1 Population and takes 1 Plant or Meat Food from the Food Bank if the player has any other Avian Species. This effect triggers Cooperation, Nesting, and Foraging.
Brood Parasite has no effect if the card is played on a Land species, but the Brood Parasite Trait Card still counts as 1 point at the end of the game.
Burrowing:
This Species cannot be attacked if it has Food equal to its Population.
This Species cannot be attacked by a Carnivore if it has Food equal to its Population.
Camouflage:
A Carnivore must have Good Eyesight to attack this species.
A species with Camouflage cannot be attacked unless the attacking Carnivore has the Good Eyesight trait.
Carnivore:
May attack and eat other Species. Can never eat plant Food.
This Species may attack another Species during Feeding if its Body Size is larger than the Body Size of the Species being attacked AND it has the Traits necessary to overcome that Species’ defensive Traits. Carnivores may never eat plant Food, even with Traits such as Long Neck, Cooperation or Foraging. Like other Traits, Carnivore can be discarded.
Climbing:
A Carnivore must have Climbing in order to be able to attack this Species.
A Species with the Climbing Trait may not be attacked unless the attacking Carnivore also has the Climbing Trait.
Cooperation:
When this Species takes Food, your Species to the right takes 1 Food from the same source.
Anytime this Species takes Food, if you have a Species to the right of it, that Species takes 1 Food of the same type (Plant or Meat) from the same source (Watering Hole or Food Bank). Cooperation is triggered by other Traits such as Long Neck, Scavenger, Intelligence and another Cooperation (but not Fat Tissue).
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Defensive Herding:
A Carnivore must be larger in Population to attack this Species.
A Species with Defensive Herding may not be attacked unless the attacking Carnivore has a greater Population.
Dive Bomb [EVENT]:
Discard this card during the Play Cards Phase after the Trait Cards have been revealed to feed one of your Avian species. Draw a Card.
Avian Carnivores: Attack a Species
Avian Non-Carnivores: Take 2 Plant Food from the Watering Hole, Cliff or Food Bank.
This Event Card is played during the Play Cards phase after the Trait Cards have been revealed. Dive Bomb allows that player to feed one of their Avian species and draw a new card. If the species is a Carnivore, it immediately attacks a legal target. This effect triggers Scavenger and Cooperation as normal. If the Avian species is a Non-Carnivore, it immediately takes 2 Plant Food from the Watering Hole, the Cliff or the Food Bank. This effect triggers Cooperation and Foraging as normal. If the new card driven is another Event Card, it can also be played at this time.
Fat Tissue:
May store Food on this card up to its Body Size. When the Food Cards are revealed, move this Food to the Species Board.
This Species may continue to eat Food after it has eaten Food equal to its Population, adding the Food to this Fat Tissue Trait Card. The Food stored on the fat tissue card may not be greater than the Body Size of the Species. The Food stored on the fat tissue card is fat (i.e. neither plant nor meat Food). Before the Food Cards are revealed, move fat tokens on Fat Tissue to the Species Board without exceeding the Population. This does not trigger Cooperation or any other Trait that triggers when a Species takes Food. If Fat Tissue is discarded, or the Species becomes extinct, or the game ends, any remaining Food on the card is placed in the player’s Food Token Bag.
NB – Fat tissue can be used on Carnivores as well as non-Carnivores.
Fertile:
Before the Food Cards are revealed, this Species gains 1 Population if there is Food on the Watering Hole.
Flight:
A Carnivore must have Flight to attack this species.
Non-Carnivore: can choose to take food from the Cliff.
Carnivore: Discard a card to negate Warning Call, Symbiosis or Climbing for this species’ next attack.
A species with Flight must eat food equal to its Body Size before it can feed its population. This food is placed on the upkeep food slots below the Body Size track. Under no circumstances can Avian food be placed in the Food Bag before the upkeep food is paid. Avian species can take food from either the Watering Hole or the Cliff, but they cannot take food from both sources on the same feeding turn (e.g. if using Cooperation or Foraging). A species with Flight cannot be attacked unless the attacking Carnivore also has Flight. If a species with Flight is a Carnivore, the player may discard a card from hand to the discard pile to negate Symbiosis, Warning Call, or Climbing for that species’ next attack.
Foraging:
Anytime this Species eats Plant Food, take 1 additional Plant Food from the same source.
