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GETTING STARTED

A quick and easy entry into The Evolution Game

PHASE ONE

Preparations: The game can be played by 2, 3 or 4 players. Each player takes a Gene Pool and chooses one of the four sets of coloured Colonies (plastic counters). Lay out the Game Board, the Gene Pools and the two Card Stacks as shown diagrammatically in Figure 1 below. [The 'cache' & 'isolated colonies' boards will not be needed yet and may be left in the box.] Players should sit on two sides of the Game Board only (top & bottom; not to the left or right). Notice how every Gene Pool is placed to match the alignment of the Environment, with the ABCD & EFGH sides all facing in the same directions.

Figure 1.		Figure 2.

Every player takes one of the cups to store their Colonies in. Keep this 'main store' near your Gene Pool.
Remove the "Survival Handicap" card and the two "Survival Advantage" cards from the Ecological Niche pack, and the two "Species Overspecialised" cards from the Mutation pack. You will not need them in this first learning 'phase'.
ALSO you will only need 25 cards in the Natural Selection pack. They are 8 x "Plague", 5 x "Colonisation", 2 x "Change The Environment", 8 x "Rapid Speciation" & 2 x "Jump To The Evolution Square". Remove all other cards from the pack and return them to the game box (for later learning 'phases').
Shuffle each of the three main packs and place them (face down) on the Main Card Stack. Also place the spot dice, the coloured dice and the four coloured Specialisation packs in their designated positions on the other side of the Game Board. The two (black) Population Control Dice will not be needed until PHASE TWO.
Each player takes 8 Specialisation cards (2 of each colour) and arranges them (in any order they wish) on their Gene Pool, one in each compartment, so that they cover the eight black boxes.
Every player is dealt SEVEN Ecological Niches. Display them (face up in full view of the other players) somewhere near your Gene Pool. Place each one the right way up to align their letters with the letters on the Environment and on the Gene Pools.
Each player puts one of their coloured Colonies in the Precambrian box and places another FIFTEEN Colonies beside their Gene Pool.
Roll the Time Dice (the white one numbered with black spots) to see who will go first. Play follows clockwise around the board.

Setting up the Environment: The first player rolls the Environment Dice (the one with coloured faces) and places a Specialisation card of the rolled colour (take it from the Card Stack) into the empty half of Domain A (as in Figure 2 above). The next player does the same for Domain B and the next player for Domain C, etc. until all eight Domains have been rolled for
IF YOU ROLL WHITE; leave that Domain empty.
IF YOU ROLL BLACK; choose the same colour as you have in the equivalently lettered compartment of your own Gene Pool.

* Being Adapted * IMPORTANT CONCEPT #1 Now compare the colours on your Gene Pool with the colours in the Environment. If your A compartment carries the same colour as Domain A, you are said to be Adapted to Domain A. The same idea applies to the other seven Domains. Check how many of your Gene Pool cards match up with their correspondingly lettered Domains. If a Domain has been left empty, every player is automatically Adapted to it, regardless of the colour in their own Gene Pool compartment. If you have the wrong colours for any of the Domains, turn those cards into a horizontal position to expose the words 'Unadapted'.

If you have been unlucky and find yourself Unadapted everywhere, exchange one of your Specialisation cards (you choose which) for a correct one from the Card Stack, so that you will be Adapted to at least one Domain at the very beginning of the game.

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Using Mutation Cards * Getting Adapted * IMPORTANT CONCEPT #2 During the game, it is important to be Adapted to as many Domains as possible. If, at any point, you are Unadapted to a particular Domain, you can correct the situation by using Mutation cards. We will explain later how you get possession of Mutation cards. For the moment it is enough to understand how to use them for Adapting. Let us imagine that Domain F is ORANGE, but in your Gene Pool's F-compartment you have a LILAC-coloured card. This means that you must exchange that lilac-coloured card for an orange one. A Mutation card with a lilac stripe and an orange stripe will do this for you. Put the Mutation card back on the bottom of the pack and make the necessary exchange with a Specialisation card from the Card stack. You are now Adapted to Domain F. If you don't have exactly that 'lilac-orange' Mutation card, there may be other ways to achieve the same result. You may use a Mutation 'joker' (which has all four colours displayed), or you may use a card with three stripes, as long as two of the colours shown are lilac and orange. Another possibility is to combine two or even three Mutation cards in a chain. The examples below will make all of these ideas clear. Various ways of converting a lilac Specialisation card into an orange one. Figure 3.

