Bios Megafauna Living Rules
The continuing contest between dinosaurs and mammals.
These updates are from player feedback; please submit to http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Megafauna/
By Philip Eklund, Copyright © 2011 by Sierra Madre Games Co.
Living Rules: Version 2 February 2012
Incorporates ideas from the Foukarakis-Ardila variant
SUMMARY: There are four rules changes:
3.5d During set-up, immigrants are discarded instead of being returned to the pool.
3.5e During set-up of the 3 and 4 player game, use two displays instead of one. Per 5.0d, ignore the events for the upper
display.
9.2e Homelands being farmed are immune to extinction.
11.0 P DNA adds to migration range.
There are four new optional rules:
3.5e Experimental Scythian Set-Up
4.1e and f. Two optional rules for roadrunner and genetic drift.
18.0b Optional rule to draw from Cenozoic as soon as Mesozoic runs out.Also a 2-action variant (4.5)
CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Components
3.0 Set-Up
4.0 Sequence of Play
5.0 Purchase a Card
6.0 Resolve the Event
7.0 Play a Card
8.0 Resize One of your Species
9.0 Acculturate One of your Species
10.0 Expand an Animal
11.0 Migrate
12.0 Rooter Biomes
13.0 Herbivore Contests
14.0 Carnivore Contests
15.0 Greenhouse
16.0 Extinctions
17.0 Episodes
18.0 Ending the Game
19.0 Solitaire Rules
20.0 Example of Play
21.0 Tips on how to Play
22.0 Milieu
23.0 References
24.0 Credits
25.0 Player Resources
Endnotes
Sequence of Play and Game Summary
Continental Drift
Size competition for predators
Omnivorous mmm
Biomass
Hex Capacity
Orientation
Hex
NOTE: If you have played the 2nd edition, keep in mind this
Edition makes the following obsolete:
Catastrophe Card
Physiology sheets
Starburst cards
Bridge markers
Tents
Timeline
Borderlands
Displacement Arrows, displaced biomes
Climate preference
Size arrow, size dial
Heritage DNA
Physiological DNA location
Land Drier, wetter, blooms, seasonal, doldrums
W, a, X, and “wings” DNA
1
Note: This game uses no dice.
Important: This game is deliberately limited to the components
provided. If during play the Era tile pool runs empty, see Ending
the Game (18.0).
1.0 INTRODUCTION
A quarter billion years ago, the Permian Extinction killed off
almost all plants and animals on Earth. Two surviving groups,
both lizard-like, struggled to emerge as the dominant megafauna
on the planet. Today they have evolved into many forms, yet these
groups can still be differentiated by their teeth. The ancestor of
dinosaurs had a sloppy bite, using uniformly-shaped teeth that
were constantly replaced. The ancestor of mammals had a
precision bite, using one set of teeth lasting its entire life.
2.2 Dentition Code and Dynasty.1
Your dentition code defines how many teeth all of your animals
have. This is listed on each of your four placeholder cards, and is
a permanent value for all your species.* The more teeth you have,
the better your animals are at being a herbivore. The fewer teeth
you have, the better your animals are at being carnivores.
Example: The placeholder shown is for player Orange.
Note: The paleontologist silhouette on the placeholder cards
indicates the size of a 6-foot tall human in scale to the animal
shown.
a. Least-Teeth Order. The Least-Teeth order is: 2-teeth
(Red), 3-teeth (Orange), 4-teeth (Green), and 5-teeth
(White). This order is used to see who goes first (4.1) and
during scoring ties (4.4b).
b. Dynasty. Players are either Dinosaurian or Mammalian. This
distinction is used when generating genotypes (7.4).
c. Player colors, dynasties, and dentition codes.
These two groups fought for global dominance for 50 million
years, but by the close of the Triassic, the dinosaurs reigned
supreme. Unchallenged for 130 million years, they met their doom
in a gigantic asteroid strike. Opportunistic mammals have
dominated for the last 65 million years… but the contest isn’t over.
Bios Megafauna re-enacts the roller-coaster struggle for
terrestrial supremacy.
1.1 Bios Series
Bios Megafauna is the successor to American Megafauna, which
has been for 20 years the definitive evolution game. The Bios
series is a set of natural history games spanning all of Earth’s
history. The first one published was Origins, the only civilization
game covering the last 125,000 years. Future publications: Bios
Genesis (Earth’s first 4 billion years); Bios Insecta, and Bios
Technium (the evolution of technology).
1.2 Overview of Play
From 1 to 4 players start as a small unspecialized species of protodinosaurs (red or green figures) or proto-mammals (white or
orange figures). These creatures are distinguished by dentition;
some have long batteries of teeth better suited for masticating
plants, while others have fewer teeth better suited for meat-eating.
Each player starts with genes used to purchase mutation and
genotype cards. Stacks of cards and inheritance tiles indicate the
dietary DNA of your species, giving it adaptations such as long
necks for browsing treetops. Markers on tracks record roadrunner
DNA, attributes that help your species catch prey or avoid being
prey, such as swiftness or aggressiveness. Tiles that have gone
extinct are collected in an area on the map called the “tarpits”.
These tiles are distributed among the most populous players as
victory points during four scoring rounds.
COLOR in
least-teeth
order
DYNASTY
Dentition
Code
1. Red
Dinosaurian
Dino-croc archosaur
2-teeth
Dinosaurs
(crocodiles & birds)
2. Orange
Mammalian
Dog-face cynodont
3-teeth
Placental Mammals
(primates, ungulates,
carnivora, rodents,
etc.)
3. Green
Dinosaurian
Chisel lizard diapsid
4-teeth
Rhynchosaurs
(snakes & lizards)
4. White
Mammalian
Two-tusker synapsid
5-teeth
Extinct Mammal
relatives
Today’s Survivors
1.3 Game Scale (footer)
Each turn is 2 million years; each card draw is 10 million years.
Each habitat represents a physiographic region 1000 km across,
supporting 4000 megatons of vegetation, arthropod, or seafood
biomass. Each animal represents 60 megatons if herbivorous, or 2
megatons if predatory. (A "megaton" is a million tons, where each
ton is about 1000 kg.)
2.0 COMPONENTS
2.3 Cards and Tiles with DNA.
Cards come in three types: placeholder (2.7), mutation (7.1), and
genotype (7.4). Tiles come in two types: era (2.4) and inheritance
(10.3c).
a. DNA Code. DNA is encoded on cards and tiles by upper-case
letters of the alphabet. Each letter records one attribute. The
two kinds of DNA are Dietary and Roadrunner. Dietary
DNA is in dark blue letters, and roadrunner DNA is in red
letters.
2.1 Components List

1 Rulebook

1 Mounted Map

108 Mutation, Genotype, & Placeholder Cards

144 Era and Inheritance Tiles

128 Wooden Animals (64 dinosaur, 64 mammals)

15 white gene chips, 3 red marker chips
b.
2
Dietary DNA Codes.
c.
d.
e.
f.
B = Browser (ability to eat trees) 2
G = Grazer (ability to digest grass and shrubs) 3
H = Husker (ability to shell nuts) 4
I = Insectivore (ability to eat small invertebrates)
P = Physiology (behavior and climate adaptations)
Roadrunner DNA Codes. Roadrunner DNA describes
adaptations to catch prey, or to avoid becoming prey.
Roadrunner DNA (the term is inspired by the Warner
Brothers cartoon) comes in four kinds:
A = Aggressive or Armored
M = Marine
N = Nocturnal or Burrowing
S = Speedy
Species Genome. The mutations of a species are encoded by
a string of DNA letters called a genome. The dietary genome
of a species is recorded on the cards and tiles in its stack. The
roadrunner genome of a species is recorded by animals in
four roadrunner tracks (2.5b).
Multiple Specializations. If a species has more than one copy
of a DNA type, the results are cumulative.
Example: An animal with SS is speedier than an animal with
just S.
Stack. A species’ dietary DNA is defined by its stack,
composed of mutation cards (7.1), genotype cards (7.4)
and/or inheritance tiles (10.3c) stacked on a placeholder card
(2.7). It’s possible for a stack to be active with only the
placeholder card, as long as it has animals on the map.
e.
f.
2.4 Era Tiles (Immigrants & Biomes).
a. Colors. Era tiles are divided into two groups: those with blue
backs and pink frames (drawn during the Mesozoic Era), and
those with white backs and white frames (the Cenozoic Era).
The faces are also color-coded: orange = orogeny (mountainbuilding) biome, green = terrestrial biome, blue = sea
biome, yellow = land immigrant, and light blue = sea
immigrant. Orange and green biomes are collectively called
land biomes. 5
b. Requirements. DNA is required to eat all biomes (except for
homelands, 2.4f). These required adaptations are shown on
the top of the tile, as a DNA code (2.3a).
snowflake, leaf, sun, raincloud, or triangle. This indicates the
row of habitats that the biome starts in. A climax number is
listed within the latitude icon, on a scale of 1 to 99. The
lower the climax, the more likely the biome is to go extinct.
Orogeny Biome. These biomes are orange with a triangular
latitude icon. The orogeny shown is volcanic (6.1e) with a
climax of 93. Orogeny biomes only occupy mountain ranges
and do not displace during greenhouse level changes (15.1a).
Homeland Biomes. Four biomes represent the starting
homelands of the players. They are unique in four ways:
(1) They start in a specific slot on the map.
(2) They have no requirements (2.4b), so any herbivore may
eat them.
(3) They have a color niche (13.2c).
(4) The player Color is shown on their reverse.
g. Immigrant Era Tiles. Some era tiles represent foreign
invading animals. They are labeled as “herbivore” or
“predator” plus a dentition code. In the lower left corner is a
latitude icon, the row of habitats it enters. The immigrant’s
size is as marked if it’s a herbivore. Predator immigrants are
always the same size as their prey.
Quic kT i me™ and a
T IFF (LZW) dec om pres s or
are needed t o s ee thi s pi c ture.
Immigrant Era Tiles have no climax numbers.
c.
d.
2.5 Map Tracks
a. Size Track. Each species uses an animal in this track to show
its size. The sizes are abstracted from one (22 kg) to six (40
tons).
b. Roadrunner Tracks. Four tracks show levels of roadrunner
DNA (2.3c): speedy (S), marine (M), nocturnal (N) and
aggressive (A).
c. Cultures. Six areas indicate species tools and techniques, see
9.2.
d. Tarpit. This area stores dead plants and immigrants, see
16.1a.
e. Greenhouse Level. This scale tracks global climate, see 15.0.
f. Ammonite and sunflower. Removal of disks from these
spots trigger episodes per 17.0.
Example: The plankton tile shown has requirements “MM”.
To eat this tile, an herbivore needs at least two “marine”
DNA.
Niche.6 All biomes have a niche listed in the small white
square in the top right corner. It is not part of the
requirements, but rather is used during herbivore culls (13.2).
Example: The plankton tile shown has a niche “size”, see
13.2b.
Latitude and Climax.7 Each biome lists a latitude icon: a
3
each.
2.6 Map8
The map shows North America as it was in the early Mesozoic
Era.
a. Habitats. The map is divided into 26 habitats, each with a
square slot and two triangles. Each slot contains a climax
number on the same scale as those on biomes (2.4d). See
diagram below:
b.
c.
d.
e.
3.3 Start with 5 inheritance tiles.
Each player takes the five inheritance tiles (10.3c) marked with his
Color.
Note: Your stacks and genes are open and can be freely examined.
Optional: The 16 roadrunner tiles (an example is shown) may
optionally be used by any player to help keep track of his species’
roadrunner DNA, but they have no effect on gameplay.
3.4 Start the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Era pools.
Divide the era tiles into two face-down pools according to the
color on their reverse side: blue (Mesozoic) and white (Cenozoic).
Set aside the four homeland tiles (2.4f).
Predator and Rooter Triangles. Each habitat contains an
upper and lower triangle. The upper one is called the
predator triangle, and the lower one is called the rooter
triangle. Animals placed into the upper triangle are
carnivores. They eat animals in the biome and rooter triangle
called herbivores. Animals placed into the lower triangle are
rooter herbivores that are eating nuts or roots (12.0b).
Mountain Ranges.9 There are two north-south mountain
ranges marked in orange on the map. Each range has three
slots, bordered in red. Mountain-building tiles called orogeny
biomes (2.4e) will appear in these two ranges during the
game. Either orogeny or non-orogeny tiles can occupy a
mountain range slot, however.
Latitudes. Each row of habitats is called a latitude. These are
labeled "arctic", "jet stream", "horse latitude",10 and "tropical"
latitudes. Note there are two rows of tropics.
