In the Footsteps of Darwin

• Select a language:
• en

• Setup
  • • Place the board, journey side up, and place the Beagle on its starting space.
    • Give each player a notebook (player board).
    • Select a start player and give them the Darwin token.
    • Place the guide, publication, and compass tokens on the dedicated spaces of the journey board.
    • Take 12 tiles per player + 9 tiles and shuffle them all face down.
    • Place 9 tiles face up on the journey board. The rest should remain as a face down supply.
    • Shuffle the theory tiles face down and deal a tile to each player. They place it face up in the top most space of their player board.
    • The rest of the theory tiles should be split into 2 face down piles on the journey board. Then flip 3 face up.
    • Each player takes a guide token and places it on 1 of the spaces on their player board.
• Gameplay

  • The game is played over a number of rounds until each player has placed 12 tiles on their player board.

    Each turn consists of 2 steps:

    1. Take an animal or character tile from the row/column of the current location of the Beagle.
    2. Move the Beagle and replace the tile.
  • 1. Take a Tile
    • • At the beginning of your turn, you may use a guide for one of the following actions:
        • Sail: Move the Beagle 1 space forward or backward.
        • Probe: Discard the 3 tiles in the row/column adjacent to the Beagle, placing them in any order on the bottom of a draw pile. Place 3 new tiles in the open spaces.
      • Choose a tile in the row/column of the current Beagle location.
        • If it is an animal, place the chosen tile on the space of your board matching the icon in the upper left.
          • Resolve any immediate bonus on the animal (see below).
          • If you choose an animal matching an animal already on your board (symbol in the upper left), you will cover the current animal with the new tile. Then, take a theory tile, either face up or from a draw pile, and place it on your player board.
            • If you took a face up theory tile, replace it.
            • You may not have more than 6 theories, but you can take a 7th one and discard 1 on your board.
            • You may cover the same animal a number of times.
            • If you cover a chart or VP symbol, that will not score at the end of the game. However, you do not return compasses, etc.
        • If it is a character, place it on an available space on the left side of your board and gain its bonus (see below).
          • You may not have more than 3 characters.
        • If you have covered all 4 spaces of a row or column on your player board, take a publication token from the journey board and place it on the space in the top left of your player board.
          • Note that placing an animal on top of another animal in a completed row/column will not trigger this a 2nd time.

      Bonuses

      Symbol	Description
      	These tiles are worth the number of VP shown.
      	These are worth a number of points based on the number of compasses you have (multiplied).
      	Take a compass token and place it on your board. You may not have more than 5 compasses. These act as a VP multiplier for charts.
      	Take a guide token and place it on an empty guide space on your player board. You may not have more than 2 of these tokens.
      	Take the Darwin token from whoever controls it. If you already have it, nothing happens.

  • 2. Move the Beagle
    • 1. Move the Beagle a number of spaces (1, 2, or 3) corresponding with the distance between the Beagle and the tile location. e.g. If you take the tile right next to the Beagle, move it 1 space.
      2. Draw a new tile and place it in the space you took a tile from on the journey board.
• End of Game

  • When the last tile from the draw pile is placed on the board, the game ends. Each player will have exactly 12 tiles on their board.

    Scoring

    • Score points for the VP printed on animal tiles
    • Score points for the number of compasses on your player board times the number of visible chart icons
    • Each publication is 5 points
    • Score points for each theory on your board
    • Score 2 points if you have the Darwin token

    The player with the highest total points wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most theory VP wins. If still tied, the players share the victory.

• Theories

  • Tile	Scoring
    	1 VP for each bird, including those that were covered
    	1 VP for each mammal, including those that were covered
    	1 VP for each reptile, including those that were covered
    	1 VP for each arthropod, including those that were covered
    	1 VP for each animal from America, including those that were covered
    	1 VP for each animal from Africa, including those that were covered
    	1 VP for each animal from Asia, including those that were covered
    	1 VP for each animal from Oceania, including those that were covered
    	1 VP for each animal in the top left quadrant, including those that were covered
    	1 VP for each animal in the top right quadrant, including those that were covered
    	1 VP for each animal in the bottom left quadrant, including those that were covered
    	1 VP for each animal in the bottom right quadrant, including those that were covered
    	1 VP for each of your theories
    	2 VP for each visible guide icon on your tiles
    	2 VP for each of your publications
    	1 VP for each visible crown icon on your tiles

• Characters

  • Tile	Effect
    	Take 1 theory tile and hire a guide
    	Hire 2 guides
    	Take a compass and hire a guide
    	Hire a guide and provides a chart
    	Score 4 points and hire a guide