Game Objective

In Darwin's Journey, players relive Charles Darwin’s adventures across the Galapagos Islands. You will place workers to perform various actions and progress your workers' abilities throughout the game. The goal is to accumulate the most Victory Points (VPs) over the course of five rounds to win.

Setup

1. Board & Tiles: Use the board side for the current player count (1-3 or 4). Shuffle 12 Special Action tiles; place one in each of the six Diary boxes on the left and return the rest to the box. Place two Neutral Lens tokens on the top two tiles.
2. Correspondence & Seals: Shuffle 8 Correspondence tiles, place three in their spots to the right of the Special Action tiles, and return the rest. Place 12 purple Special Wax Seals on the silver plate.
3. Regular Wax Seals: Return 2/1/0 Regular Wax Seals of each color to the box based on 2/3/4 players. Shuffle the rest and place one face up on each of the 12 spots on the four scrolls (top right).
4. Objectives: Shuffle silver and gold Starting Objective tiles into separate stacks. Shuffle silver and gold Objective tiles (10 each) into separate stacks and place them on the board. Draw two of each type and place them face up below the stacks.
5. Museum: Place 16 brown, square Museum tiles to the right of the board as shown on the Museum Display. Place one Coin to the right of each row.
6. Player Components: Each player chooses a color and takes: 3 Explorers, 5 Tents, 1 Ship, 5 Workers, 12 Stamps, 4 Cubes, 6 Personal Lens Tokens, a Personal Board, and a Player Aid.
7. Track Placement: Place a Cube on the red book (start of the VP track) and a Cube on the gray book (start of the Theory of Evolution track). Randomly place a Cube on the Turn Order track.
8. Map & Ocean: Place 5 shuffled Beagle Goal tiles face up at the bottom of the map. Place 16 brown, round Specimen tokens face up on matching locations with flags on the Island and Ocean tracks (following player count limits). Remaining tokens are replaced by their matching Museum tile on the Museum Display.
9. Supply & Starting Positions: Place Coins, purple Temporary Knowledge tokens, and clear Research tokens nearby. Place an Explorer on the starting location of the left-most island and the Ship on the left-most position of the Ocean track. Place the HMS Beagle token on the left-most Beagle location.
10. Personal Board Setup: Place 4 Workers on their spots (the 5th enters play if you achieve your left-most golden Objective). Place 5 Tents and stacks of 4 Stamps on their respective spots.
11. Starting Resources: Each player receives 4 Coins and one purple Temporary Knowledge token.
12. Crew Cards: Shuffle 16 Crew cards and deal four to each player. Players draft three cards face down (passing the rest to the left). Reveal cards and place them face up. Each player takes the Regular Wax Seals shown on their Crew cards and places three Regular Wax Seals on the left-most empty Wax Seal spots on their Personal Board (one per worker).
13. Starting Objectives: Reveal a row of silver and gold Starting Objectives equal to the number of players. In reverse player order, each player takes a pair (one silver, one gold) and places them next to their Objective rows.

Game Flow

The game is played over five rounds. Each round consists of four phases:

1. Action Phase: Players take turns placing a single worker from their Personal Board or passing. Turns follow the Turn Order track.
2. Modify Turn Order Phase: If workers are on the Reserve Turn Order location, Turn Order markers are moved to match their relative positions.
3. Reward Phase:
   • Correspondence Majorities: Players with the most Stamps on the Envelope perform actions in the first section, followed by the second most Stamps for the second section. Players who performed an action move half their Stamps (rounded up) to the used Stamps tray.
   • Score Beagle Goal Tile: The tile below the Beagle's position scores VPs for players meeting the goal's condition.
   • Lagging Penalties: If your Ship is behind the Beagle, reduce Beagle Goal VPs by each marked threshold between your Ship and the Beagle (minimum 0). The Beagle Goal tile is then flipped face down.
4. Cleanup Phase: (Skipped in the 5th round). Move the Beagle to the next Beagle Goal position, return workers to Personal Boards, refresh Objectives (2 silver, 2 gold), and refresh Wax Seals on the scrolls.

Actions and How to Play

When activating an action icon, perform it immediately. You may use resources gained from an action to pay for subsequent actions in the same turn. Coin icons with red numbers indicate a cost that must be paid.

