Actions and Rounds

Reference for the six actions, lens instruments, publishing and the five-round income cycle.

Lens instruments and turns

The game lasts five rounds. Each player begins with six basic lenses and takes three turns per round, placing one lens on each of the three available instruments. Take turns around the table; no player takes consecutive turns while others still have actions. The instrument sets action strength and adds its own reward:

Instrument	Action uses	Instrument reward
Glasses	1	Advance three taxonomy spaces.
Magnifier	2	Take one tool or one container.
Microscope	3	Place your turn-order token on an open space of the next turn-order tile and take its reward.

Resolve an action, then optionally publish one book, then check achievements. A lens remains on its instrument until the income phase. The wild lens costs one coin and copies one basic action at that instrument’s strength; it cannot combine actions or copy an upgraded lens.

Explore

Move your explorer to an adjacent map location along a printed path; pay any path cost before moving. Movement is optional. On your first visit to a sample location, take a player marker and claim one of its one-time rewards. Then investigate: either take the location reward or pay the sample’s container cost and add it to an open space in your library. A library holds at most four samples. If a sample’s corner touches your researcher when placed, resolve that corner reward immediately. A sketch location gives its printed reward and a random sketch if any explorer is there. Staying put and investigating again is allowed. At the end of your turn, refill empty sample and sketch locations as instructed by the rules.

Research

Move your researcher one connected space within your library. Gain the globe reward on the space you enter and resolve each adjacent uncovered sample corner. A corner can provide a one-time bonus or knowledge; mark resolved corners with your player markers. Knowledge is recorded in the notebook below the library. Each phylum holds at most two knowledge; an excess gain becomes two points. Fully researched samples are removed from the library and kept above it, where they count for end-game scoring.

Correspond

Take a letter from the display, or send up to two letters already in your hand. Sending a letter activates its effect. Letters of the same color form a column: when you add one, resolve effects for the cards in that column, up to three letters. The color-set scoring at game end counts each letter at most once.

Grow

Plant a flower tile in an open space of the matching garden shape and take any reward it covers. Or pay two tools to cultivate one of your planted flowers: flip it to its higher-bloom side, resolve the flower’s effect, and take the sketch from the pond in that row. A completed bed scores by bloom majority; ties split the available points as the garden rules specify. Planting and cultivation choices are distinct rows on the action.

Sail

Move one ship one step along a voyage card’s route and take the reward on the space entered. Colored spaces multiply their reward by the matching color’s dots on the current rudder section. You may move different ships with separate sail actions. A voyage reward may grant an exotic sample: take one from the display, place it above the card and immediately gain its depicted knowledge. Reaching a destination grants its immediate reward; placing a published book under that voyage card also makes the completed pair produce its printed income each income phase. A voyage can hold one book. You may keep books and voyages unpaired until you choose to attach them, but an attached book cannot move.

Publish and achievements

After the action, you may publish at most one book. Pay the knowledge shown in its left bar and a sketch. A sketch matching the book’s realm is placed face-up and its effect resolves; a mismatched sketch is face-down and gives no effect. Gain the book’s points and rewards. At publication only, you may pay the appendix requirement for the additional points shown. A published book may be paired permanently with an open voyage card. Afterward, claim any achievement you meet by placing a marker on its first open award space and taking those points immediately.

Free actions and upgrades

Free actions may be used during your turn as often as you can afford them; they do not consume an instrument. For 6 coins, take one basic action; for 3 coins, gain one container or tool; for 2 coins, move a player marker from one knowledge type to another without gaining knowledge; or pay 1 coin to refresh a display. You may sell one container or tool for 1 coin, recruit a voyage card by paying one container and 3 coins, or gain a book card by paying one tool. Upgraded lenses add the special effect shown on the token once per action, even when the base action is multiplied. Advancing around taxonomy grants an upgraded lens when your marker reaches or passes the top space; take one displayed lens and refill the display.

Income phase

After all players have used three instruments, resolve the five income steps in order: return the locked lens to its available area and sort used lenses; order players by their turn-order markers; remove the current turn-order tile; collect income from completed voyage cards paired with published books; rotate the rudder to its next position. The final round skips only the turn-order adjustment specified in the rulebook.

For individual end-game values and the exact final scoring order, see Game End and Scoring.