Game Objective

The objective in Earth is to score as many Victory Points (VP) as possible. To do this, you will “plant” cards to create your own play area (tableau)—a 16-card matrix arranged 4 cards wide by 4 cards high. The game ends at the end of a round after a player plants their 16th card, completing their play area. Players will score their points from the value of Flora and Event cards, from Growth and Sprouts placed on their Flora, from cards in their Compost Pile, and from bonus points from Ecosystem, Fauna, and Terrain. Balancing these elements and creating an effective engine is key to maximizing your Victory Points!

Setup

Place the Fauna board in the center of the table within sight of all players. Distribute a player board to each player, with everyone using the same side (front) of their board. Shuffle all Earth cards and place them in a face-down pile (or piles) within reach of all players. Shuffle the Fauna cards and place one with a random side face-up in each of the 4 spaces on the Fauna board. Shuffle the Ecosystem cards and place one with a random side face-up in each of the 2 spaces on the Fauna board. Then, deal 1 Ecosystem card to each player. Finally, each player takes 5 Leaf tokens of their color, placing 4 of them in the central leaf spaces on their board and keeping the 5th one aside.

Game Turn

On your turn, choose any 1 of the 4 action spaces shown at the top of your player board. All other players place their 5th leaf token at the bottom of the same action space, as a way to track their action options. Actions include Water, Compost, Grow, and Plant. After performing your action, all players may activate any abilities in their play areas and on their player boards that match the color of the currently selected action.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends when a player completes their 4x4 matrix. The final point count includes: VP from Event cards, VP from Terrain cards, 1 VP per Composted card, VP from Ecosystems (1 personal & 2 shared), VP from the Fauna board, 1 VP per Sprout, VP from Growth, and base VP on cards (Play Area, Island & Climate).

Tips for Winning

1. Strategically plant cards to maximize ability activation.
2. Balance the use of resources like Sprouts and Growth to avoid running out at the end of the game.
3. Monitor Fauna and Ecosystem cards to achieve objectives and secure extra points.