Placing Colonies into the Environment: You will now try to place your 15 Colonies into the Territory squares of the Environment. Take turns around the table to place one Colony each of your own colour. Do this again and again, Colony by Colony, until every player's supply is exhausted. Only one Colony may be placed in any single Territory square. When 9 have been placed in a Domain, that Domain is full. AND....

* You must be Adapted to enter a Domain * IMPORTANT CONCEPT #3
You may only place Colonies into a Domain if you are yourself Adapted to it!
If the central Dominant Position is free, you should always take the chance to occupy it. The Dominant Position carries certain advantages which will be explained later in PHASE TWO and PHASE THREE.
If you are unable to place all fifteen Colonies because every Domain that you are Adapted to is now full, the remaining unused Colonies are lost. Return them to your main store. You may not save them for later.

* Being Established in an Ecological Niche * IMPORTANT CONCEPT #4 Now take a look at one of your Ecological Niches. It will display one, two, three or four letters, corresponding to the lettered Domains. (i) Are you Adapted to all of the Domains shown on the Niche? (ii) Do you have at least one Colony placed in each of those Domains? If you fulfill both of these requirements, you are said to be Established in that Ecological Niche. How about your other Ecological Niches? During the game, you will try to be Established in as many of them as possible.

The game really begins: You are now ready to start playing in earnest! If you are the player to go first, take one more Colony from your store and place it on The Evolution Square (see Figure 1). Roll the Time Dice and move this 'counter' around the Time Circuit (in a clockwise direction) according to the number rolled. The square that you land on carries a symbol and this symbol represents a set of instructions which you will then follow (see later). The next player follows the same procedure with a 'counter' of their own colour; and so on, until every player has entered the Time Circuit. Play then continues indefinitely, taking turns clockwise around the table.

* Only one 'counter' per square in the Time Circuit * IMPORTANT CONCEPT #5
Two 'counters' may never occupy the same square in the Time Circuit. When moving around the Time Circuit, if you meet another player's counter ahead of you, jump straight over it. Do not even include that square when counting out your move. Completely ignore it.

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Survival Squares The four larger squares in the Time Circuit are called Survival squares. They have a very important function in the game which we must now consider. * Survival through the Geological Sequence * IMPORTANT CONCEPT #6 You will remember that, at the beginning of the game, every player placed one Colony in the first box of the Geological Sequence; the Precambrian. Your main objective in the game is to survive through the successive stages of the Geological Sequence and eventually reach the Pleistocene. Advancing from one stage to another can only be done at Survival squares. To survive into the next stage you must ..... (i) Land on one of the four Survival squares and , at the same time, .... (ii) Be Established in one of your Ecological Niches. If you can fulfill both of these conditions, you are entitled to 'survive' (i.e. advance) one further stage in the Geological Sequence. Add a new Colony to the next (clockwise) compartment in the Sequence. Do not remove your counters from the earlier compartments. (They remain as 'fossils' in the Geological Record!) If you are Established in more than one Ecological Niche, you may also advance more than one stage simultaneously. You will return all the Ecological Niches that you have used for your advance to the bottom of the Ecological Niche pack. * The 'minimum' number of Ecological Niches * IMPORTANT CONCEPT #7 Look at the Game Board. You will see that between every pair of compartments in the Geological Sequence there is a small number placed in a circle. This represents the 'minimum' number of Ecological Niches that you should be holding when situated in either of those two stages in the Geological Sequence. For example, the 'minimum' for the Precambrian / Cambrian pair is 7. That is why you received 7 Ecological Niches at the beginning of the game. By the time you reach the Pliocene, your 'minimum' will have dropped to 0. * The first player to reach the Pleistocene wins the game * IMPORTANT CONCEPT #8

The Time Circuit: We shall now review the instructions for the various symbols found in the Time Circuit. You may deal with each one as it crops up naturally during play. For now, just glance at IMPORTANT CONCEPTS #11 & #12.

