Evolution Arms Race

Designer: Julius Pasion

Version: 0.06

Players: 2-4
Time: 45+ Minutes

You are each a different plant pathogen, trying to cause as much havoc to the farmer's
harvest before the end of summer. Evolve and adapt to each crop's defenses, take
other bacteria’s genes and mutations for yourself, and infect as many fields as you can
to become the most dangerous pathogen around!

Plays Similar to: Splendor, Dice Forge, Terra Mystica

Overview of Components:

4 Virulence Tracker Game Boards

60 Virulence Point Tokens

24 MAMP Token

24 Repressor Tokens

24 Effector Tokens

24 Toxin Tokens

4 Black Mutation Dice

4 Grey Mutation Die

4 Bacteria Pawns

Mutation Die Face Board

24 Tier 1 Crop Cards

20 Tier 2 Crop Cards

20 Tier 3 Crop Cards

1 Current Player Token

Set up and Pregame:

Each Player takes a Virulence Tracker Game Board, a Black and a Grey Mutation Die,
and a Bacteria Pawn.

Each Player takes 14 Virulence Point Tokens and places them in Stage 1 of their
Tracker Board.

Reveal 4 Tier 1 Crop Cards, 4 Tier 2 Crop Cards, and 4 Tier 3 Crop Cards.

Reveal 4 Pathogen Cards.

Place the Mutation Die Face Board next to the Cards.

All players place their Bacteria in any Tier 3 Secondary Region Zone.

Black Mutation Die should have the following faces: 2 1 Virulence Point, 2 2 Virulence
Point, 1 MAMP, 1 Effector.

Grey Mutation Die should have the following faces: 2 1 Virulence Point, 2 2 Virulence
Point, 1 Repressor, 1 Toxin.

The person who last touched grass will be the first Active Player.

Player 1 starts with 3 Virulence Points and places their Bacteria Pawn on a Tier 3 Crop
Corner.

Player 2 starts with 2 Virulence Points and places their Bacteria Pawn on the remaining
Tier 3 Crop Corner.

Player 3 starts with 1 Virulence Points and places their Bacteria Pawn on a Tier 1 Crop
Corner.

Player 4 starts with 1 Virulence Points and places their Bacteria Pawn on the remaining
Tier 1 Crop Corner.
Game Overview:

During the game, players must mutate their pathogenic arsenal to overcome each
crop’s defense system. They roll and upgrade their Mutation die to accumulate those
mutations, and infect crops to gain Infection Points. Infected Crops contain bonus
mutations that allow players to infect subsequent crops for a lesser cost. Bacteria may
become more virulent or develop unique mutation methods throughout the course of the
game. Once a player has reached 20 Infection Points, at the end of the round, the
player with the most Infection Points is the winner.

Game Rules:

A round consists of playing turns equal to the number of players.

There is one Active Player each turn.

You may have up to 6 tokens of each Mutation type (Green, Blue, Red, Purple)

Each turn plays out in this order: Mutate, Spread, Action Selection.

MUTATE (Roll the Mutation Dice and Gain the results):

At the start of the Turn:

All players then roll their Mutation Dice.

The Active Player can gain the results of both Mutation Dice.

All other Players must choose to gain one of their Mutation Dice results.

If you exceed 6 Tokens of any Mutation type, gain 1 Virulence Point instead.

SPREAD (Moving your Bacteria Pawn around the Field):

You can move your Bacteria Pawn once along the border of neighboring Crop Cards.

You can spend 2 Virulence Points for each additional move.

Multiple Bacteria Pawns can be in the same spot.

If you move into or past the same spot as another player’s Bacteria Pawns, you cause
both of you to TRANSFORM:

You roll both of your mutation Dice, and gain the result.

The other player chooses one of their Mutation Dice and rolls it, gaining the
result.

You must swap their resulting Mutation Die Face with one of your Die Face
results.

If you passed more than one player’s Bacteria Pawn, choose one player to Transform
with.

ACTION SELECTION (Evolve your Mutation Dice, or Infect a Crop)

The Active Player can then select one of three actions:

1) EVOLVE: Spend Virulence Points to purchase Mutation Die Faces

You can purchase any amount of Die Faces as you can afford, but they must all
be unique.

Replace current Mutation Die Faces with your newly bought Faces, then place
the replaced Faces in front of you in a Discard Pile.

2) INFECT: Infect a Crop.

You can only Infect Crops where your Bacteria Pawn touches their corner.

Discard the corresponding Mutations, and take the card.

If the Active Player has Virulence Points in Stage 3, they can take those actions at any
point during their Action Selection.

Pathogen Cards can only be activated during the Active Player’s Action Selection.

When the Turn is over, replace all Crop Cards and pass the Active Player Token
Clockwise.
Crop Card Anatomy:

Middle of Card: Crop Name

Top Right of Card: Infection Point Value

Top Left of Card: Mutation Type Bonus

Bottom of Card: Mutation Cost

Virulence Points:

There are 3 Stages of Virulence that Virulence Tokens can be placed in.

Whenever you gain Virulence Points, you must move Virulence Points from Stage 1 to
Stage 2 if there are any Virulence Points in Stage 1.

You can only move Virulence Points from Stage 2 to Stage 3 if there are no Virulence
Points in Stage 1.

Anytime you spend Virulence in Stage 2 or 3, you must move them to Stage 1.

You can spend Virulence Points in Stage 2 on Mutation Die Faces.

You can use any combination of Stage 2 and 3 Virulence Points for purchasing Die
Faces.

Virulence Points in Stage 3 can be used for additional options on your Active Turn
during Action Selection. These options can be taken at any time or order during Action
Selection

You can move 2 Virulence Points from Stage 2 to move 1 Virulence Point from Stage 2
to Stage 3.

Endgame

Once a player has reached 20 Infection Points, play proceeds until each player has
taken the same amount of turns (ie: a final round is completed).

The player with the most Infection Points is the winner!

If there’s a tie, the player with less infected Crops is the winner.
V0.06 PATCH NOTES

- FIXED WORDINGS OF SOME DIE FACES

- ALLOWING NON-ACTIVE PLAYERS TO ROLL BOTH AND CHOOSE 1 RESULTS
- ADDED SOME DIE FACES TO PURCHASE
- REBALANCED SOME DIE FACE COSTS
- INCREASED VIRULENCE POINTS FROM 12 TO 14
- ADDED MULTIPLE MOVES FOR THE SPREAD ACTION AT THE COST OF
VIRULENCE POINTS