In Origin, live the greatest adventure of all time: Mankind's ' expansion. Starting in Africa, the world's cradle, explore the entire planet, improve your knowledge and progress on the evolution scale.
Object of the Game
Score the highest number of points by completing objectives, hunting, controlling straits, or developing knowledge.
Components
- 1 Main board
- 1 Rewards board
- 36 Tribe Pawns
- 36 Villages
- 30 Innovation tiles
- 6 Hunting tokens
- 11 Strait tokens
- 48 Cards:
- 14 Action (yellow)
- 14 Permanent (orange)
Tribe Pawns
Each Pawn has three characteristics: his Speed (= height), his Strength (= width), and his Color. Each characteristic comes in three different variants.
Setup
Place the Main board 1 at the table's center, and place next to it the smaller board called the Rewards board 2. Place the box bottom with the 36 Tribe Pawns at an angle in the box top 3 to make the Pawns easily visible and accessible.
Then place one of the shortest and weakest Pawns of any color on the territory marked by the Origin symbol 4. Each player chooses a player color (not a Pawn Color) and takes the 9 corresponding Villages 5.
Shuffle the Action cards (yellow) and place them face-down, in a pile on the corresponding space of the Rewards board 6. Do the same with the Permanent cards (orange) 7.
Shuffle the Objective cards (purple) and distribute 3 randomly to each player. Each player chooses one from these three 8 and puts the other two back into the pile. Shuffle the Objective cards again and place them face-down, in a pile on the corresponding space of the Rewards board 9.
Randomly place the Innovation tiles face-up on the corresponding spaces of the Rewards board 10. The unused tiles are kept face down and constitute a reserve 11. Randomly place the Strait tokens face-up on the 11 Straits of the Main board 12.
Randomly place the Hunting tokens face-up on each green territory of the Main Board 13. Place the unused token back in the box; it will not be used during this game. The smallest player will be the first player, and play proceeds clockwise.
Setup For 2/3 Players
With 4 players, there are two of each Medium pawn. When playing with 2 or 3 players, remove one set of 9 Medium Pawns 14, leaving you with 27 pawns, not 36. This will mean that all Pawns are different.
Tip: It's possible to properly identify the Height of a Pawn by looking at the number of sections on his legs marked by the dotted lines.
Action Phase
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During his turn, a player MUST do one of the following 3 actions:
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Evolution
Place a new Tribe Pawn and its Village on a vacant territory of the board.
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Migration
Move a Tribe Pawn and its Village to a vacant territory.
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Swap
Move a Tribe Pawn and its Village towards another player's Tribe Pawn.
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The player takes the Rewards corresponding to his action (see Rewards Phase).
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In addition to his mandatory action, the player can play up to one card of each color (see The Cards) at any time during his turn.
Evolution
(Place a new Tribe Pawn and its Village on a vacant territory of the board).
The player takes a Tribe Pawn from the reserve and places it on a vacant territory of the Main board. The new Pawn has to be placed on a territory adjacent to a territory already occupied by a Pawn, no matter which player controls it. Territories connected by a Strait are considered to be adjacent.
In order to be placed, the Pawn must have at least two characteristics which are identical to the Pawn he's placed next to.
The different characteristic can be: different Color, Height +1, or Strength +1. It is not possible to place a Pawn with a Strength or Height inferior to his neighbor.
The following configurations are possible:
- Completely identical: same Height, same Strength, same Color.
- Different Color: same Height, same Strength, different Color.
- Strength +1: same Height, same Color, Strength superior by 1.
- Height +1: same Strength, same Color, Height superior by 1.
Note: If the Evolution involves a territory adjacent to several occupied territories, the placement conditions only have to apply with one of the neighboring Pawns.
The player places the Tribe Pawn on the territory with a Village of his color. The Strength 1 Pawns are inserted in the hole whereas the others are placed on the Village. From now on, the Pawn and the Village cannot be separated, even if the Pawn moves. Once placed, Pawns and Villages cannot be removed from the Main Board in any way.
Migration
(Move a Tribe Pawn and its Village to a vacant territory).
The player can move one of his Pawns (with its Village), already placed on the Main Board, up to a number of territories corresponding to his Height (1, 2 or 3). During his movement, a player can move through territories, even if they are occupied by other players' Pawns.
It is legal to use only part of the available movement.
Swap
(Move a Tribe Pawn and its Village into the same space as another player's Tribe Pawn).
The movement follows the same rules as Migration. The destination territory must be occupied by a Pawn of inferior Strength.
The arriving Pawn triggers a Trade: both Pawns (and their Villages) switch places. The stronger Pawn takes over the weaker Pawn's territory, and the weaker Pawn is sent to the territory the stronger Pawn just left.
It is not possible to Swap with the neutral Pawn of the starting territory.
Rewards Phase
The player ends his round by taking the Rewards he won through his action.