Mutation

Count how many Domains you are currently Unadapted to. Draw that number of Mutation cards from the Card Stack and display them (face up) near your Gene Pool. You may not use them yet. You must wait until the beginning of your next turn.

* Use Mutation cards before rolling the Time Dice * IMPORTANT CONCEPT #9
If you wish to use any of your Mutation cards to Adapt, you must do it at the very beginning of a turn, before rolling the Time Dice. If you forget, you will have to wait until the following turn to make the desired Adaptations.
You may use as many Mutation cards as you like in a single turn to Adapt to one or more Domains simultaneously.

Population Growth

What number did you just roll on the Time Dice? Draw the same number of new Colonies and place them into empty Territory squares AND/OR 'supplant' other players' Unadapted Colonies (see IMPORTANT CONCEPT #10). As usual, you may only enter Domains to which you are Adapted. Unplaceable Colonies cannot be saved for later. Return them to your main store.

Mutation / Population Growth

You may use this square EITHER as a Mutation square OR as a Population Growth square, whichever is more useful to you.

Environmental Change

The letter in this square refers to one of the eight Domains. Roll the Environment Dice (the one with coloured faces) and change the Specialisation card for that Domain accordingly. If the colour you roll is the same as the existing Specialisation card, no change will be necessary. If the Domain was previously empty, now add a Specialisation card of the correct colour. (REMEMBER! You are changing the Specialisation card on the Game Board - NOT on your own Gene Pool!)
IF YOU ROLL WHITE; return the present Specialisation card to the Card Stack and leave the Domain empty.
IF YOU ROLL BLACK; choose the same colour as in the equivalently lettered compartment of your own Gene Pool.

* Unadapted Colonies are vulnerable * IMPORTANT CONCEPT #10
If some of your Colonies are now Unadapted, they may stay where they are, but they are vulnerable. Another player who is Adapted to this Domain may, when putting in new Colonies, replace your Unadapted Colonies with their own; as if the squares were really empty. Your 'supplanted' Colonies are lost and must be returned to your main store. For this reason, it is important to try to get Readapted as soon as possible.

Transition

* You may stop short on a Transition square * IMPORTANT CONCEPT #11
You need not throw the exact number to land here. Provided the Transition square is unoccupied, you may stop short on it and ignore the remainder on the Time Dice. OR you may choose the full dice roll and move on to the 'correct' destination.
Transition squares are also Survival squares and may allow you to advance further in the Geological Sequence (see box above).
Return any Ecological Niches that you have used for advancing this turn to the bottom of the pack. Check the 'minimum' for your present stage in the Geological Sequence. Draw as many new Ecological Niches from the top of the pack as are necessary to bring you up to your 'minimum' number. Your turn then ends.

The Evolution Square

* If The Evolution Square is free, you must land on it * IMPORTANT CONCEPT #12

If this square is unoccupied, you may not pass it. You must land here and ignore any remainder on the Time Dice.
Immediately on landing, advance one stage in the Geological Sequence automatically. This is a 'bonus' and does not require the use of any Ecological Niches. As this is one of the four Survival squares (see box on previous page), you may use any Established Ecological Niches to advance still further in the Geological Sequence. Return these Ecological Niches to the bottom of the pack. Also return all remaining unused Ecological Niches and Mutation cards to their respective packs. Check the 'minimum' for your present stage in the Geological Sequence. Draw that 'minimum' number of completely new Ecological Niches from the top of the pack and display them next to your Gene Pool. Your turn then ends.