This Species takes 1 additional Plant Food from the same source (Watering Hole or Food Bank) anytime it takes Plant Food (unless it does not have enough Population to accept the additional Food). Foraging can be triggered by other Traits such as Cooperation, Long Neck, or Intelligence. Carnivores CANNOT forage.
Good Eyesight:
Carnivore: Negates Camouflage when attacking.
Non Carnivore: Before the food cards are revealed, take 2 food from the Watering Hole.
A non-Carnivore with Good Eyesight takes 2 food from the Watering Hole before the Food Cards are revealed. If there is not enough food on the Watering Hole to feed all of the Non-Carnivore species with Good Eyesight, then resolve the trait cards in order starting with the current Start Player. Good Eyesight triggers Cooperation and Foraging. A Carnivore Good Eyesight may attack a species with Camouflage.
Hard Shell:
+4 Body Size when determining if this Species can be attacked.
Add 4 to this Species’ Body Size when determining if a Carnivore can attack it. A Species with a Body Size of 6 and a Hard Shell will have an equivalent Body Size of 10. Hard Shell does not increase the amount of Meat Food that a Carnivore takes after an attack.
Horns
A Carnivore must first lose 1 Population to attack this Species.
A Carnivore must reduce its Population by 1 when attacking this Species. The reduction in Population occurs before the Carnivore takes Meat Food for the attack. If a Carnivore attacks a horned Species using Pack Hunter, and the horns reduce the sum of the Population and Body Size to less than the needed attack value, the attack is still successful. But you cannot feed the Population that died on the horns.
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Intelligence
Discard a card(s) from your hand during one of your feeding turns:
Carnivore: Negate a Trait for this Species next attack.
Non-Carnivore: Take 2 Food from the Food bank.
A player with Intelligence has the option to discard one or more cards from his hand during any of his Feeding turns to gain one of the following effects:
• If the Species with Intelligence is a non-Carnivore, it takes 2 Plant Food from the Food Bank for each card discarded. This may be done before or after the player’s normal feeding turn.
• If the Species with Intelligence is a Carnivore, each card discarded negates all copies of 1 Trait Card (including Flight) for the Species’ next attack (e.g. multiple Warning Calls, or multiple Scavengers in play).
A player is never forced to use this ability, even if Intelligence is on a Species that is still hungry.
Long Neck
Before the Food Cards are revealed, take 1 Plant Food from the Food Bank.
Take 1 Plant Food from the Food Bank (not the Watering Hole) when the Food Cards are revealed.
Nesting
For each population this species gains:
Land Species: Take 1 Plant Food from the Food Bank or the Watering Hole.
Avian Species: Take 1 Meat Food
If a species with nesting is a Land Species, it takes 1 Plant Food from the Watering Hole or Food Bank for each population it gains. This effect triggers Cooperation and Foraging for each population increase. If a species with nesting is an Avian species, it takes 2 Meat Food from the Food Bank for each Population it gains. This effect triggers Cooperation but does not trigger Scavenger. An Avian species with Nesting might increase in Body Size after increasing in Population. In this case, the appropriate amount of food should be moved from the food slots above the population track to the upkeep food slots below the Body Size track.
Pack Hunting
This Species Body Size is equal to its Population PLUS its Body Size when determining if it can attack another Species.
Example: A Species with a Population of 5 and a Body Size of 3 has an effective Body Size of 8 when determining if it can attack another Species.
Scavenger
Take 1 Meat Food from the Food Bank when a Carnivore successfully attacks any Species.
Take 1 Meat Food from the Food Bank anytime a Species loses one or more Population after being attacked by a Carnivore.
The Scavenger Trait works as normal if it is on the attacking Carnivore (the Carnivore gets an extra Food), or on the Species that was attacked (the attacked Species gets 1 Food AFTER it loses 1 Population).
Seed Dispersal [EVENT]:
Discard this card during the Play Cards phase after the traits have been revealed. Place food in the watering hole equal to the number of Avian species in play. Draw a card.
If the new card drawn is another Event Card, it may also be played at this time.
Symbiosis
This Species cannot be attacked if your Species to the right has a larger Body Size than this Species.
Warning Call
A Carnivore must have Ambush to attack your Species that are adjacent to this Species.
If you have a Species to the right and/or left of a Species with Warning Call, it/they cannot be attacked unless the Carnivore has Ambush. Warning Call does not protect the Species that has the Warning Call Trait.
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