Paleo rules: how to play and how to win

Paleo quick rules

The goal

You are a Stone Age tribe and you all play together. To finish the cave painting, you need 5 Victory tokens. Every misfortune costs you a Skull token: at the fifth, the whole tribe loses. If the fifth Skull and the fifth Victory token come during the same action, you win.

Your group and your deck

Each player leads a small group of People, whose abilities (Strength, Awareness, Skill) add up. Each player also has their own deck: the world their group explores today. You can look at the backs of all your cards, never their fronts, and you never change their order.

The day

The game alternates days and nights. During the day, everyone plays at once: each player looks at the backs of their top three cards (forest, river, mountain; red often warns of danger), places one facedown and puts the other two back in any order. Then everyone reveals, and the group decides the order of resolution.

Resolving a card

On a blue card, choose exactly one option: resolve an action (on the left what you need and pay, on the right what you gain), help another player and share the reward, or ignore the card. An action often costs cards from the top of your deck: each red back paid this way wounds a Person. A Hazard card can’t be ignored.

Wounds and tools

A single Person takes all your group’s wounds. When their hearts are full, the next wound kills them: their card goes to the cemetery and the tribe takes a Skull. To survive, craft tools on the workbench: torches, stone axes, spears and others depending on your ideas. Food, wood and stone go into a shared storage area.

The night

When your deck is empty, your group goes to sleep; you can also sleep earlier by discarding the rest without effect. When everyone is asleep, each Person eats one food, and each hungry Person costs a Skull. The tribe then resolves each Mission card, and the discarded cards are shuffled and dealt out again: a new day begins.

Beginner traps

Running out of food for the night: hunger makes Skulls pile up fast. Paying cards when your deck is full of red backs. Hesitating to go to sleep early. Reading the Mission cards too late, when they’re what lead to Victory tokens.

How to win Paleo

Victory

The whole tribe wins with the fifth Victory token on the cave painting, even if the fifth Skull comes during the same action.

Defeat

The whole tribe loses at the fifth Skull token.

Level

The sheet records the modules played (levels I to VII), or “Free combination.”

Victory tokens and Skull tokens

Those on the Night board at the end of the game, 0 to 5 each.

Days played

A day followed by a night counts as one.

Variants

None, easier, harder or both: the supplement’s variants to adjust the difficulty.

Example ending

Emma, Jake and Alex play level I. On the third night, two hungry People take the tribe from 1 to 1 + 2 = 3 Skulls. On the fourth day, a Mission brings the fifth Victory token: the tribe wins, recorded as level I, 5 Victory, 3 Skulls, 4 days.

Common mistakes

• Looking for a winner among the players: the tribe wins or loses together.
• Calling a loss when the fifth Skull and the fifth Victory token come during the same action: you win.
• Forgetting the Skull for a Person who dies: each death costs one.
• Forgetting the Skull for each hungry Person at night.

How to set up Paleo

Setup depends on the level you choose, that is, the modules. For a first game, play level I. With several players, deal the cards; solo, keep the whole pile.