3.5 Place random biomes on the map.
Draw 22 Mesozoic Era Tiles at random and put each on the map
as follows:
a. Non-orogeny Biomes. If a terrestrial or sea biome is drawn,
put it into the latitude indicated by its latitude icon (2.4d).
Choose the slot in this latitude having the lowest-climax per
3.5c. If this slot is occupied, replace it with the new biome.
Put the old biome in the tarpit (16.1a).
b. Orogeny Biomes. An orogeny biome is always put into one
of the six slots in a mountain range (2.6c). For the set-up
only, choose the lowest-climax slot in the eastern (Hercynian)
mountain range. Again, if this slot is occupied, replace it with
the new biome.
c. Determining the Climax of a Slot. If a slot is empty, its
climax is as printed on the map (2.6a). If a slot is occupied
(by a previously-placed biome), the climax is as printed on
the biome tile occupying the slot (2.4d).
d. Immigrants. Tiles with no listed climax are immigrants, see
2.4g. Each one drawn is discarded out of the game without
being replaced.
Note: Ignore the greenhouse shifts of volcanos that appear
during set-up.
e. Scythian Set-up Variant (Experimental, courtesy Steve
Carey): When setting up the game, discard out of the game the
first 6 revealed immigrant tiles without replacing them. Upon
revealing the 7th (and any subsequent) immigrant tiles, set
them off to the side in a separate pile and redraw a new
Mesozoic Era Tile to replace it. If another immigrant, redraw
again until a biome is drawn. Continue this process until 16
biomes and 6 immigrants complete the 22 Mesozoic Era Tiles
specified for set-up (3.5). Then mix the 7th (and any
subsequent) immigrant tiles back into the Mesozoic Era Tile
pool before beginning play.
Empty Habitats. Habitats that don’t contain a biome are sea
if the greenhouse level is very high (top two spots), and land
otherwise (see 15.2). This is significant during migration
(11.1).
2.7 Placeholders
Sixteen cards in the deck act as placeholders for the player’s
species stacks. Each player gets four of his Color, each with a
different silhouette (animal token shape).
2.8 Animals
Each player Color has 32 wooden animals. These are in four
shapes, representing the four species that each player is allowed. 11
Note: This variant does not guarantee that 16 Biomes will
begin on the map as some may be displaced to the tarpit as
latitudes potentially fill up, per the normal set-up rules
(3.5a).
3.0 SET-UP
3.1 Each player is randomly assigned a Color.
The player gets the 32 animals and the 4 placeholder cards of this
color.
Historical Note: The Scythian Set-up Variant is named after
the horse-riding pastoralist hordes who in the 7th century BC
swept through and devastated the Ukraine and Central Asia.
The local peoples impacted not only survived but thrived in the
post-Scythian years, in a manner analogous to the recovery of
3.2 Receive Starting Genes.
The player with the least-teeth (2.2a) gets 3 genes (white disks
simulating genetic variation). The remaining players get 4 genes
4
life on Earth after the Permian Extinction Event(s). The
Scythian Epoch is the geological term used to describe the
Early Triassic period (where Bios Megafauna begins). This
epoch was marked by barren sand dunes and occasional weeds,
and not until the end of the Scythian four million years later is
there a measurable increase in speciation, and thus the onset of
recovery. (It would take another 11 million years for
evolutionary processes to resume their former vitality, on a
new playing field.) The “kinder-gentler” Scythian Set-up
assumes a much faster recovery (similar to the rebound after
other mass extinction events such as the K-T). The Scythian
Variant starts the post-holocaust world as a greener place
intended to alleviate "Gilligan's Island" species isolations and
frustrations. It also doesn't gut the immigrant pool, putting any
drawn beyond the initial 6 back with the Mesozoic Tiles for
entry into the game later.
a. Atlantic Rift and Era. Place a clear red disk in the
“ammonite” (Atlantic Rift”, 5.2d) and “sunflower” (Era Disk,
5.2d) spots.
b. Greenhouse Level. Place a clear red disk on the Greenhouse
track on the map, in the 800 ppm “start” spot. See Greenhouse
(15.0).
4.0 SEQUENCE OF PLAY
4.1 Player Order. The player with the least-teeth (2.2a) goes first,
thereafter play goes in clockwise order.
4.2 Choose an action to perform.
The current player chooses one of the following four (optional:
five or six) actions to perform:
a. Purchase and play/discard a card. Purchase one card in
either of the displays per 5.0, and play it per 7.0. Then draw a
new card, resolve its event per 6.0, and finally use it to
replenish the display. See 20.0 turn 2.
“In my view, during some mass extinctions, the board
collapses entirely, and as the game resumes, it becomes half
chess and half backgammon, with some rules drawn from
poker.” Doug Erwin, Extinction, How Life on Earth Nearly
Ended 250 Million Years Ago, 2006.
3.6 Place your placeholder cards and animals.
Place your four placeholder cards (2.7) in a row in front of you.
These cards are permanent, and indicate where your four species
stacks will go. Put all the animals of your Color on or near the
placeholder card with the matching silhouette. Each card should
have 8 animals.
3.7 Place your size animal, map animal, and homeland.
Your starting species is the placeholder card labeled archetype. 12
a. Place Size Animal. Archetypes start at size one. Place one of
your archetype animals in the size one block of the size track
(2.5a).
b. Place Homeland and Population. Place your homeland
biome (2.4f) face-up in the biome slot identified with the
silhouette of your color. Remove any biome already
occupying the homeland slot and put it into the tarpit (16.1a).
Place one archetype animal on top of your homeland.
Note: Do not use homelands for players not in the game.
Displays. 13
3.8 Start the four Period Decks and the two
Shuffle the deck and place cards face-down into four side-by-side
decks as indicated below. You may store these in the box lid,
which has indicators for these decks.
a. Triassic Period Deck – A number of cards = 3 times the
number of players.
b. Jurassic Period Deck – 5 cards.
c. Cretaceous Period Deck – 8 cards.
d. Tertiary Period Deck – 7 cards.
e. Display. Draw 10 random cards from the general deck and lay
them face-up side-by-side in two rows of five, one above
another. The lower row is the Lower Display, and the upper
row is the Upper Display. Note: In the two-player game the use
of the Upper Display is optional. For instance, the example 20.0
does not use the Upper Display.
Beginner’s Game: Remove all the Genotype Cards (see 7.4 & 7.5)
before starting the decks.
b.
Resize one of your species. Move a size animal one spot per
8.0. See 20.0 turn 1.
c.
Acculturate one of your species. If you have the two
requirements, add an animal from your reserves to a culture
per 9.0. See 20.0 turn 18.
d.
Expand an animal. Add an animal from your reserves to a
habitable habitat within its migration range (11.0) from a
chosen parent per 10.0. You may expand with the same
silhouette as the parent, or a new one. Your destination can be
any habitable triangle or biome. See 20.0 turn 4.
e.
Roadrunner action (optional). Place 2 genes on the leftmost
card in the Lower Display, and adjust the roadrunner of one of
your animals by a step. If this animal has predator(s), they
may similarly adjust a step (for free).
f.
Genetic Drift (optional). Steal one gene from the player who
has the most genes, or is tied for the most genes.
Important: Because one animal is dedicated to tracking the size of
a species, all species are limited to seven animals on the map,
cultures, and roadrunner tracks. If you run out, you can’t
acculturate, expand, or mutate new roadrunner with that species.
4.3 Herbivore & carnivore contests, and final culling.
To end your turn, perform herbivore contests per 13.0, and then
carnivore contests per 14.0. Cull (remove from the map) any
animals or immigrants that have lost contests or have no food.
Check the game pieces at the end of the turn for the following:
a. Habitats. Every biome and triangle should have no more than
one animal. (Exception: a predator triangle above a rooter
biome with both an herbivore and a rooter might contain 2
animals).
b. Food. Cull any carnivore unable to eat its prey due to
roadrunner or size (14.1), and any herbivore not adapted to eat
the biome it is on.
c. Stacks. Discard any card or return to your reserves any tile
outside its size-range (7.2).
3.9 Place the Atlantic Rift, Era, and Greenhouse Disks.
5
d.
Display. Per 5.0e, each display should have 5 cards.
c.
4.4 Scoring Rounds
A scoring round occurs at the end of a turn that the last card of
each Period Deck (3.8) is drawn. During each scoring round, tiles
from the tarpit (16.1a) are awarded to the most populous players.
a. Count Population. Your population is the sum of all
animals on the map for all your species. Animals in superfern habitat (6.1f) count triple.
Example: A rooter habitat contains two herbivores (one is a
rooter) feeding on it, and two carnivores in its triangle. Each
of these animals scores one population.
b. Determine the Leader. The leader is the player with the
most population (4.4a). Ties go to the player with the most
genes. If there is still a tie, go in least-teeth order (2.2a).
c. Determine the Second, Third, and Fourth Place. These
players are determined by the same method as for the leader.
d. Award the Tarpit Tiles. The leader draws half of the tarpit
tiles, rounding up fractions. Thus, if there is one tile in the
tarpit, he gets it. If there are three tiles, he gets two. If there
are tiles remaining, the second place player takes half of the
remaining in the same way. And the third, and finally the
fourth place players take their share.
e. Fossil Record. Keep your tarpit tiles as a permanent fossil
record. Each is worth a victory point at the end of the game
(18.1).
Important (Lazarus Players): You must have map animals to be
awarded tiles from the tarpit.
Example: There are 10 tiles in the tarpit when the scoring occurs.
Red and Orange have three map animals and no genes, White has
one map animal, and Green is a “Lazarus” with no map animals.
Red gets 5 tiles, Orange gets 3, White gets one, and one remains in
the tarpit unclaimed.
Note: Unlike many Sierra Madre Games, players are not allowed
to sell, donate, or exchange cards, tiles, or genes.
d.
e.
f.
he takes the card and plays or discards it, and pockets the
gene that was on it.
Play Card. The card you purchased must be played
immediately per 7.0, or else discarded out of the game. There
is no hand. Note: You may purchase a card just to discard it
and get the genes that were on it.
Draw New Card. After purchasing a card from the Lower
Display (3.8e), draw a new one from the top of the current
Period Deck (3.8) and resolve its event per 6.0. This impacts
all players. After purchasing a card from the Upper Display,
draw a new one from the general deck, but ignore its event.
Replenish Display to 5 Cards. After the event is resolved,
then place the new card into the rightmost position in the
display row. This brings the display back to 5 cards in a row.
Shift cards to the left to fill the gap left by the card removed.
See 20.0 turn 2.
Scoring Round. If this was the last card of the Period Deck,
perform a scoring round per 4.4 to end the turn.
6.0 RESOLVE THE EVENT14
Events are listed in the dark blue band of every card. There are 4
types: New Era Tiles, Catastrophes, Milankovich, and Erosion.
6.1 New Era Tiles event.
Pick and place two new era tiles on the map. After placing the
first, resolve its effects (including Greenhouse shifts) before
drawing and resolving the second.
a. Era. Era tiles come in two eras: Mesozoic (blue back) and
Cenozoic (white back). Draw the two tiles at random from the
current era (17.2).
b. Biome Map Placement. If the tile drawn is a biome, put it in
the lowest-climax slot (3.5c). An Orogeny tile is placed in
lowest-climax slot in either of the two mountain ranges
(2.6c). A non-orogeny tile is placed in the latitude
corresponding to their latitude icon (2.4d).
Note: A non-orogeny biome can be placed in a mountain
range.
c. Replacement of Previous Biome. If the lowest-climax slot is
occupied, that biome goes extinct and is replaced by the new
biome. The old biome goes extinct even if its climax is higher
than the biome replacing it.
Example: During the Mesozoic, the “Petrified Forest” biome
is drawn. This has the “sun” icon, so it goes somewhere in
the horse latitude. All the slots are occupied, and the lowestclimax is sea lilies. The forest replaces the sea lilies.
d. Seas and Ice. If the greenhouse is at 3200 ppm, a new biome
with a blue star enters flipped over. It is treated as an
uninhabitable sea biome (15.1e). If the greenhouse is at 200
ppm, a new biome with a white star enters flipped over. It is
treated as an uninhabitable and impassible land biome
(11.1d).
4.5 Experimental 2-Action Variant
You may perform up to 2 actions instead of 1 during your turn
BUT not the same one twice. You may pass one or both actions.
Note: The roadrunner action (4.2e) requires both actions (and 2
genes) to perform.
Example: A player can mutate his amphibian into a sea animal
and expand to an MM biome for his second action.
