Darwin’s Journey rules: how to play and how to score

Darwin’s Journey quick rules

The goal

You follow in Charles Darwin’s footsteps in the Galapagos Islands: your workers explore, sail, study and write to the scientific community. The game lasts five rounds. You score points during the game and at final scoring, and the most victory points wins.

A turn

In turn order, each player places one worker on a location and performs its actions in any order, until every worker has been placed. The board is divided into Diaries: if any worker, even yours, is already in the same Diary Section, you pay a placement penalty of 3 Coins with 2 players, 2 Coins with 3 or 4.

Wax Seals

Each worker has its own row of Wax Seals. A location often requires Wax Seals of a color, which the worker must have in its row. The purple Special Wax Seal counts as any color, and a Temporary Knowledge token replaces one missing Wax Seal once. The Academy gives you a new Wax Seal; at the fourth and then the sixth, the worker gains a silver then a golden distinction that boosts its actions.

Lenses

Many locations are locked at the start. To unlock one, pay its cost and place a personal Lens token there: you immediately perform its actions, without a worker or Wax Seals. The location is then open to everyone, one worker at a time, and each opponent who uses it gives you a Coin. In the Main Diaries, each page is unlocked from top to bottom.

Exploring and sailing

Navigation moves your Ship along the Ocean track; crossing a silver banner places an Explorer on a new island. Exploration moves an Explorer along its Island track, skipping occupied spots. You perform the action where you stop: on a Specimen, you place a Research token on your board. The first to cross a golden ribbon or finish a track scores points. Establish Campsite places a Tent and gives two actions.

The Museum and Evolution

A researched Specimen can be delivered to the Museum if it isn’t there yet. For each space in its row and column, an empty space gives one Coin and a filled space one step on the Theory of Evolution track. A second Specimen costs 3 Coins. On that track, the Books you reach are what count at the end.

Correspondence, Objectives and Crew

Correspondence moves Stamps onto an Envelope; emptying a Stamp stack gives an action. An Objective is achieved for free as soon as its requirements are met and gives the reward of its location, often points at the end. A Crew card is achieved when a worker has the Wax Seals it shows, one per worker.

The end of a round

Workers on the Turn Order location set the new turn order. For each Envelope, the most Stamps gets the first reward and the second-most the second, ties included; each rewarded player then removes half of their Stamps. The Beagle Goal tile below the HMS Beagle is scored, minus lagging penalties for Ships left behind. Then the Beagle moves on and the board is refreshed.

Final scoring

After the fifth round, add the points of your personal board (Objectives, all five Tents, workers with five or six Wax Seals), your Theory of Evolution Books times the Museum modifier, and one point per set of 5 Coins and per Temporary Knowledge token. In a tie, the farthest Evolution marker wins, then the most Coins.

Beginner traps

The Diary Section penalty applies even behind your own worker. Points printed on your personal board are only scored at the end. Temporary Knowledge counts neither for Objectives nor for Crew cards. And a Ship lagging behind the HMS Beagle costs points every round.

How to score Darwin’s Journey

Points scored during the game

Your space on the victory point track before final scoring, plus 50 per lap. Beagle Goals are already included.

Personal board Objectives

The endgame points of the locations of your achieved Objectives, plus 4 if both the silver and golden Objectives of the last column are achieved.

Workers with 5 Wax Seals

3 points for each worker with exactly five Wax Seals.

Workers with 6 Wax Seals

10 points for each worker with six: 3 for the fifth, 7 for the sixth.

All five Tents placed

5 points if all five of your Tents are on Campsites.

Theory of Evolution

The Books you reached or passed, plus one with the Objective that adds it, times the Museum modifier: 2 plus the number of complete Museum rows.

Leftover Coins

1 point per complete set of 5 Coins.

Temporary Knowledge tokens

1 point for each leftover token.

Fireland: Time track

With the Fireland expansion, you lose the points shown below your Time Track marker; nothing on spaces 0, 1 and 2.

Fireland: Adventure tokens

Your Land and Ocean Adventure tokens combined gain or lose you the points of your Adventure Scoring aid card: a loss up to 3 tokens, a gain from 5.

Worked example

Emma has 78 points on the track. Her achieved Objectives give 1 + 2 + 5 + 8 = 16, plus 4 for the last column: 20. One worker with five Wax Seals and one with six: 3 + 10 = 13. All five Tents are placed: 5. She reached 7 Books and one Museum row is complete, so the modifier is 3: 21. She has 12 Coins left (2 points) and 1 Temporary Knowledge (1 point). Total: 78 + 20 + 13 + 5 + 21 + 2 + 1 = 140 points.

Common mistakes

• Counting a worker with six Wax Seals in both lines: it’s worth 10 points in all, not 13.
• Multiplying your Evolution marker’s space instead of the Books reached.
• Forgetting that the Museum modifier starts at 2, even with no complete row.
• Scoring one point per Coin: it’s one point per set of 5.

How to set up Darwin’s Journey

Setup is done in three phases. The player count changes the board side, the Wax Seals and the Specimens; the solo game against Alfred has its own phase at the end.