On the Origin of Species

About the game

What is On the Origin of Species?

"I am very anxious to see the Galapagos Islands, -- I think both the Geology & Zoology cannot fail to be very interesting." -- Charles Darwin, Letter to his sister, Catherine in August 1835. Assist Charles Darwin during the Beagle journey across the Galapagos Islands, discovering new species and researching them in order to improve your knowledge. During their turn, the active player must choose between two actions: Research: Put 2 research pieces on 2 different species tiles on the board, gaining the knowledge of air, land or water habitat. Discover: use the acquired habitat knowledge to place new species tiles on the board, obtaining victory points and evolution, characters and objects cards. Additionally advance the Beagle on its track. The game finishes when the Beagle reaches the last space of its trip, leaving the archipelago through New Zealand. The players score the evolution points according to the final goal card, adding them to the points obtained during the game. The player with more points in the scoring track wins. —description from the publisher

How it plays

Mechanics

On the shelf

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Questions players ask

Questions to bring to BoardGameBrain

• How do setup and the first turn work in On the Origin of Species?
• When does scoring happen and what ends the game?
• How should the table resolve an unusual timing or rules interaction?