5.0 PURCHASE A CARD
If you have enough genes, you may purchase one of the five cards
in one of the displays. The ones to the right are the most expensive.
a. Cost. The cost of each card in a display is determined by its
position in the row. The card furthest to the left is free. The
cost of each of the other cards costs one additional gene as
you move to the right. You pay this cost by dropping one
gene on each of the cards situated to the left of the card you
are purchasing.
b. Genetic Enrichment. If the card you select contains genes
(dropped by players who previously passed up this card), you
acquire these genes (only after you pay for the card,
however).
Example: A player wishes to buy the genotype card that is the
third from the left, which has one gene sitting on it. First he
puts one gene on each of the two cards to the left of it. Then
6
e.
Volcanos.
If the tile drawn is an orogeny biome
marked with the volcano icon and the “greenhouse rises”
arrow, raise the greenhouse level a step (displacing nonorogeny biomes north, etc. per 15.1).
f.
Azolla Event.15 If the tile drawn is marked with the “super-
fern” and the “greenhouse down” icons, drop the greenhouse
level a step per 15.1.
Note: This biome doesn’t displace during Greenhouse events,
and animals there score triple population (4.4a).
g.
b.
Immigrants. A yellow or light blue tile indicates a land or sea
immigrant has invaded over a bridge from another continent.
This invader often has the upper hand until the locals evolve
defenses against it. It enters in the latitude specified on its tile,
stopping on the lowest-climax biome (not slot) that it is
adapted to eat. For an herbivore immigrant, this is any biome
or rooter triangle it has the DNA for (13.1). For a predator
immigrant, this is any habitat containing prey animals it has
prey suitability for (14.1). If no habitat in the latitude is
habitable, move the immigrant to the tarpit.
Note (phenotype):16 Sea immigrants (light blue) skip land
habitats. Land immigrants (yellow) skip sea habitats.
Amphibians (half blue/half yellow) can go to either.
Important (competition): An immigrant will not enter a
triangle or biome occupied by another immigrant. It will only
enter a place that is unoccupied or occupied by player
species.
Placement: Place the immigrant tile offset under the biome
tile it’s eating (if herbivore), in the predator triangle (if
predator), or in the rooter triangle (if rooter).
and player stacks.
Example: An asteroid hits the Earth. The card states “Extinct
if ≥ 5 DNA.” (The notation “≥” means “greater than or equal
to”.) An animal with BGGAN would be killed, because it has
five DNA. An animal with PPAM is spared.
Episode Trigger. The first and second Catastrophe event of
the game triggers an episode (17.0), after all other catastrophe
effects are resolved.
6.3 Milankovich event.17
Earth goes through periodic oscillations in its orbit that change its
climate. Each Milankovich event specifies one or two latitudes,
and the lowest-climax biome in each latitude specified goes extinct
(16.1).
Example: A Milankovich P event alters the arctic and horse
latitudes. The lowest-climax in the arctic are gingkoes, and in the
horse latitudes are horsetails. These go to the tarpit. Any
herbivores eating these biomes, plus any carnivores eating the
herbivores, are culled.
6.4 Erosion event.18
This lowers the greenhouse as well as mountains, but shuts down
during an ice age. If the greenhouse level is 800 ppm or more,
lower it one step per 15.1, and remove as extinct the highestclimax orogeny biome.
7.0 PLAY A CARD
The two kinds of cards in the playing deck are Mutation and
Genotype.
7.1 Playing a Mutation Card.
Mutate a living species by playing the mutation card you just
purchased into its stack. This gives it the DNA attributes and
instinct icons encoded in the upper right corner of the card.
Example: The card shown has BA DNA.
Important: Inheritance tiles cannot be used for mutating.
Example (carnivore): An AAMM eel whale immigrates into the
tropics. The land biomes are skipped. The lowest-climax sea biome
with prey has nocturnal prey, so this is also skipped. The next
lowest has immigrant sea turtles, which the whales can eat. The
whale tile goes into this predator triangle.
Important: An immigrant competes with player animals during all
culling phases per 13.5 and 14.4.
Example (herbivore): A deer with the adaptations BGPP
immigrates into the arctic. The lowest-climax biome that is edible
is the ginkgoes (B), but sloth immigrants are already eating this.
The only other alternative is the homeland for the Green Player.
This biome is edible, so the deer tile is placed under it.
Unfortunately for them, Green has an herbivore there, which
enjoys the niche advantage. So the deer lose the herbivore contest
and go to the tar pit.
6.2 Catastrophe event.
A catastrophic event kills off overspecialized animals, then shifts
the greenhouse up or down per 15.1. The first catastrophe splits the
continent; the second advances the game into the Cenozoic Era.
a. Catastrophe Level. A catastrophe level, from 4 to 7 as
printed on each catastrophe, describes the amount of DNA in
a species’ genome (2.3d) that will drive it extinct. Count the
number of DNA letters in a species’ genome, including the
dietary DNA listed on its cards and tiles, and the roadrunner
DNA listed on its roadrunner tracks. If the number of letters is
greater than or equal to that specified by the catastrophe level,
that species becomes extinct (16.0).
Note: Catastrophe level extinctions impact both immigrants
7.2 Mutation Size Limits.
You may only mutate a species that has a size within the size-range
listed on the card used to mutate.
Example: A species at size 5 is not allowed to get feathers,19
which have a 1-4 size-range.
7
range = 1, DNA HSSS) into his “eagle” placeholder. He uses
a tiny parent species with foregut digestion (HG) and hopping
(S), and thus meets the size and DNA requirements. He
replaces one of the parent animals with an animal with the
“eagle” silhouette.
7.3 Adding Roadrunner DNA.
If you mutate using a card with roadrunner DNA, your new
roadrunner genome is reflected by adjusting the appropriate
roadrunner tracks (2.5b), Your marker remains at three even if you
have more of that roadrunner type.
a. New Roadrunner Animal. If the card used to mutate contains
roadrunner DNA that you do not yet have, add an animal to
that roadrunner track (S, M, N, and/or A) to reflect the
amount of roadrunner acquired. This animal is called a
roadrunner animal. If you are out of animals, you must
discard the card instead of mutating with it.
Note: Each species can have only one animal in each roadrunner
track.
b. Wings. To move the roadrunner animal from SS to SSS, the
species must be size 1, allowing flight (11.0a). Even if you
have more than two S’s in your stack, your roadrunner animal
remains at SS until you meet the size requirement.
c. Subterranean Colony. If you have three or more N DNA, and
you are size 1, then you become a subterranean colony with
the social skills instinct (9.1c).
Example: Your species, starting with an NN roadrunner
animal, is mutated using an IN echolocation card. Assuming
you are size 1, move your NN animal to the NNN position.
You are now a subterranean colonial animal.
d. Whale pods. A species at MMM automatically has the
language instinct (9.1d).
e. Fire-Bearing. A species at AAA automatically has the natural
history instinct (9.1b). It may also prevent its homeland from
being inverted at 200 ppm (15.1d).
f. Amphibian. If a species with one M DNA (11.1c) gains more,
it becomes a sea animal and all its animals in land habitats will
die. If instead it loses its M, all its animals in sea habitats will
die.
7.5 Playing a Genotype Card (Fossil Record).
If you purchase a genotype card for a species that is already in use,
then instead of creating a new species, you add the card to your
fossil record (4.4e), where it will count victory points at the end of
the game per 18.1a.
a. Parental Requirements. Under this option, the parent species
must match the silhouette, size-range, and at least half the
DNA of the genotype card. The parent species does not change
as a result of this play.
Example: White buys a tillodont card (size range = 1-3, DNA
HN). His existing “bat” species are size 3 and nocturnal, so they
meet the parental requirements. He adds the card to his stack of
victory tiles. Also see 20.0 turn 15 for a further example.
7.4 Playing a Genotype Card (Speciation).
Play a Genotype card to start a new species stack with a silhouette
matching the one on the card. You must choose a parent species
which has a size within the range specified on the card, and which
has at least half the DNA specified on the card (rounding up). For
instance, if the genotype card has DNA HSSS, the parent must
have either HS or SS DNA in its genome. Replace one map animal
of the parent with a map animal of the child species per 7.5. The
child gains only the attributes listed on the genotype card (i.e. no
inheritance per 10.3c).
a. Child’s Dynasty. The Red and Green are proto-dinosaurs, and
must play the dinosaur side of the genotype card. White and
Orange are proto-mammals, and must play the mammal side of
the card.
Apologia: Sometimes the dinosaur side will include creatures
that are related to the dinosaurs, but not actually dinosaurs.
b. Child’s Map Animal. You must replace one map animal of the
parent with a map animal of the child. This must be in a place
where the child can survive. Note that this replacement may
drive the parent extinct.
c. Child’s Size and Roadrunner Animals. Place a size animal at
the same size as the parent. Place roadrunner animal(s)
according to the roadrunner DNA (if any) on the genotype
card.
Example: Green buys and plays the dove genotype card (size
8.0 RESIZE ONE OF YOUR SPECIES.
You may grow or shrink your species by one step on the size track
(2.5a).
a. DNA Recession.20 If your species size goes beyond the range
listed on a mutation card, that card is discarded out of the
game. If your size goes beyond the range listed on a genotype
card, put it into your fossil record (4.4e). If your size goes
beyond the range listed on an inheritance tile, return that tile
to your reserves.
Note: You may not voluntarily recess DNA from a stack.
Reminder: Adjust the roadrunner track if you lose
roadrunner DNA.
Note: Loss of a mutation card doesn’t recess tiles inherited
from it by the species’ children (10.3c).
b. Extra Predator Size Adjust (important). If your herbivore
changes size, all predator species of that herbivore (both yours
and your opponent’s) may immediately adjust their size by
one as well.
9.0 ACCULTURATE ONE OF YOUR SPECIES.21
Acculturate a species by playing one animal from your reserves
into one of the culture areas on the map. The species must have
8
mutation cards containing the two instinct icons listed on the map
as requirements.
9.1 Instinct Icons (found on some mutation cards).
You may expand by adding an animal from your reserves to a
habitable habitat on the map within its migration range (11.0) from
a chosen parent.
10.1 Choose Parent.
The expanded animal is called a child. Choose one map unit to be
its parent.
a. Manual dexterity (ability to manipulate objects) is a
requirement for cultures 9.2a, b, c.
b. Natural history (conceptual memory of natural phenomena) is
a requirement for cultures 9.2b, e, f.
c. Social skills (the ability to specialize in a cooperative effort, and
recognize individuals) is a requirement for cultures 9.2a, d, f.
d. Language (the ability to mentally store verbal concepts, and
thus primarily used for communicating with yourself rather
than others) is a requirement for cultures 9.2c, d, e.
Note: Instincts are not inherited (10.3). However, subterranean
colony, whale pod, and fire-bearing DNA can be inherited, which
confers instinct icons (7.3c, d, e). Instincts can be worth victory
points, see 18.1b.
10.2 Choose Child Silhouette.
The child may have the same silhouette as its parent, or may be a
new unused silhouette of your Color. If the child uses a new
silhouette, it forms a new species stack that may inherit attributes
from its parent per the next paragraph. 23
10.3 Inheritance.24
If expanding by creating a new species, the child inherits the size
of its parent, and may also inherit one roadrunner and one dietary
DNA type.
a. Size Inheritance. Place a size animal of this new child
silhouette on the size track (2.5a), matching the size of the
parent.
b. Roadrunner Inheritance. The child may inherit some or all
of the parent’s roadrunner DNA from one roadrunner track.
Adjust the roadrunner animal per 7.3.
Example: Your archetypes are cat-eyed hoofed animals, with
a NSS genome. Your child species can inherit the N, one or
both S, or nothing.
c. Dietary Inheritance. The child may also inherit one or more
dietary DNA owned by the parent, using a maximum of one
inheritance tile from your reserves. Pick a tile that matches
the DNA to be inherited and put it on the child’s stack. Each
tile may be inherited either on its front or reverse side. (The
reverse side of B, G, and P DNA is BB, GG, and PP
respectively. The reverse side of H is B, and of I is G).
Important: Use inheritance tiles to show what dietary DNA a
child has inherited from a parent who already has that DNA.
Never use them to mutate a species!
Important: Cards or tiles in the stack of the parent may not be
donated to its child.
Note: All inheritance tiles list a size-range. A child may not
inherit a tile if it is outside the size-range specified.
Example: A child expands from a saber-toothed (AA) trunked (B)
parent. The player decides the child will inherit AB. He adds a
roadrunner animal to the A spot in the track, and uses his B
inheritance tile to represent its inherited trunk.