Natural Selection

Draw a card from the top of the Natural Selection pack. Follow its instructions (see below) and return the card to the bottom of the pack.
"Plague" : Remove every Colony that you have in the designated Domain and return them to your main store. This card only affects the player who draws it. All other players' Colonies may remain.
"Colonisation" : Are there any Domains to which you are Adapted but in which you have no Colonies? If so, you may now place one new Colony in each of those Domains (provided there is room for you). Remember that you may replace another player's Unadapted Colonies with your own (see IMPORTANT CONCEPT #10).
"Change The Environment" : Move your 'counter' directly to the next free Environment Change square in the Time Circuit, even if it involves jumping over one or more unoccupied Survival squares!! (This card is an exception to IMPORTANT CONCEPTS #11 and #12.) Change the Specialisation colour in the designated Domain so that it matches the colour in the correspondingly lettered compartment of your own Gene Pool. (This is the same operation as when you roll a BLACK with the Environment Dice!)
"Rapid Speciation" : If you are Unadapted to any of the four Domains shown on the card, you may now Adapt automatically to them (all four of them), without using any Mutation cards. In addition, check the number you just rolled on the Time Dice. If you have fewer than that number of Colonies in any of the four Domains you may now add enough new ones to build up to that number in each of the designated Domains. As usual, you may only place Colonies in empty Territory squares or replace other players' Unadapted Colonies (see IMPORTANT CONCEPT #10).
"Jump To The Evolution Square" : Your 'counter' must move directly to The Evolution Square. Follow the normal instructions for landing there (see above). If The Evolution Square is occupied by another player's counter, jump over it and land on the next available empty square following. Follow the instructions for that square instead.

Population Control

Remove one Colony from each of the Domains that you presently occupy. Return these 'lost' Colonies to your main store.

PHASE TWO

After playing PHASE ONE for a while, you may feel confident enough to progress to this next PHASE.
Add 5 more cards to the Natural Selection pack; 2 x "Immunity To Disease", 2 x "Escape Starvation" & 1 x "Population Explosion". In future, when drawing a Natural Selection card, do not read the instructions from PHASE ONE above. Instead, refer to "Detailed Instructions for the Natural Selection Cards" (mounted in a separate laminated sleeve). You will notice some variations and additions to the earlier instructions. When landing on The Evolution Square, any Natural Selection cards remaining in your hand must (like unused Ecological Niches and Mutation cards) be returned to the pack.
Read section 12 in the Rules of Play booklet concerning "Integration Rules". It will now sometimes be possible to replace other players' ADAPTED colonies with your own.
Also return the two "Species Overspecialised" cards to the Mutation pack and read sections 9(a), (d) & (e) in the Rules of Play booklet. The instructions given there will now supercede the earlier PHASE ONE instructions for landing on these squares. You might also wish to check sections 9(b), (c) & (f) for clarification of three other square types.

PHASE THREE

Add 6 more cards to the Natural Selection pack; 3 x "Competition Advantage", 1 x "Competition Handicap" & 2 x "Lose All Dominant Positions". Read section 9(g) in the Rules of Play booklet. Competition may now be included in the game.

PHASE FOUR

Return the "Survival Handicap" card and the two "Survival Advantage" cards to the Ecological Niche pack.
Use the complete Natural Selection pack (48 cards total). Read the sections entitled "Survival Cards" & "Extinction" in "A Quick Summary of the Standard Rules" (see separate laminated sleeve). More detailed information about "Extinction" may also be found in section 13 of the Rules of Play booklet. You are now playing according to the full Standard Rules.

PHASE FIVE

For a complete overview, it might be wise to now read the complete Rules of Play booklet, at least as far as section 13.
Section 14 contains many optional extras. These are highly recommended. They add tactical complexity and invariably generate an exciting 'end-game'. Once you have mastered all of these additional rules, you may consider yourself a true 'aficionado'!