Origin

To set up Origin, each player places their starting hut on a designated starting space. A few landscape tiles are randomly drawn and placed around the starting huts. Players then draw a hand of starting evolution cards and receive an initial set of resource tokens, such as food, water, and shelter. The remaining landscape tiles are shuffled and placed in a draw pile, and other game components like additional resource tokens and evolution markers are set aside within reach of all players.

The primary objective of Origin is to accumulate the highest number of victory points by the end of the game. Players achieve this by evolving species, which involves matching specific resource requirements on their evolution cards with the landscape tiles surrounding their hut. Additionally, points are awarded for creating diverse sets of environment types and for any unspent resource tokens or unevolved species cards remaining at the game's conclusion.

A player's turn consists of several phases. First, the player draws a new landscape tile and places it adjacent to an existing tile on the board, expanding the game area. Next, the player moves their hut to an adjacent landscape tile. After moving, the player has the option to evolve a species by playing an evolution card from their hand and matching its resource requirements with the resources depicted on the landscape tiles surrounding their hut. Successfully evolving a species grants immediate benefits and contributes to end-game scoring.

Victory points are primarily scored through successful species evolution. Each evolved species card has a point value. Players also earn points for collecting sets of different environment types (e.g., forest, desert, water) that their evolved species inhabit. At the end of the game, any unspent resource tokens or unevolved species cards in a player's hand may also contribute a small number of victory points, encouraging efficient resource management and strategic card play throughout the game.

The game of Origin concludes under one of two conditions: either the draw stack of landscape tiles is completely depleted, meaning no more new tiles can be added to the board, or a player is unable to place a new landscape tile or move their hut to a valid adjacent space. Once either of these conditions is met, players proceed to final scoring, tallying points from evolved species, environment sets, and remaining resources to determine the winner.