9.2 Benefits of Acculturation.
Each culture animal awards the benefits listed below.
Important: Each species may have only one culture animal in each
culture area. It is removed only if the species goes extinct. In
particular, the loss of a card with the instinct icon will not change
the cultural advancement. Culture is not inheritable.
a.
Tool Use Culture. Requires manual dexterity and social
skills. Special: This species ignores size limitations on all
mutation cards and tiles. It must still be at size 1 for flight or
subterranean colonies.
Example: A tool-using animal growing to size 5 keeps its
feathers (as a cloak?), its IN (acorn) digging claws (shovel?),
and its H inheritance tile (nutcracker?).
b. Bone-Cracking Culture. Requires manual dexterity and
natural history. Special (hand-axe scavenging of bone
marrow): Carnivorous animals of this species ignore all size
characteristics of its prey (14.1a).
c. Projectile-Hunting Culture. Requires manual dexterity and
language. Special (atlatl): Carnivorous animals of this
species ignore one roadrunner type possessed by its prey
(14.1b-e). This may be a different type for each prey animal.
(Projectile-hunters still need M DNA to enter sea habitats,
however.)
d. Division of Labor Culture. Requires social skills and
language. Special: Animals of this species always win
dentition contests against those without Division of Labor.
e. Agricultural Culture. Requires natural history and
language. Special: Herbivorous animals of this species treat
empty slots next to your homeland (to the north, south, east,
and west) as habitable habitats called farms (even if the
homeland is inverted). This assumes you have the
adaptations to enter them per 11.1a or b. Homelands being
farmed are immune to extinction.
f. Male Contests Culture.22 Requires natural history and social
skills. Special: Children of this species are not limited in
their inheritance by 10.3b and c. They may inherit multiple
types of roadrunner and dietary DNA.
10.4 Choose Destination.
The child may enter a habitat no further from its parent than the
child’s migration range (11.0). If the destination is a biome or
rooter triangle, the child must have the DNA to eat it. If the
destination is a predator triangle, the prey there must be suitable
for the child to eat per 14.1.
Note (omnivorous): It is possible for a species to have both
carnivores and herbivores.25 It is even possible that a species can
be a predator of another species in one biome, yet be predated by
that same species in another biome. However cannibalism is
disallowed; a predator may not feed on an herbivore of the same
species.
Note: An animal may be placed in an overcrowded habitat, but if it
10.0 EXPAND AN ANIMAL.
9
loses the contest, it will be culled at the end of its turn.
Example: A chipmunk eating nuts in a rooter triangle notices a
small defenseless prey animal nearby. The chipmunk expands a
new animal that moves to the predator triangle of the prey’s
habitat.
11.0 MIGRATION RANGE. 26
Rooter biomes have 2 rows of requirements (2.4b). The upper row
is for herbivores that eat leaves, and the lower row is for rooters
that shell nuts/seed-cones (H husker DNA) or dig for
tubers/rhizomes (N burrowing DNA). Thus, a rooter biome is
effectively two biomes, able to support four animals: one eating
foliage (on the biome), one eating nuts/roots (in the rooter triangle,
2.6b), and two carnivores (in the predator triangle).
a. Niche. Regardless of whether foliage or nuts/roots are eaten,
the niche is the same (listed in the white square).
b. Rooters. An animal in the rooter triangle, called a rooter, is
herbivorous and generally follows all the rules for herbivores.
Example: The cycadeoid biome shown can support an herbivore
with B DNA, plus a rooter with H DNA. The two animals can be
the same or different species. The niche for both is “S”.
A species’ range is a maximum number of habitats it is allowed to
spread while expanding to a new habitable habitat. This range is a
path moving from habitat to habitat, moving directly north, south,
east, or west. You may not move diagonally. The range is equal to
the species size, as shown on the map size track (2.5a).
a. Flying Animals. Any animal or immigrant with SSS
roadrunner DNA has wings (7.3b) with a range of 7 habitats,
and the ability to enter land, sea, or ice habitats.
b. Physiology. An animal increases its migration range by one
for each P DNA it has.
11.1 Migration Obstacles. 27
The S and M roadrunner tracks list limitations on the habitats that
animals may enter while tracing the migration path.
a. Land animals. Animals (including immigrants) with no M
DNA may not enter sea biomes or slots (2.4a and 2.6e), unless
they can fly.
Note: Animals are allowed both S and M DNA at the same time.
b. Sea animals. Animals with two or more M DNA may not enter
land habitats or slots (2.4a and 2.6e), unless they can fly.
c. Amphibians. Animals with exactly one M DNA are called
amphibians. They can enter land and sea biomes and slots, but
their migration range is one less, as marked on the roadrunner
track.
Example: A size one seal may only migrate within its habitat. It
may, for instance, switch from the predator triangle to the
biome.
d. Ice Habitats. Only flying animals are allowed to enter ice
habitats (biomes inverted per 15.1d during a 200 ppm
greenhouse).
Example: In the map shown, the Greenhouse is at 1600 ppm, so
that all empty slots are sea. Two parents are shown, one a size 2
sea animal, the other a size 3 land animal. Since range = size, the
sea animal may expand a child to place no more than 2 habitats
distant, as shown. It travels over sea biomes or slots only. The
land animal expands a child to a place 3-habitats away, traveling
over land. It is assumed that the Atlantic has not yet formed.
13.0 HERBIVORE CONTESTS
Each biome can support one herbivore, plus (if a rooter biome, 8.3)
one rooter. For each overcrowded biome (in any order), perform
an herbivore contest by following steps 13.1 through 13.4 below
to identify the losers. In case of a tie, go to the next step, until only
one animal is left.
13.1 Biome Habitability.
Herbivores not meeting the biome requirements (2.4b) lose.
13.2 Niche Contest.
Each biome tile has a niche listed in the white box in the corner.
The herbivores with the least amount of the niche attribute lose.
a. DNA Niche. If the niche is a DNA code (2.3a), the herbivore
species with the least amount of that DNA in their genome
lose.
Example: Both Orange and White have an herbivore in a
habitat containing the Iberian Bog biome (niche = I). The
white species has one I DNA, while the orange species has
two. White is culled (removed) because it has less of the
insect-eating DNA.
b. Size Niche. If the niche is "SIZE", the smallest herbivores
lose.
c. Color Niche. For the homelands, the niche is the player color.
However, farms associated with homelands have no niche
(9.2e).
Example: The cloud forest has niche “orange”. Therefore,
an herbivore of a different color loses if Orange has an
herbivore there.
13.3 Predator-Defense Contest.
Herbivores edible by one or more carnivores in the habitat lose.
See prey suitability (14.1) to see if a carnivore can eat an
herbivore.
Example: A moose and squirrel sit in a prairie. Since a biome can
only support one herbivore, one must lose. The niche is “S”, so if
12.0 ROOTER BIOMES
10
the squirrel is faster, he will prevail. But suppose neither is faster,
but a predatory eagle too small to eat the moose is present. Now, it
is the moose that wins.
e.
Marine. Must have the same number or more "M" DNA than
its prey.
Note (cannibalism): A carnivore cannot eat its own kind.
13.4 Herbivore Dentition Contest.
Herbivores with fewer teeth lose against those with more. Thus, 5teeth wins over 3-teeth.
Note: If you have more than one adapted herbivore species of your
color in a habitat, and neither has an advantage in niche or
predator-defense, you choose which ones are removed. See 20.0
turn 20.
14.2 Physiology Contest.
Carnivores lose against competitors having more P DNA.
14.3 Carnivore Dentition Contest.
Carnivores with more teeth lose against those with fewer teeth.
(The fewer the teeth, the better the carnivore!)
Note: In a carnivore dentition contest with more than one species
of your color in a triangle, you choose which ones are removed.
13.5 Competition with Immigrants.
An herbivore immigrant tile is treated exactly as an animal, using
the DNA and dentition code shown on its tile. Since all immigrant
herbivores have 6-teeth, they win dentition contests (except per
9.2d). If after a greenhouse shift two immigrants are in
competition, the one that is in the habitat first is the winner.
Example: Before culling, dino-crocs and chisel lizards both have a
carnivore (without P DNA) in a triangle of a habitat containing
both rooter and herbivore prey. Suppose dino-croc expands an
additional predator into this triangle. If the dino-croc can eat both
kinds of prey, the chisel lizard loses the dentition contest and is
removed. If the dino-croc can eat just one kind, then the additional
dino-croc animal has no suitable prey and is removed.
13.6 Losing a Contest.
Any animal or immigrant losing a contest is culled (returned to its
owner or the tarpit respectively).
Exception: If in the same habitat, there is an empty biome or
triangle that is habitable, the animal or immigrant moves there
instead of being culled.
14.4 Competition with Immigrants.
A predator immigrant tile is treated exactly as a carnivore animal,
using the DNA and dentition code shown on its tile.
a. Size. Immigrant predators are automatically the same size as
their prey.
b. Immigrant Dentition. The dentition code of immigrant
predators is only one-tooth.
Example: Three carnivores are competing to eat an herbivore in a
habitat. The 1-tooth immigrant and 3-teeth carnivores have no P
DNA, and the 5-tooth carnivore has one P DNA. The 5-tooth
carnivore wins the physiology contest, so the others starve.
Example: An herbivorous animal belong to the Red player is
eating cycads. But a Green herbivore invades, and beats Red in a
dentition contest. Red is allowed to move his animal to the
unoccupied predator triangle of the cycad habitat, assuming he is
suited in size and roadrunner to eat the invading Green animals.
14.0 CARNIVORE CONTESTS
Each predator triangle can support one carnivore (or two if there
are two prey animals, possible only in a rooter habitat, 12.0). For
each overcrowded triangle (in any order), perform a carnivore
contest by applying rules 14.1 through 14.3 below to identify the
losers. In case of a tie, go to the next rule, until only one animal is
left standing. If an animal or immigrant loses a contest, move it to
an unoccupied biome slot or rooter triangle in the same habitat, if it
has the DNA to live there. Otherwise, it goes extinct.
Important (circle of life): Herbivores are never removed from the
map just because they are being preyed upon (but see 13.3).
15.0 GREENHOUSE28
A red disk in the chart on the west map edge monitors the Earth's
Greenhouse Level. The higher the level, the hotter the climate.
The Greenhouse can end the game, see 18.0c.
15.1 Greenhouse Habitat Displacement.
During global warming, the greenhouse level disk goes up one
step, and the habitats displace north to stay cool. During global
cooling, the disk goes down and the habitats move south to stay
warm.
a. Habitat Displacement. If the greenhouse rises, move every
habitat (including its biome, and all its animals and
immigrants) north to the slot directly above. (Its best to start
with the most northerly biomes.) If the greenhouse falls, move
every habitat south to the slot directly below. If it cannot
move because it is at the map’s edge, it remains where it is.
Exceptions: Orogeny biomes (2.4e) and super-ferns (6.1f) do
not displace during greenhouse events. The habitat directly
north or south will displace into its slot, and then the lowerclimax biome goes extinct.
Note: Farms (9.2e) displace with their homeland.
b. Biome Competition. If after the habitats are displaced, two
biomes are stacked together, the lower climax biome goes to
the tarpit. The animals on the extinct biome also are lost,
unless they can live in the winning biome.
14.1 Prey Suitability.
Carnivores can only eat herbivores, either player animals or
immigrants. Carnivores not suited to eat their prey because of size
or roadrunner die.
a. Size. Must be no more than one size different from its prey.
For instance, if the prey is size 2, the predator can be size 1, 2,
or 3.
b. Speed. Must have the same number or more "S" DNA than its
prey. For instance, if the prey is SS, the predator must also be
SS or faster.
c. Nocturnal. Must have the same number or more "N" DNA
than its prey.
d. Armor/Aggressive. Must have the same number or more "A"
DNA than its prey.
11
c.
d.
e.
Melting of the Ice-Caps.29 If the Greenhouse moves into the
3200-ppm spot, each biome marked with a blue star is flipped
after it is displaced, now representing a barren sea biome. If
the greenhouse drops from 3200 ppm, flip each back to its
face-up side.
b. Animals of Extinct Species. Return all map, size, roadrunner,
and culture animals to your reserves.
16.3 Lazarus Player.30
Whenever your last species goes extinct, so you have no map or
size animals, continue to play as a “Lazarus” player. If you
purchase a card, you must either use it for resurrection (see below)
or discard it. Furthermore, you cannot collect tarpit tiles during
scoring (4.4d).
a. Raising from the Dead. As a Lazarus player, you may
perform a special resurrection action by buying a mutation
card per 5.0, using it to mutate any of your four species per
7.1, and placing a map animal of that species anywhere on the
map where it can survive. Set your size animal at any desired
size within the limits of the card, and set a roadrunner animal
if the mutation card includes roadrunner DNA. Once
resurrected, you are no longer a Lazarus.