There are 4 types of Rewards that can be obtained depending on the conquered territory:
- Cards (Action, Permanent, or Objective)
- Innovation tiles (Level 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5)
- Hunting tokens (Value 4 to 8)
- Strait tokens (Value 3 to 5)
Note: A player provoking a Swap with another player, earns the Rewards correspond- ing to the territory where he lands, following the same rules as Migration and Evolution. The other player does not lose any of his possessions, but does not win the Rewards of the territory he is chased to.
1. Obtaining Cards And Discovering Innovations
When a player places or moves a Tribe Pawn onto a territory, he instantly takes the Rewards corresponding to the territory's color.
The Yellow, Orange, Purple, and Brown territories refer to the Rewards board. Each color offers a choice between two different Rewards.
Note: If a player is allowed to draw a card or an Innovation tile and there are no cards or tiles left, the player earns no Reward.
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Yellow
Take one of the three available Innovation tiles from the yellow column, then draw the first Action Card.
OR
Draw the first three Action cards and add them to your hand. Then put any two Action cards from your hand at the bottom of the pile.
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Orange
Take one of the three available Innovation tiles from the orange column, then draw the first Perma- nent Card.
OR
Draw the first three Permanent cards and add them to your hand. Then put any two Permanent cards from your hand at the bottom of the pile.
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Purple
Take one of the three available Innovation tiles from the purple column, then draw the first Objec- tive Card.
OR
Draw the first three Objective cards and add them to your hand. Then put any two Objective cards from your hand at the bottom of the pile.
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Brown
Choose two of the six Innovation tiles available in the brown column.
OR
Choose an Innovation tile out of any column of the Rewards Board.
When an Innovation tile is taken from the Rewards Board, it is replaced by a new one drawn randomly from the reserve. If the reserve is empty, the tile is not replaced.
Innovation Tiles Restrictions
Warning! The tiles are placed in front of the player, face up. The player needs to place the tile(s) he just drew on another tile of the immediate lower level.
It is always possible to draw a level 1 Innovation tile but if the player doesn't have a tile of the immediately lower level, it is not possible to draw a Level 2-5 Innovation tile.
The level is indicated by the number of spears drawn on the tile. The illustrations on the tiles only have an esthetic purpose.
2. Hunting Grounds
A player who places or moves a Tribe Pawn onto a Green territory instantly earns the Hunting token placed on it. From now on, this territory will give no other reward.
At the end of the game, the player will score a number of points corresponding to token's value. Once a player earned a Hunting token, he cannot lose it in any way.
3. Straits
The Cards
At any time during his turn, in addition to his mandatory action, a player can play up to three cards, one of each color (Yellow, Orange, Purple).
Action Cards (yellow)
When an Action card is used, the corresponding effect is completed immediately and the card is discarded.
Permanent Cards (orange)
To place a Permanent card, it is necessary to own at least one Innovation tile of the level indicated on the card. The card has to be played and placed face up in front of the player for the effect to be activated.
The effect is permanent and lasts for the rest of the game, even if the player loses the Innovation tile that allowed him to activate the card.
Example: This card bears a level 3 Innovation symbol. It is necessary to own a level 3 Innovation tile in order to play it.
Objective Cards (purple)
Players earn victory points by completing Objective cards as soon as they fulfill the conditions specified on the card (he has the number of elements indicated on the cards, or more).
Once all the conditions are met, the player can place the card face up in front of him. Once the Objective has been placed face up, i cannot be lost or stolen in any way.
Very Important!
- As soon as a player plays his Objective card, he immediately draws a new Objective card.
- A player cannot have more than 2 Objective cards in his hand. If a player already has 2 Objective cards when he has to draw a new one, he has to choose and keep only two and put the other at the bottom of the Objective cards deck.
Note: Some Objective cards in the game refer to "continents". Each land mass separated from others by Straits constitutes one continent, except for the two islands shown below, which together form Oceania.
End of the Game
The game ends when one (or several) elements are exhausted:
- One of the three cards' decks is empty (Action, Permanent, or Objective).
- All the Innovation tiles have been taken from the Rewards Board.
- The Tribe Pawns reserve is empty.
- All players have used all their Villages.
The player who took the last element of one of these categories starts the end of the game. The other players have one last turn each, then the game ends and the players count their points.
During the last round, the players can play more than one Objective card, but they do not draw new Objectives to replace Objective cards played after the first one.
- Players earn as many points as indicated on the Objective cards.
- Each Action, Permanent, and Objective cards still in hand gives 1 point each.
- The Hunting tokens and the Strait tokens give as many points as indicated on the tokens.
- Each Innovation tile placed in front of a player gives him 1 point, except for the level 5 Innovation tiles that give 5 points.
The player with the highest final score wins the game.
In case of a tie, the tied player having the most cards in hand wins the game.
Example:
A player owns:
- 5 Objective cards scoring 6/5/5/4/4 = 24 points
- 2 Permanent cards and 1 Action card still in hand = 3 points
- 1 Hunting token scoring 4 = 4 points
- 2 Strait tokens (scoring 4 and 5) = 9 points
- 2 level 1 Innovation tiles, 2 level 2 Innovation tiles, 1 level 3, 1 level 4 and 1 level 5 = 11 points
His final score = 51 points.
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