In CODEX Naturalis,
you must continue the work of the illuminating monk Tybor Kwelein,
assembling the pages of a manuscript that lists the living species in
primary forests. Can you put the pages together in the best order
possible? And are you prepared to sacrifice a species to develop your
manuscript?
In the game, each player starts with a single card on the table, a
card that shows some combination of the four possible resources in the
middle of the card, in the corners of the card, or both. Players also
have two resource cards and one gold card in hand, while two of each
type of card are visible on the table.
On a turn, you place a card from your hand overlapping the corners of
one or more cards you already have in play. Your starting card has four
overlappable corners, while resource and gold cards have only three.
- Resource cards have no cost to be played, and they often depict resource symbols in their corners.
- Gold cards deliver points when played, but they
often have a resource requirement, e.g., three fungi or two plant/one
animal/one insect, and you must have those resources visible in your
manuscript at the time you play the gold card. You score points from
this card immediately, with some cards having a fixed value and others a
variable one depending on how many of a certain symbol are showing or
how many corners you covered this turn.
If you wish, you can play a card from your hand face down; such a
card has four corners and one resource, but provides no points. After
you play, draw a face-up card or the top card of either deck to refill
your hand.
When a player reaches 20 points, you complete the round, and each
player takes one additional turn. Players then score points based on how
well they matched two public objective cards and one secret objective
card, after which the player with the most points wins.