Ice-Cap Formation.
If the
Greenhouse moves into the 200 ppm spot, each biome marked
with a white star is flipped after it is displaced, now
representing an ice habitat (11.1d). If the greenhouse rises
from 200 ppm, flip each back to its face-up side.
Inverted Biomes. A biome inverted by a high or low
Greenhouse is uninhabitable (and, in the case of low
Greenhouse, impassible to flightless animals as well). It is
considered to have a climax of 100 plus its original climax.
For instance, climax 63 goes to 163.
17.0 EPISODES
17.1 Atlantic Rift.
Right after the first Catastrophe event of the game is resolved
(6.2), remove the Atlantic Rift Disk (3.9a) on the ammonite to
indicate the creation of the Atlantic Ocean. This ocean, shown as a
dark blue valley on the map, forms a barrier that can’t be crossed
except by sea animals (those having 2 or 3 marine (M) DNA). Not
even amphibians (only 1 M DNA) or flying animals (SSS DNA)
can cross. This barrier is treated as the edge of the map during
Greenhouse shifts (15.1a).
Note (currents): A sea animal pays no extra movement cost to
cross the Atlantic.
Example: A volcano raises the greenhouse on a turn after the
Atlantic has formed. Biomes in the furthest east slots in the arctic
and horse latitudes do not displace because they are at the edge of
the map.
17.2 Current Era.31
Right after the second Catastrophe event of the game is resolved
(6.2), remove the Era Disk (3.9a) from the sunflower, changing the
era from Mesozoic to Cenozoic. The remainder of the game will
introduce Cenozoic rather than Mesozoic era tiles (see 6.1a and
6.2b).
Example: The Greenhouse falls. The orogeny biome doesn’t
displace. Biome A also doesn’t displace, since it is at the edge of
the map. Biome B moves south on top of Biome A. Since Biome A
has the smaller climax, it goes extinct. Note if the Atlantic Ocean
has formed, Biome B would be blocked from displacing, and
nothing would change.
15.2 Empty Slots.
a. Archipelago. If the Greenhouse disk is at 1600 ppm or
higher, then empty biome slots are seas (because of flooding
from ice-cap melting).
b. Continent. If the Greenhouse disk is at 800 ppm or lower,
then empty biome slots are land.
18.0 ENDING THE GAME
The game ends at the end of the turn during which one of the
following happens:
a. The last Period Deck (the Tertiary, see 3.8) runs out of cards.
b. Either the Mesozoic or Cenozoic Era Pool runs out of era
tiles.
Optional: If the Mesozoic Era Pool runs out, start drawing from
the Cenozoic.
c. The Greenhouse goes to Snowball Earth or Hothouse Earth
(see map).
Note: The game continues even if all players have lost their
populations.
Important: A scoring round (4.4) occurs when the game ends.
16.0 EXTINCTIONS
Note: Voluntary extinction is not allowed.
16.1 Extinction of Biomes or Immigrants.
a. Tarpits. If a biome or immigrant is removed from the map (as a
result of a catastrophe or culling), put its tile into the tarpit
area of the map.
16.2 Extinction of Player Species.
a. Stack Cards and Tiles of Extinct Species. Any species without
map animals is extinct. Discard the mutation cards in its stack
out of the game. If there are any genotype cards in its stack,
put them into your fossil record. Return its inheritance tiles to
your reserves. If all species of a Color are extinct, see 16.3.
18.1 Determining the Winner.
After the final scoring round (4.4), each player counts the tiles in
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his accumulated fossil record (4.4e). Each is worth one victory
point (VP). Additional VP are awarded as follows:
a. Genotype cards. Genotype cards in your fossil record count
as a number of VP equal to the length of the DNA attributes
on the card. For instance, a GAA genotype is worth three VP.
b. Ending Population and Culture Animals. Each map animal
and culture animal (9.2) is worth 1 VP.
c. Tiebreaker. The most number of genes.
cards that would cause it to become a sea animal (more than one
M DNA). It will skip its turn if this is its only option.
Victory. You win if at the end of the game you have at least 10
victory tiles and you beat the two-tusker score.
19.2 Paul Harford version of the Solitaire Game
(recommended). Same as 19.1 except as noted.
Using Living rules 3.5d, 9.2e, 11.0, 4.1e, 4.1f, 18.0b
Additional Set up: Set aside eight silhouettes, and one
placeholder of one type of two-tusker, for a potential MM species.
Remove genotype cards from deck that do not bear G, B, or I, or
are less than size 3 for a mammal.
18.2 Flowing this game into an Origins Game.
At the end of the game, you may decide to start an Origins game
(Sierra Madre Games, 2007). Use one of your species and its
acquired instinct icons (9.1) as your starting hominid in the game.
a. Purchasing Instincts. After the Bios Megafauna game has
concluded, you may buy additional instincts by paying 4
genes each.
b. Brain Map Assignment. Then, the player with the most
instincts is awarded first choice of brain maps; the second
most has second choice, etc. (The tiebreaker is victory points).
c. Starting Encephalization. All brain maps start with the
instinct icons uncovered that your best surviving species has
acquired in Bios Megafauna. Extra cubes needed to cover
icons come from population, and excess cubes not needed on
the brain map go into the innovation track.
Note: Players without instincts are disqualified from entering
the Origins game.
d. Greenhouse. The Origins Game starts in an Ice Age if the
Megafauna Greenhouse ended at 400 ppm or less, and in a
Tropical Age otherwise.
How the Two-tusker Plays:
On your Opponent's turn. On every
two-tusker turn, consult this list and perform the first one possible,
if the two-tusker has the genes for it.
1).Acculturate either species (if it has the requirements).
2).Expand into the lowest-climax habitable biome in range. • If it has a choice in a given habitat, it will expand into the
rooter triangle first (if suited), then the herbivore slot, then
the predator slot.
• If it has a choice of species, it will expand the one with the
lowest population.
3).Buy the cheapest gene-code (road-runner, or card) allowing
expansion of either species (giving preference to one with the
lowest population) into a biome where it can survive, or that
develops it towards being able to expand, giving preference to
genes which reduce current predation. This may mean genes
allowing it to predate, or win culling contests.
19.0 SOLITAIRE GAME
Example: There are no viable biomes for expansion, and no genes
allowing immediate expansion on the next turn. There is an AM
biome within range – however the two-tusker has neither A nor M
genes. The display contains an A card in the fourth position,
meaning it would cost three genes; the two-tusker accordingly
buys either A or M from roadrunner at a cost of 2 genes. (If there
were two genes on the A card, it would take the card: net cost
would be only 1 gene) [If there is a choice of genes, it will take for
preference from display and then whichever roadrunner gene most
reduces current predation. If things are still a tie, it will choose
whichever gene the player would rather it didn't!] 19.1 When Two-Tuskers Ruled the World (Solitaire).
The Triassic was a time of struggle between dynasties. Shortly
after the holocaust, one species of two-tuskers represented 90% of
megafaunal populations world-wide. By the end of the Triassic,
the two-tuskers (along with the chisel lizards and dog-faces) went
extinct or almost extinct, leaving the dino-crocs supreme.
Your Opponent is the two-tusker. Its animals are always size 3
herbivores of its archetype species. All 24 of its white animals are
considered this species, so ignore their silhouette. It collects tarpit
tiles normally during scoring rounds. If it goes extinct, it is out of
the game (but you continue playing).
4).If the only gene available that would allow expansion is an M
gene that would give MM, and if the two-tusker has at least two
map animals and only one species, the two-tusker will buy that
gene and generate a new species. One map animal, the parent, is
replaced with a silhouette of the new child species. This map
animal must be in the lowest climax sea biome from which it is
possible to migrate to the intended MM biome. The new species
inherits the MM genes, and any other genes required to survive
in the biome of it's parent animal, adding map, roadrunner and
size animals as appropriate.
Set-up. The two-tusker starts the game at size 3 with 10 genes,
while you start with zero. The rest of the Set-up is per 3.0
On your Opponent’s turn. On every two-tusker turn, consult this
list and perform the first one possible, if the two-tusker has the
genes for it.
1). Acculturate (if it has the requirements).
2). Expand into the lowest-climax habitable biome in range. If it
has a choice in a given habitat, it will expand into the rooter
triangle first (if suited), then the herbivore slot.
3). Buy the cheapest mutation card allowing expansion into a
biome where it can survive. However, the two-tusker will never
purchase a card that would cause it to become a sea animal if
played.
4). Buy the cheapest card, and play it if can, and discard it if it
can’t.
Note: The two-tusker will not buy genotype cards, or mutation
5).Either buy the cheapest card, and play it if can (giving
preference to the species with the shortest genome, or a species
which would achieve acculturation requirements) and discard it
if it can't OR steal a gene from the player if they have the most
whichever gains most genes. In case of a tie, buy the cheapest
card.
13
Additional Special Rules:
• Lazarus. Once extinct, the two-tusker player may Lazarus in the
same way as the player. If neither the player nor two-tusker can
afford to Lazarus from available display cards, alternate turns
buying the free card until sufficient genes have been collected
and/or viable DNA appears. If necessary, the two-tusker will
resize if the only viable DNA requires a size less than 3. It is then
fixed at this size (at least until it's next extinction!). After the first
catastrophe two-tusker will Lazarus only onto the main continent,
and to the lowest climax viable biome.
• Genotype cards. These may be used in 2 ways:
1. By the player, as per normal rules.
2. By either the player or two-tusker as crossbreeding. To
crossbreed it is necessary for the target species to match the
silhouette and size range on the genotype card (for two-tusker this
means one of three silhouettes for the main species, or the
silhouette set aside for the MM species). In crossbreeding the
target species inherits up to half the genes from the genotype-card
species (player's choice) – these genes are added to the species
genome, and must be supplied by available inheritance markers –
if no markers available, then no inheritance! The genotype card is
then discarded from the game rather than added to the fossil
record.
Turn 3: Purchase a Card. Dino-croc mutates his gators by
purchasing the digging claw NI DNA for 3 genes. He places an
archetype roadrunner animal in the N slot. They are now
burrowing gators.
a. Event & Display. The new card is a Duckbill genotype,
which triggers the new era tiles event before being added to
the display.
20.0 EXAMPLE OF PLAY
This example shows the first 21 turns (stopping in the midJurassic) of a two-player game of Bios Megafauna. The dinosaur
player is the dino-croc (2-teeth, Red) and the mammal player is the
dog-face (3-teeth, Orange).
Set-up. The starting Map and Lower Display are shown. This
example does not use the optional Upper Display. Dino-croc starts
with 3 genes and goes first; dog-face starts with 4 genes.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (LZ W) decompressor
are needed to see t his picture.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
b.
Turn 4: Expand an Animal. Dog-face expands a child (of the
same archetype species) from his homeland, which travels to the
meadow directly south. This meadow needs insect-eating DNA to
enter, which dog-face has.
Turn 5: Expand an Animal. Dino-croc expands a child (of the
same species), and moves it two spaces east, into the predator
triangle of the meadow. The digging-gator now eats the anteaters.
Turn 6: Resize a Species. Dog-face moves his size animal from
one to two.
Turn 7: Expand an Animal. In the meadow, dino-croc expands
from the predator triangle to the meadow biome. This new
herbivore is competing with the anteaters. The niche is N, and so
the digging gators win the niche contest, and the anteaters die. The
predatory gator-parent in the meadow also dies, since cannibalism
is not allowed.
Turn 8: Purchase a Card. Dog-face buys the bloodhound N DNA
card. He plays it into his archetype stack and places an N
roadrunner animal..
Turn 1: Resize a Species. As his action, dino-croc moves his size
animal from one to two.
Turn 2: Purchase a Card. Dog-face purchases (for free) the
anteater tongue card with II DNA, and plays it under his
archetype. He offsets the card a bit so he can read the relevant
information, as shown.
a. Reveal the next card. It’s the biped card.
b. New Era Tiles event. The card’s event brings two new era
tiles onto the map.
c. Replenish the Display. The biped card is added to the
rightmost position in the display.
14
two players are tied in population at 3 each. But dino-croc
has more genes, so he takes 3 victory tiles, and dog-face takes
one.
Turn 9: Expand an Animal (new species).* Dino-croc expands a
new species of the “sailback” silhouette into the predator triangle
of his opponent’s cloud forest homeland. It inherits N DNA so as
to be able to eat the nocturnal anteaters. Size-2 and N roadrunner
animals are placed..