Worker Placement Rules

• Circular Magnifying Glass: Any number of workers.
• Unlocked Lenses: Only one worker. If you place a worker on an opponent's Lens token, that opponent gains one Coin.
• Square/Rectangular Magnifying Glass: Any number of workers.
• Penalties: Placing a worker in a Diary section already occupied costs 3 Coins (2 players) or 2 Coins (3-4 players).
• Wax Seal Requirements: Most locations require specific Wax Seals. Purple Special Wax Seals and Temporary Knowledge tokens act as any color.

Available Actions

• Gain VPs: Gain the indicated VPs. For every 50 VPs, move your Cube to the corresponding book on the board.
• Gain Coins: Gain the indicated number of Coins.
• Theory of Evolution Track Advancement: Move your Evolution marker forward the indicated number of spaces.
• Unlock Lens Location: Pay the Coin penalty to place a Personal Lens token on a locked location. As a bonus, perform all associated actions immediately without placing a worker and ignoring Wax Seal requirements. Main Action Diaries must be unlocked top-to-bottom; Special Action Diary locations can be unlocked in any order.
• Academy: Purchase a Wax Seal from a Scroll and place it on a worker's row on your Personal Board.
• Navigation: Move your Ship up to the indicated value on the Ocean track. If you stop on an icon, perform that action. Crossing a silver banner allows you to place an Explorer on the new island.
• Exploration: Move an Explorer up to the indicated value. Skip spaces occupied by opponents. Perform the action on the final space. Crossing a golden ribbon grants VPs.
• Establish Campsite: Place a Tent on an empty location next to the action icon. Perform additional actions in that location and an action next to where the Tent was removed from your Personal Board.
• Correspondence: Move Stamps from your Personal Board to an Envelope on the board. Perform actions from any newly depleted Stamp stacks.
• Research Galapagos Specimen: Place a Research token on the matching Specimen on your Personal Board.
• Deliver Specimen: If you have a Research token on a Specimen and its Museum tile is not in the Museum Display, place the Museum tile on the Museum Display. This grants Coins (if first in row), Evolution track advancement (if last in row), and additional Coins or Evolution track movement based on empty or occupied spaces in the row and column. You may deliver twice, but the second delivery costs 3 Coins.
• Research Museum Specimen: Select a Museum tile on the Museum Display and place a Research token on the matching Specimen on your Personal Board.
• Reserve Turn Order: Place a worker on the Reserve Turn Order spot and gain 2 Coins (3 in a 2-player game).
• Gain Objective: Take an Objective tile from the display. If you already have two in your reserve, place the new tile on an empty Objective location on your Personal Board and gain 2 Coins.

Special Mechanics

• Distinctions: A worker gains a silver Distinction at the 4th Wax Seal and a golden Distinction at the 6th. These provide bonuses in Main and Special Action Diary sections.
• Achieving Objectives: When requirements are met, flip the tile face down. Pay any required Coins and gain the reward.
• Achieving Crew Cards: When a worker has the required Wax Seals, perform the card's actions, flip it, and assign it to that worker.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends after the fifth round (when the Beagle reaches its right-most location). Final scoring is calculated as follows:

1. Personal Board Scoring:
   • VPs from achieved Objectives.
   • 4 VPs if the right-most silver and golden Objectives are both achieved.
   • 3 VPs for each worker with five Wax Seals.
   • An additional 7 VPs for each worker with six Wax Seals.
   • 5 VPs if all five Tents are placed on Campsites.
2. Theory of Evolution Track Scoring:
   • Calculate the Museum modifier: 2 + the number of Museum Display rows with all four Museum tiles.
   • Multiply the Museum modifier by the highest x# of books reached/passed on the track to gain VPs.
3. Coins & Temporary Knowledge: 1 VP per set of five Coins and 1 VP per Temporary Knowledge token.

The player with the most VPs wins. Tiebreakers are: 1) Farthest on the Theory of Evolution track, 2) Most leftover Coins, 3) Shared victory.

Tips for Winning

• Optimize the Museum: Focus on filling Museum Display rows completely to increase your Museum modifier, which multiplies the VPs gained from the Theory of Evolution track.
• Worker Specialization: Aim to get workers to 4 and 6 Wax Seals to unlock silver and golden Distinctions, allowing you to claim bonuses in Diary sections.
• Strategic Unlocking: Use the Small Diary to Unlock Lens Locations; this allows you to perform all associated actions immediately while ignoring Wax Seal requirements.