Locations
The board contains two Main Diaries, a Special Diary, and a Small Diary. A Diary may be divided into Sections by a red bookmark.
There is no cost for placing a worker into a Diary Section.
If a Diary Section a workers of any colour (including the active player's), the active player must pay a Coin Penalty. The Coin Penalty is 3 for a 2-player game, 3 otherwise.
Circular Magnifying Glass
Any number of workers may be placed.
Lens
Only one worker can be placed.
Whenever a player places a worker onto an opponent's Lens, that opponent gains 1 Coin from the supply.
Rectangular Magnifying Glass
Any number of workers may be placed.
There is no Coin Penalty for rectangular magnifying glass locations.
Actions
After the active player places a worker on a location, they may perform the location's action. Actions may be performed in any order. The player is not required to complete all actions.
Unlock Lens Location | Gray Lens
Place an unlocked Lens token on a locked Lens location.
The active player may immediately perform all actions at this location, ignoring all Wax Seal requirements.
This Lens location is now unlocked, and any player may use the location on their turn.
The owner of the unlocked Lens will receive 1 Coin from the supply when an opponent places a worker on it.
Academy | Red Scroll
Purchase a Wax Seal.
A Wax Seal costs Coins according to its row.
The active player adds the new Wax Seal to the left-most empty spot for any worker, paying the cost of the spot.
The 4th and 6th Wax Seal for a worker grants silver and gold distinctions, respectively.
Move Ship along the Ocean track.
Any number of Ships can be on the same Ocean track space.
When a Ship crosses a silver banner on the Ocean track, the active player must place an Explorer on the starting space of the corresponding Island.
If there is an action icon where the Ship stops, the active player may perform the action.
Exploration | Green Boot
Move an Explorer along an Island track.
Skip spaces occupied by opponent's Explorers.
Only one Explorer can be on each Island track space, except for the first and last spaces.
When the first Explorer crosses a golden ribbon on an Island track, that player gains victory points.
The player may immediately perform the action where the Explorer stopped.
Correspondence | Yellow Envelope
Move personal Stamps to an Envelope.
The active player may the Stamps from any personal stack, but may only place them onto one Envelope.
If the last Stamp was removed from a stack, the player may perform the actions for the depleted stack.
The players with the most and second-most Stamps placed on an Envelope will receive rewards during the Reward Phase.
If there are not enough Stamps in the personal stacks, the active player may take their Stamps from the used Stamps tray.
Deliver Specimen | Brown Shipping Container
Place a Specimen tile in the Museum if it is researched.
The player must have a Research token for the Specimen on their personal board. They place the matching Museum tile on the Museum display.
If this is the first Museum tile placed into a row, the active player receives the Coin from the row.
If this is the last Museum tile placed into a row, the active player moves their Evolution marker one space on the Theory of Evolution track.
For each empty space in the Museum row or column, the active player gains 1 Coin
For each occupied space in the Museum Museum, the active player moves their Evolution marker one space on the Theory of Evolution track.
Research Museum Specimen | Teal Microscope
Research a Specimen if its tile is in the Museum.
The Specimen icon must match a occupied Museum space.
The player adds a Research token for the specimen to their personal board.
Gain Objective | Orange Camera
Take an Objective tile.
The active player moves an Objective to their reserve.
Up to 2 Objectives can be in a player’s reserve.
Additional Objectives are stored on top of personal Objective locations.
If the location is marked with a Coin penalty icon, the cost must be paid to place the tile.
Reserve Turn Order | Purple Insect
Claim the earliest space on the Turn Order track.
Also gain Coins from the supply.
Theory of Evolution Track Advancement | Book
Move forward on the Theory of Evolution track.
Personal Board Bonuses for Completed Objectives
From top to bottom, left to right, below are the bonuses you get for completing objectives:
- Top 1: Select a previously placed Tent of that player’s color and perform the associated actions as if the Tent had just been placed for the first time. No Coin penalties are paid with this re-activation.
- Top 2: The player no longer pays the Coin penalty for taking Wax Seals from any Scroll row in the Academy. They must still pay the Coin penalty associated with the Wax Seal placement on their personal board.
- Top 3: The active player places a Research token onto any Specimen on the player’s personal board that matches any Specimen token found on an island with that player’s Explorer.
- Top 4: When scoring the Theory of Evolution track, the player adds 1 Book multiplier to the number of Book multipliers reached on the Track. This happens before scoring the Theory of Evolution track.
- Top 5: End game victory points
- Bottom 1: The player may move their 5th worker from the side of the player’s board onto this spot to unlock the worker. The player may use this worker in the current round. Wax Seals cannot be placed next to this worker, but Temporary Knowledge tokens may be spent to meet Wax Seal requirements.
- Bottom 2: The player immediately takes a Special Wax Seal (purple) from the supply and places it onto the left-most empty Wax Seal spot on one of the worker rows on their personal board. They do not have to pay any indicated Coin penalty for this placement.
- Bottom 3: The placement penalty for visiting an occupied Diary Section is reduced by one for the rest of the game.
- Bottom 4: During Beagle goal scoring, each Lagging penalty between the player’s Ship and the HMS Beagle is reduced to a maximum of 2
- Bottom 5: End game victory points
End Game Scoring
After the fifth round, final scoring commences:
- Personal Board Endgame Victory Points
- Completed Objectives
- Workers with 5 or 6 wax seals
- All five tents gone from board
- Theory of Evolution Track Scoring
- Calculate "Museum Modifier" = 2 + number of completed rows in the Museum (regardless of player)
- Multiply your number of books by on the track by the Museum Modifier
- Leftover Resources
- 1 point for every 5 coins remaining
- 1 point for every Temporary Knowledge token remaining