Turn 10: Expand an Animal. Dog-face expands an anteater child
(of the same species) from his homeland, to compete with the
gators in the meadow. During culling, both competitors have the
niche, and there is no carnivore so predator-defense is not relevant.
But dog-face has more teeth, so it wins the dentition contest.
However the digging-gator is not dead; it moves to the predator
triangle of the same habitat and becomes a predator of the anteater.
Turn 11: Resize a Species. Dino-croc shrinks his size animal from
two to one for his archetype species.
Turn 12: Purchase a Card. Dog-face mutates his bloodhounds by
buying and playing the biped (B) card.
Turn 16: Resize a Species. Dog-face anteaters move to size 3.
This is beyond the size-range of their anteater tongues, which are
discarded. The gators, since they are predators of the anteaters, are
allowed to adjust their size. Since otherwise the anteaters would be
too large to eat, the gators move to size 2. Their spines, which are
a size-one only card, are discarded.
a. Culling. Since the bipedal bloodhound is no longer
insectivorous, it dies off in the meadow. Its predator switches to
plant-eating and moves into the biome.
Turn 17: Expand an Animal. Dino-croc expands to the calamites
thicket as a predator.
Turn 18: Acculturation. Since the biped bloodhounds have the
acorn and manual dexterity instincts, dog-face is able to place one
of his archetype animals into the bone-cracking culture.
Turn 13: Purchase a Card. Dino-croc buys for free the spines
(AA) card (and gets the 3 genes that are on the card.) He mutates
his archetype into spiny digging-gators.
Turn 14: Expand an animal. Dog-face expands his bipedal
anteaters by moving a child of the same species to the adjacent
calamites thicket biome.
Turn 15: Purchase a Card. Dino-croc buys the Carnosaur (AA)
genotype card. His spiny-gators have the correct size, and over half
the DNA, to be the parents.32 Because the parents have the same
silhouette as the genotype, the card goes into his fossil record per
7.5.
a. Scoring for the Triassic. There are 5 tiles in the tarpit. The
15
At this point (mid-Jurassic), both players are down to one species.
Dog-face has 1 population, no genes, and 3 fossil record
(including two for the BA genotype). Dino-croc has 3
population, 4 genes, and 5 fossil record (including two for the
AA descendant).
21.0 TIPS ON WINNING
21.1 Grab valuable DNA
The goal is to play DNA from which you can establish four species
with robust (but preferably short) genomes before each scoring
round.
a. Amphibious Predators. Red and Orange, whose dentition
favors predation, should buy P and useful roadrunner DNA.
Perhaps the most valuable roadrunner is marine. Your first
amphibian can be a seafood-eating “herbivore”. Then you are
free to speciate an amphibian predator to eat your herbivores.
b. Dietary DNA. Perhaps the most valuable dietary DNA is BB
in the Mesozoic, and G and H in the Cenozoic, followed by
M and I. P DNA is valuable for predators, but less so for
herbivores until the flowers, grasses, and deciduous trees start
arriving later.
Turn 19: Purchase a Card. Dino-croc purchases and discards the
duckbills/swine card.
a. New Era Tile Event. Immigrant titanosaurs (armored
brontosaurs) from South America! They enter the lowest-climax
biome in the tropics, namely the calamites.
21.2 Size roadrunners.
If your opponent has more teeth than you and equally adapted for
the biomes, your herbivores can survive by becoming “size
roadrunners”: species too big or too small for the local predators to
eat.
a. Tiny “Size-Roadrunners”. If the local predators are size 3+,
then going to size one gives you the roadrunner advantage, as
well as positioning you for expressing valuable husking,
insect eating, and flight DNA. Watch out for the very limited
range, however.
b. Big “Size-Roadrunners”. Large herbivores additionally
dominate in “size” niches, and are able to migrate farther.
c. Predator’s Dilemma. Predators should avoid habitats with
edible herbivores that are accessible to inedible herbivores.
Otherwise the herbivore enjoying the roadrunner advantage
could invade and drive you and your prey extinct.
b. Culling. At the end of the turn, the titanosaurs win the predatordefense contest, since they are too big and too well armored for
the burrowing gators to eat. Normally, the gators would die, as
would the bloodhounds. But both are adapted for rooting, and
the biome has a rooter triangle (requirement N). Both animals
enter this triangle, but the digging-gators enjoy the niche (I). So
the bloodhounds switch to the predator triangle, eating the nowspineless gators!
Turn 20: Expand an Animal (new species).33 Dog-face buys and
plays the chalicothere genotype (a horse that wants to be a
gorilla!). The biped bloodhounds, at size 3 with BN DNA, become
the parents. He replaces his homeland animal with a “rhino”
animal, and also places “rhino” animals in size 3 and the A
roadrunner positions.
a. Culling. The ‘sailback” nocturnal predator in the dog-face
homeland, unable to eat the aggressive new horse-gorillas,
goes extinct.
b. Erosion Event. The dog-face homeland is the only mountain
on the map, so it erodes away. The short-lived horse-gorillas
go extinct; its card goes into the dog-face fossil record. Then
the greenhouse drops, displacing the dino-croc homeland and
the calamites habitat south.
21.3 Overspecialization.
Keep expanding your animals into new species to keep them from
being overspecialized. For 5 card draws (50 million years), a
species with a genome length of 4 DNA has about a one in ten
chance of going extinct from a catastrophe. For a length of 7+, the
odds increase to one in three. Such “comet bait” species may be
useful as a sacrificial master race from which you spawn as many
less-specialized derivatives as possible.
21.4 Predatory child.
A good time to create a new species is right after your first
roadrunner. This new species can inherit the roadrunner and
16
Vegetable Emperors. During the Cretaceous, an organism developed more
fearsome than all the dinosaurs stomping around. The first flower
bloomed. Angiosperms use flowers to employ legions of insects to handle
their pollination, and use fruits and nuts to employ animals for seed
dispersion. At 50 million years ago, and again 38 million years ago, the
greenhouse fell dramatically. As usual, the climatic effects were magnified
in America. The rainforests opened up as things got drier. As seasonality
increased (i.e. greater differences between summer and winter), the first
angiosperm weeds developed, annuals that die off every winter to be
reborn. And the first wind-pollinated grasses bloomed, the most successful
and advanced of the angiosperms, which actually tamed fire before the
animals did. The increased seasonality also gave angiosperm deciduous
trees the edge over conifers. By dropping leaves in the winter, a deciduous
tree can handle winter drought better. And it can recoup much of the
nutrients expended to make the lost leaf when the leaf rots the next spring.
In regions where tropical summers follow arctic winters, deciduous trees
have the edge. Where the summers are not quite so balmy, evergreens have
the advantage. And where the winters are not quite so frigid, angiosperm
evergreen broadleafs have the advantage.
choose to be a carnivore on its parents.
21.5 Crossing the Atlantic.
Suppose you have a land animal that wants to expand into nearby
sea biomes. Or worse, wants to reach biomes across the Atlantic,
which requires MM to cross. Invading the water from land, and
vice versa, is tricky because you must become an amphibian first.
a. The Migration of Frogs. The first step is to become an
amphibian by playing a marine mutation. Remember that this
cuts your migration range by one. In fact, if you are a size
one amphibian, you may only migrate between the biome and
triangles of the same habitat!
b. Learning to Swim. Because the rules do not allow you to
migrate the same turn that you mutate, adding a second M
DNA to a species living on land would kill it off before it
could enter the water. The lesson: learn to swim in a pond
before you attempt the Atlantic! In other words, expand your
amphibian to a sea biome with no more than one M
requirement. From here, you can safely adopt a second M
card, so as to be able to cross the Atlantic.
c.
Tail Fin. If you mutate with the caudal fin (MM) card, your
species becomes a sea animal instantly. All its animals living
on land would die that same turn. So obviously you must be
living in a sea biome with at least one animal before trying to
purchase this card. Note that after you play the caudal fin, you
will have an MMM whale pod species!
Dinosaur Mysteries
Perhaps while playing this game, you can figure out the three fundamental
dinosaur mysteries:
a.
Dinosaurs are big. Reptiles, birds, and mammals developed tiny
species, but never dinosaurs.
b.
Dinosaurs are terrestrial. Reptiles, birds, and mammals have had
marine and flying forms. Not dinosaurs.
c.
Dinosaurs are dead. Reptiles, birds, and mammals all had survivors.
Dinosaurs didn't.
Size Matters. This is a game about megafauna, animals 100 kg (220 lb) or
more. In the history of life, animals this size were rare until the Mesozoic
Era began a quarter billion years ago. Why be big? Megafauna gain a
disproportionate share of the resources in an area. Large animals are often
faster, migrate further, and can catch bigger prey than small ones. Weight
per weight, megafauna need less food than small animals and do not need a
high metabolism for the same activity level. Finally, large animals have
smaller populations than small ones, given a constant resource. Smaller
populations exhibit more speciation, at the price of greater genetic drift.
22.0 MILIEU
Catastrophe Species. This game starts in the aftermath of the biggest
disaster ever recorded, the Permian extinctions. The rock layers before this
incident record wet forested jungles and coals. Afterwards are the
sandstones of the Early Triassic, monotonously barren the world over. For
a game turn (10 million years) the plant record shows only a few “disaster
species”, cosmopolitan weeds such as spiky quillworts, shrubby lycopods,
a seed fern, horsetails, and dwarf conifers. The marine fossils are also
opportunists: small scallops or brachiopods adapted for low oxygen waters.
The first trees and conifer forests appear halfway through the turn,
populated by small unspecialized archetypes such as those in the game.
Biodiversity and biota were still recovering through game turn two. It is
estimated that over 90% of the animals worldwide were a single species of
two-tusker.
Warm-blood vs. Cold-blood. Large creatures can maintain their
temperature at metabolic optimums easier than small ones. One can
visualize this principle by observing how fast a given amount of ice melts
in cubes compared to if it is in one big block. Creatures with a relatively
constant body temperature are called homoiotherms. Some megafauna,
such as crocodiles and big turtles, are low metabolism homoiotherms and
maintain their body temperature through thermal mass. Other animals, with
higher metabolisms, must expend energy to maintain a higher body
temperature. A 50 kg cougar eats five times that of a 50 kg alligator. A
body temperature of ~38°C is optimal for chemical reactions (including
digestion and Krebs cycles) and muscle performance. Tiny homoiotherms
like shrews and hummingbirds must eat continuously to maintain this
temperature.
The Struggle of Dynasties. The Triassic Period, a time of struggles for
megafaunal world domination, lasted for 5 game turns. The two-tuskers,
the top herbivores, were edged out by the chisel lizards and dog-faces. The
top carnivores were also dog-faces. But at the end of the Triassic, Pangea
split along the Atlantic Rift, erupting huge flood basalts34 and skyrocketing
the Greenhouse. In the resulting mass extinction, dog-faces, chisel lizards,
and two-tuskers died out, and a previously obscure group gained the field,
the dinosaurs.
Foregut vs. Hindgut Digesters. Most of the energy of a leaf is locked up
in cellulose, the most common component of fiber. No known animal can
digest cellulose without lengthy digestive tracts filled with special bacteria.
These tracts include the foregut (stomach or crop) or hindgut (colon or
intestine). The hindgut fermentation digesters include elephants, rhinos,
hippos, horses, and extinct sloths, ankylosaurs, and pachycephalosaurs. A
large amount of foliage can be processed rapidly in the hindgut, but the
droppings will contain much undigested food. Elephants spend 77% of
their time eating because of digestive inefficiency. Foregut digesters, such
as ruminants, are more efficient because the vegetation in the crop can be
regurgitated forward for additional processing and mastication. Deer,
giraffe, camels, goats, bison, and cattle are today’s foregut digesters.
American Megafauna. The north-south orientation of the two American
mountain ranges act as a “climatic trumpet”, magnifying the effects of
Greenhouse levels. America’s ice-sheets were the most extensive in the
world, and its Eocene tropics were the balmiest in the world. The collision
of funneled arctic blasts with tropical air spawns most of the world’s
tornados. These extremes have forged America into a kind of megafaunal
evolutionary superpower. It has spawned the biggest and the most
dinosaurs, and appears to be the origins for the ruminants (cud-chewers
such as cows, sheep, deer), camels, and perissodactyls (horse, rhinos,
tapirs). (However, few if any bird orders originated in America for some
reason.) Mammal diversity peaked 15 million years ago in the Miocene,
with American savannas resembling the Serengeti. America lost its
megafauna during the Pleistocene ice ages, likely because of human
invasions over Beringia.
23.0 REFERENCES
17
Alexander, R. McNeill. (1989). Dynamics of dinosaurs and other extinct giants.
Columbia University Press.
Bakker, Robert T. (1986). The dinosaur heresies. William Morrow.
Benton, Michael. (1996). The historical atlas of the dinosaurs. Penguin Books Ltd.
Dixon, Dougal et al. (1988). The Macmillan illustrated encyclopedia of dinosaurs and
prehistoric animals. American Museum of Natural History.
Erwin, Douglas. (2006). Extinction, How life on Earth nearly ended 250 million years
ago. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Farlow, James and M.K. Brett-Surman. (1997). The complete dinosaur. University of
Indiana Press.
Fastovsky, David and David Weishamel. (1996). The evolution and extinction of the
dinosaurs. Cambridge University Press.
Flannery, Tim. (2001). The eternal frontier. The Text Publishing Co.
Lunine, Jonathan. (1999). Earth: Evolution of a habitable world. Cambridge
University Press.
McGowan, Christopher. (1991). Dinosaurs, Spitfires, and Sea Dragons. Harvard
University Press.
Paul, Gregory S. (1988). Predatory dinosaurs of the world. Simon and Schuster.
Powell, James. (1988). Night comes to the Cretaceous. W. H. Freeman and Company.
Ridley, Matt (1993). The Red Queen. Penguin Books Ltd.
24.0 CREDITS
Designer: Phil Eklund (phileklund@aol.com), (520) 324-0523
2525 E. Prince #72, Tucson, AZ 85716 (www.sierramadregames.com)
Art, Map, Layout: Phil Eklund
Cover: Jenny Dolfen Bios Logo & Map Art: by Tim Park
Rules Editing: Rick Heli, James Sterrett, Brian Leet, Bill Su.
Playtesters: Mark Buckley, Cedric Chin, Dustin Crowl, Matthew Eklund, Alex
Hazlett, Derek Long, Phillip McGregor, James Scheiderich, Thomas Blaine, Alan
Bargender and the Bargender family, Donald Acker, Kristina Stipetic, Brittany
Sturdevant, Nicole Morper, Andy Graham, Jim Gutt, Andro Hsu, Zack Mensinger,
Dave House, Joe Delaney, David Morneau, Ryan Frans, Lucas Wan, Ross Mortell,
Rick Taylor, Marc Williams, G. Thomas Wells, Chris Peters, Martin Vallance, David
Ells, Eric Cochenet.In memory of our slain playtester Gabe Zimmerman.
Special Consultants: Rick Heli of Spotlight on Games, Manuel Suffo, Wilhelm
Fitzpatrick, Franco Momoli, Bob Butler of the University of Arizona (tectonics), Dr.
Jonathan Lunine of the University of Arizona (Earth), Dr. Paul Martin of the
University of Arizona (blitzkrieg), Neal Sofge of Fat Messiah (dinosaurs), Dr. Jim
Kirkland (discoverer of Utahraptor), Dr. Robert McCord of the Mesa Southwest
Museum (immigrants), Dr. Darin Croft, anatomy professor at Case Western Reserve
University (notoungulates), Dr. Patrick Ross, Professor of Biology at Southwestern
College, Dr. Andro Hsu, Product Manager at NextBio. Dr. John Douglass (erosion),
25.0 PLAYER RESOURCES
Megafauna online discussion: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Megafauna/
Sierra Madre Games homepage: http://www.sierramadregames.com
Rick Heli’s Spotlight on Games: http://spotlightongames.com/summary/amf.html
BoardGameGeek: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/97915/biosmegafauna
"In any non-self running simulation, there must be Lamarckian appeals." Mike
Wasson
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Endnotes
lush with rain-forests all the way north to Greenland, which actually lives up to
its name. The interior is mainly barren sand dunes, stirred by easterly winds
desiccated by passage over the Hercynians.
1
DENTITION Mammal teeth come in two sets: milk teeth and permanent
teeth. Both sets are sculpted to fit together precisely (called an occluded bite),
contrasted to the dinosaur’s rather sloppy bite with dental batteries that are
continually replaced. The life span of mammals is limited by tooth wear;
consequently most of them plateau at a maximum adult size. Dinosaurs, with
their uniform ever-growing teeth, themselves grew throughout their lives, up to
the biggest land beasts ever.
a.
b.
c.
d.
9
OROGENIES are mountain-building processes. The impact of Africa into
Laurentia at the beginning of the game caused both the supercontinent of
Pangaea and the Hercynian orogeny. The Hercynians, as tall as the
Himalayas, blocked the trade easterlies and turned the interior seaway into a
series of hypersaline ponds and salt deposits. The western orogeny is the
Laramide, which up-lifted the Rocky Mountains and formed the Sierra Nevada
and Coastal Ranges.
The 4-tooth dentition, based upon the peculiar herbivorous
rhynchosaurs, features biting tusks (actually extensions of the jawbone),
and shearing ‘blade and groove’ teeth. The teeth were not replaced in
the conventional reptilian fashion. Instead they were shuttled into the
tooth-field in a conveyor-belt manner superficially similar to the
elephantine system.
HORSE LATITUDES contain most of today’s great deserts. At around 30°
latitude, desiccated air of the circum-global Hadley cell descends and diverts
trade winds from carrying rainwater from the oceans to these regions.
10
The 5-tooth dentition augments the usual mammalian arsenal of
incisors, tusks, and cheek teeth with reptilian beaks and horny palates. It
is based upon the dicynodonts. The lower jaw retracts as the jaw closes,
providing shearing action and grinding of vegetation on the palate.
11
Animals with minimal dental formulae are favored for the "snatch and
gulp" or "slashing cookie-cutter" predatory methods. They have semispecialized teeth that are curved, flattened, and serrated for cutting off
chunks rather than grabbing. These are continually replaced as they are
lost.
The “species” in this game actually represent animal
orders.
12
ARCHETYPES are the original forerunners of a group of animals or plants.
In this game, the dinosaur archetypes are archosaurs and rhyncosaurs, and
the mammal archetypes are cynodonts and dicynodonts. Starting small and
unspecialized, the four differ mainly in dentition. All have general digestion,
unspecialized five clawed toes, and plantigrade locomotion (walking on soles)
with an up and down backbone flexure.
Mammals with 3-tooth dentition have four kinds of teeth: incisors for
biting and cropping, canines for holding prey, pre-molars for crushing,
and molar “cheek teeth” for chewing. (In most mammal herbivores, the
canines are absent, leaving a gap called the diastema between their
biting and chewing teeth.)
13
PERIODS. Historically, the Mesozoic Era started with the Triassic Period,
and ended at the K-T catastrophe at the end of the Cretaceous Period. In this
game, the K-T catastrophe ending the Mesozoic can happen at any time.
2
BROWSERS are animals that eat the leaves of shrubs and trees. Low plants
have made themselves more and more indigestible, while the higher tree
foliage remains more succulent. Only 30 to 70% of the contained energy of
leaves is usable, compared to 70 to 90% for fruit, meat, insects, fish, and
seeds. Browsing requires a long neck, arms, tongue, or trunk to reach these
high leaves. Or strength: elephants will knock a tree over to get a few leaves
at the top. Browsers, such as elephants and rhinos, tend to be larger and
more intelligent than grazers.
14
A CATASTROPHE is a sudden environmental change. Controversy
continues whether the major factors in the survival or extinction of life are
catastrophic or gradualist. Equally controversial is whether survival or
extinction is due to opportunism or evolutionary competition. Life seems to be
at maximum risk when at equilibrium.
15
AZOLLA EVENT. During the Eocene, a bloom of the freshwater Azolla fern
turned the entire Arctic Ocean solid green. Dead ferns dropping into the
hypoxic depths sequestered enough carbon to drop greenhouse levels from
3500 ppm to 650 ppm. No known creature is able to consume this “superfern”.
3
GRAZERS are adapted to eat ground cover or, during the Cenozoic Era,
grass. (Grass, a wind-pollinated angiosperm, appeared after the age of
dinosaurs). Grass contains spicules, and these needles of glass require high
crowned teeth with cement to process them. In order to obtain an adequate
diet, grazers must repetitively munch and grind the grass, and all this mindnumbing mastication dominates their daily routines. Cattle, deer, and other
ruminants are today's most advanced grazers; such cud-chewers are currently
driving the larger hindgut digesters out. Rhinos, elephants, and horses will be
extinct in a million years or so unless man gives them sanctuary.
16
PHENOTYPE includes the distinguishing features of an
individual resulting from both its genotype and its environmental
interaction.
17 MILANKOVICH CYCLES describe how climate is nudged by periodic
4
HUSKERS are animals adapted to crack the husk of mast and obtain the
high energy contents inside. Today, the dominant huskers are rodents,
sparrows, and pigeons. A uniquely American rodent husker is the squirrel,
which has co-evolved alongside acorns, beechnuts, and chestnuts, etc. Such
trees find the squirrels useful to disperse their seeds, not all of which are
subsequently eaten after being squirreled away. In competition for the
services of squirrels, many American trees have made their seeds as thinskinned and squirrel-sized as possible. This is in sharp contrast to other
continents that have no squirrels. In South America, for instance, Brazils and
Macadamias are heavily armored.
oscillations in the Earth’s orbit. These oscillations are caused by the alignment
of the planets, especially Jupiter. (I bet you weren’t expecting astrology to
enter this discussion!) There are three sorts. Changes in the Earth’s
eccentricity (E cycle) reapportion annual solar energy to different parts of the
year. Changes in the Earth’s precession (P cycle) alter the seasonality
(temperature differences between poles and equator) that drive the equatorial
winds and weather. Changes in the Earth’s tilt (T cycle) change the amount of
midnight sun and seasonality, especially at the poles.
18
EROSION AND GREENHOUSE. The greenhouse gas carbon dioxide
(CO2) rises and falls in response to biological and geological forces. Over the
long run, CO2 levels have been falling unsteadily due to carbon sequestering
into rocks. This sequestering occurs during rock weathering (especially
hydrolysis), and by coal formation (mainly from plant lignins which resist
decomposition). Some of the sequestered carbon is returned by volcanos, but
most of it is buried forever. And so temperatures have been falling since the
time of the dinosaurs, especially when erosion is accelerated by mountain
growth. Our current ice age is mainly due to the growth of the Andes and
Himalayas, although the American Laramide Orogeny contributed as well.
5
A BIOME is an ecological community or environment characterized by
distinctive geology, vegetation, invertebrates, or fish that can be exploited by
adapted animals.
6
NICHE defines the competition of species for a certain natural resource. No
two species can simultaneously exploit the same resource, as the more
efficient exploiter will eventually prevail.
7
CLIMAX, a mature plant community as a culmination of an ecological or
evolutionary succession.
19
FEATHERS are scales modified to insulate an animal's body by trapping a
layer of air (air is a superior insulating material). Feathers are better than fur
for insulation and shielding from solar radiation. Only later were they adapted
for flight purposes. Feathers are high maintenance, requiring bathing,
preening, and periodic replacement to keep from getting matted or infested
with parasites. They also preclude the use of sweat glands, which is why birds
pant rather than sweat.
8
The MAP diagrams the North American portion of the supercontinent of
Pangaea during the early Mesozoic Era (200 million years ago). Pangaea is
beginning to split into a northern half (Laurasia) and a southern half
(Gondwanaland). The sea forming between them is the Tethys. The
Hercynian range to the east is the remnant of a plate collision. Its slopes are
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atmospheric carbon dioxide by volume. High levels trap solar heat, melting the
icecaps and rising sea levels. Low levels cause global cooling and ice-cap
formation. The Permian Catastrophe rocketed greenhouse levels from a 250
ppm ice age to an 1800 ppm hothouse, a temperature rise of about 10°C.
Greenhouse levels soared over 2500 ppm during the late Mesozoic Era, but
have been falling ever since. This decline, caused in part to the formation and
erosion of the Tibetan plateau, has led to today’s ice age, which oscillates
between a 280 ppm deep freeze and a 400 ppm interglacial. For the last
15,000 years, the climate has been climbing out of the last deep freeze.
Today’s value is 388 ppm, and if it follows the last dozen cycles, it will peak at
400 ppm before falling into the next deep freeze. The situation is like a brisk
September morning. In the short run it will get hotter as midday approaches,
yet over the longer run it will get colder as winter sets in. Today’s air is so
impoverished in CO2 that plants struggle to breathe, having been adapted to
levels ten times higher throughout most of Earth’s history.
20
RECESSED DNA encodes latent characteristics, represented in the game
by hand cards.
21
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CULTURES are consistent and diagnostic
assemblages of tools and techniques. These include hand-axes (3 million
years ago), fire-bearing (one half million years ago), and Mousterian thrusting
spears and Levalloisian blade spears (one quarter million years ago). Multipart tools need to be visualized prior to assembly. This visualization is
accomplished in the brain using stored lingual concepts, which is why
language is necessary for true technology as opposed to instinctive tool use.
The origin of consciousness (driven both by natural selection and the
evolution of language) is covered by the next game in the series: Origins,
how we became human.
22
SEX is the intermingling of genetic material like DNA, and the activities that
enhance this. Cards with the alpha (social skills) icon represent a variety of
sexual intimidations, advertisements, displays, and leks. (Leks are sexual
arenas where males peacefully congregate to perform their courtship displays,
and females make their choice. This system works well for monogamous
species whose offspring need a lot of parental effort, like birds.)
29
SEA LEVELS were close to present levels at the start of this game, covering
a shallow continental shelf off Pangaean shores. They rose dramatically
during the Jurassic, inundating the Midwest and separating America into east
and west ranges by the Cretaceous. They dropped again during the Cenozoic.
The formation of ice-caps during the Pleistocene dropped levels 130 meters
below present, exposing bridges to Asia and Greenland.
23
SPECIATION is the Darwinian process by which a new species arises.
There are different modes of speciation, including allopatric (a new species
arises as a result of a geographic barrier such as a mountain range) and
sympatric (a new species arises as a result of a specialization within a
population).
The silhouettes in this game correlate to ecomorphs,
megafaunal bodyplans that have withstood the test of time. One ecomorph is
the tank, a quadruped with a low grazing mouth, a huge hindgut digestive vat,
and a generally surly disposition. Rhinos and ankylosaurs, for instance, are
tanks. A common browsing ecomorph is the biped, which may run on four
legs, but stands up on two for browsing. Some bipeds use claws on their
hands to defend themselves, like ground sloths and iguanodonts.
30
LAZARUS SPECIES are creatures missing from the fossil record for many
millions of years before mysteriously "rising from the dead". This is an
observational artifact caused by incomplete fossil records.
31
THE K-T CATASTROPHE was an extinction event at the CretaceousTertiary boundary (abbreviated K-T) some 65 million years ago. This event,
associated with the Chicxulub impact crater in Yucatán, ended the Mesozoic
Era and began today’s Cenozoic Era. On the land, the dinosaurs and
pterosaurs died. Most of the birds and mammals died as well, but at least a
few survived to radiate spectacularly in the Cenozoic. In the oceans, the
rudistids (coral-like oysters), great sea reptiles and lizards, ammonites, and
much plankton went extinct. Small and generalized cold-bloods, like fish,
turtles, insects, crocodiles, seemed totally unscathed, as did plants, including
the recently-evolved flowering plants. Many of the survivors were acidtolerating or lived on acid-buffering soils.
24
GENOTYPE is a population of individuals sharing a specified genetic
makeup (in this game, an order of related animals).
25
TROPHIC LEVEL is a nutritional hierarchy of life. In the simplified 3-level
trophic triangle used in this game, top carnivores occupy the apex, feeding on
the next trophic level, the herbivores. The lowest trophic level contains the
energy-producing plants. The passage of energy between each trophic level
determines its biomass. Note that insectivores and sea-food eaters are treated
just like herbivores in this game. Dinosaur and bird orders can be divided into
meat-eaters and leaf-eaters, (most lizard-hipped dinosaurs are carnivores,
and all bird-hipped seem to be herbivores), while mammal orders cannot be
so cleanly divided. This indicates that reptiles and birds are less versatile in
their trophic choices than mammals. Furthermore, because of the
specializations required to masticate and digest plants, it is generally easier
for plant-eaters to evolve into meat-eaters than vice-versa.
A giant bolide 10 km in diameter can be expected to smite the Earth every 200
million years (My). The K-T bolide rebounded the crust an estimated 13 on the
Richter scale, and generated world-wide tsunamis a hundred meters tall. The
crater was 170 km in diameter. The re-entry rain of ejecta was offset like a
shotgun aimed at the American heartland. It actually ignited the lower
atmosphere, burning everything combustible. A curtain of nitrogen oxide smog
and soot shut down photosynthesis for months, and destroyed the ozone
layer. The gloom plunged Earth into a decades-long impact winter, with
average temperatures below freezing. Since ground zero happened to be rich
in sulfur, acid rain sulfates pelted the world for decades.
32
The theory that new species arise within populations without migration is
called sympatric speciation.
26
MIGRATIONS are the mass movements of organisms from location to
location. These may be seasonal or in response to climatic change or
hardship. The game migration rate is based upon the annual migrations of
size three American animals like bison and caribou, which travel 2500 km
annually.
28
33
The theory that new species arise as the result of migration is called
allopatric speciation.
34
The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) was the largest area flood
basalt vulcanism in the solar system (10 million square km). There were
perhaps 3 million cubic kilometers of extruded basalts. Each flow was several
thousand years long, covering America east of the the Appalachians, as well
as Morrocco and Brazil.
GREENHOUSE LEVEL is measured in parts per million (ppm) of
20
Bios Megafauna Player Aids
ON YOUR TURN, PERFORM ONE ACTION:
1. Purchase and play/discard a card. Purchase a card of your choice by dropping
one gene on each card to the left of it in the display. Either play it on one of your
species or discard it; you may not hold cards. Then draw a new card and (if it goes
into the Lower Display) resolve its event. Finally replenish the display with the
drawn card, putting it into the rightmost position in the display row.
2. Resize one of your species. Move a size animal up or down one spot.
>If you grow outside of the size-range of a mutation card, discard it.
>If you grow outside the size-range of an inheritance tile, return it to your reserves.
3. Acculturate one of your species. If your species has the necessary two instincts,
add a species animal from your reserves to the appropriate culture area on the map.
This gives the species the special power listed.
4. Expand an animal. Choose a parent, then add an animal from your reserves to a
habitable habitat within the migration range of that parent. You may expand with
the same silhouette as the parent, or a new one. Your destination can be any
habitable triangle or biome.
5. Roadrunner action (opt). Pay 2 genes, adjust one roadrunner DNA.
6. Genetic drift (opt). Steal a gene from the player with the most genes.
After your turn, cull any animals that have been adversely impacted by your turn,
starting with the herbivores.
THERE ARE 4 KINDS OF EVENTS:
1. New Era Tile: Draw two Era tiles at random from the current Era pool.
>If Orogeny Biome Tile. Place into lowest-climax biome or slot in one of the
mountain ranges. A replaced biome goes into the tarpit.
>If Non-orogeny Biome Tile. Place into lowest-climax biome or slot in the latitude
specified on the tile.
>If Immigrant Tile. Place into lowest-climax habitable habitat in the latitude
specified on the tile.
2. Catastrophe:
>Perform Extinctions. The Catastrophe level drives animals and immigrants extinct
that have that much DNA or more.
>Move Greenhouse Disk one higher or lower, as specified. A rising level displaces
all non-orogeny biomes north, along with the animals in them. A falling level
displaces them south. If 2 biomes end up in the same habitat, the lower climax one
goes to the tarpit. If the greenhouse is at its highest level, all biomes with a blue
star are inverted. If the greenhouse is at its lowest level, all biomes with a white star
are inverted.
> Episodes. Right after the 1st catastrophe of the game, the Atlantic opens up. You
need MM DNA to cross the dark blue line. Right after the 2nd catastrophe of the
game, the Era changes to the Cenozoic. Thereafter, new era tiles come from the
modern era.
3. Erosion: If the Greenhouse is 800 ppm or higher, send the highest-climax
orogeny biome to the tarpit, and then lower the greenhouse.
4. Milankovich: Put the lowest-climax biome of the latitude(s) specified into the
tarpit.
MIGRATION LIMITATIONS.
Range: During expansion, a newly-created animal may migrate up to a number of
habitats equal to its size plus its number of P DNA. Diagonal movement is not
allowed.
Wings may migrate up to seven habitats (but not over oceans).
Amphibians. Those with one M DNA migrate 1 less.
Land Habitats may not be entered by animals with 2+ more M DNA.
Sea Habitats may be entered by species with flight or at least one M DNA.
Ice Habitats may be entered only with wings.
Must end in a habitable triangle or biome.
HERBIVORE CULLING RULES.
In each overcrowded biome or rooter triangle, keep applying culling rules (in the
order listed) until there is one animal left:
21
1. Suitable: Those without the DNA required to eat the biome die.
2. Niche: Those with less of the Niche DNA die.
3. Predator-Defense: If (and only if) there are one or more predators present, then
those inedible to all the predators survive; the others die.
4. Dentition: Herbivores with the most teeth survive.
CARNIVORE CULLING RULES.
In each overcrowded predator triangle, keep applying culling rules (in the order
listed) until there is one animal left.
1. Suitable: A predator must be within one size of its prey, and have at least as much
roadrunner in all 4 categories as its prey.
2. Physiology: Those with more P DNA survive.
3. Dentition: Those with fewer teeth survive.
EXTINCTION.
A species with no population discards all its cards and returns all its tiles to reserves.
Extinct era tiles go to the tarpit..
LAZARUS PLAYER.
A player with all 4 species extinct can resurrect by buying and playing a mutation
card, and starting a map and size animal..
THERE ARE 4 PERIOD DECKS.
The number of cards in each deck is 3N, 5, 8, and 7, where 3N = three times the
number of players. Both displays have 5 cards each.
Scoring occurs at the end of the last turn of each period.
The game ends at the end of the last period. It can also end if the pool runs out of
Era Tiles, the greenhouse goes high or low.
IF A DECK RUNS OUT, PERFORM SCORING.
at the end of the turn that each of the 4 Period Decks run out. For each scoring, the
player with the most map animals takes half the tiles in the tarpit, rounding up. Then
the next most populous, etc. Players with no population do not take any tarpit tiles.
HABITAT.
Animals trying to be predators move to the upper triangle, rooters to the lower
triangle. Other herbivores are placed on the biome tile. A species within range can
freely expand into any of these areas, as long as it is habitable.
PLAY CARDS.
Mutation Cards. Play on a species stack that is in the card’s size-range.
Genotype Card. To play this, you must have a parent matching the size and at least
half the DNA (rounding up) on the card. If so, play it to start a new species stack, or
(if the parent is already using the genotype’s silhouette) play this into your fossil
record for endgame victory points.
INHERITANCE.
If expanding a new species, the child starts as the size of the parent, and may inherit
Dietary DNA (maximum of 1 inheritance tile) and Roadrunner DNA (maximum of 1
roadrunner track value).
EASILY MISSED RULES.
>You may not use your inheritance tiles to specialize a species. You may only use it
to show dietary DNA inherited from its parent.
>Any expanded animal can migrate into a predator triangle if it is within one size of
its prey and matches its prey’s roadrunner DNA.
>If you have a predator, and its prey changes size, you are allowed a free and
immediate one-step size change with that predator species.
>The number of genes in the game is constant.
>Once you place an animal, it cannot move to a new habitat.
25.0 Odds for a catastrophe not happening (courtesy Bill Su)
1 draws: 92.391304%
2 draws: 85.284281%
3 draws: 78.651059%
4 draws: 72.465021%
5 draws: 66.700758%
22
6 draws: 61.334030%
7 draws: 56.341725%
8 draws: 51.701819%
9 draws: 47.393334%
10 draws: 43.396306%
11 draws: 39.691743%
12 draws: 36.261592%
13 draws: 33.088703%
14 draws: 30.156793%
15 draws: 27.450414%
16 draws: 24.954922%
17 draws: 22.656442%
18 draws: 20.541841%
19 draws: 18.598694%
20 draws: 16.815257%
21 draws: 15.180441%
22 draws: 13.683777%
23 draws: 12.315400%
24 draws: 11.066011%
25 draws: 9.926863%
Bios Megafauna is the greatest evolution game ever made, from the designer who made the best rocket game ever (High Frontier), & the best civilization game (Origins). You
start as a proto-dinosaur or proto-mammal, just after the Permian apocalypse that destroyed 96% of the planet. You must mutate and speciate in the face of global changes, and
competition from each other. Create bizarre chimeras, from vegetarian velociraptors to flying dolphins. Establish subterranean civilizations, tame fire, or just be super-sexy.
This deluxe edition comes with mounted map, 108 Cards, 126 die-cut counters, 128 laser-cut wooden animals, and 44 gene chips. For 2 to 4 players, teenager and up.
23