You are a leader overseeing workers trying to colonize a Cave system. Develop your colony before the others to claim ownership of the cave. Careful though, manage your workers as best as possible as there are many challenges to come across on your adventure. 

• The Energy Die (White Dice) and Event Die (Black Dice)

• 4 Coloured Worker Pawns (Red, Green, Blue, Yellow)

• 50 Transparent Gem Crystals (10 White, 10 Yellow, 10 Green, 10 Blue, 10 Purple)

• 30 Opaque White Oxygen Crystals

• 10 Silver Energy Crystals

• 10 Gold Movement Crystals

• 36 Colony Cards

• 36 Positive Trait Cards

• 36 Negative Trait Cards

• 36 Equipment Cards

• 36 Anomaly Cards

• 30 Four-Way Tiles

• 13 Three-Way Tiles

• 9 Curved Tiles

• 9 Straight Tiles

• 5 Dead-End Tiles

• 6 Anomaly Tiles

• 20 Gem Tiles (4 White, 4 Yellow, 4 Green, 4 Blue, 4 Purple)

• 4 Colony Tiles (Red, Green, Blue, Yellow)

• Allot space in the centre of the table for the tiles to be placed during gameplay of about 2ft by 2ft (Called the Play Zone)

• Separate the Colony Tiles from the rest of the Tiles and place them in the centre of the Play Zone in a square

  • Place the 4 Worker Pieces on their respective Colony Tiles

• Divide each of the Card types into their respective groups, shuffle them, and place them in an accessible location on the table (near the edge)

• Place the Gems in a location that is easy to grab from

• Place all of the tiles in the lid of the game box and shake them up so that they are relatively shuffled

Determine who is going first by rolling a die, highest number will be the player who goes first. Play will proceed in clockwise (to the left) order. Major Components of play italicized and described after the turn order in this manual. Some common terms will described below:

• Worker: The Worker is the unit that is representing the player. This is identified by the coloured Worker Piece matching that Player’s Colony

• Colony: The Colony is the Home Base of the Worker. This is a place where the Worker can gain all Oxygen back

• Wildcard: Wildcard is term used to describe a Gem that can be of any type

• Gem: One of Five different types of discover-able resources collected from the board

• # Tiles Away: The range of an action/event from a Worker or Tile following the restrictions of Walls

• # Tiles Away within line of sight: The range of an action/event from a Worker or Tile following the restrictions of Walls without taking any turns.

• # Tiles Away through Walls: The range of an action/event from a Worker or Tile not following the restrictions of Walls

• # Inner Ring: The Tile Spaces surrounding the Colony Tiles

• # Outer Ring: The Tile Spaces around the outside of the Play Area, 4 Tiles away from the Colonies

• If you do not have a Colony Card that hasn't been completed, draw 2 and look at both. Pick one card to keep and place it face down in front of you, placing the other one at the bottom of the deck.

• If you do not have an Active Worker, you must Recruit a Worker. Recruiting a Worker takes up a whole turn. Otherwise proceed with the following below

1. Spend 1 Oxygen by placing it on your Colony Tile

2. Roll the Energy Die

3. Perform Actions with your worker (see Actions Section below). You can perform actions up to the amount rolled on the Energy Die plus any extra Energy available to your worker separately

4. End your turn and pass the dice to your left.

Actions are the different things your Worker can do on their turn. Every bullet below is something that requires 1 Energy to do. If something is not listed below, assume that the Energy cost is 0

• Move Worker 1 Tile away

• Use Equipment

• Collect Gem

• Spend Gem (Colony Cards require you to spend 1 or more Gem)

In a couple of different circumstances, a Player might need to Recruit a new Worker. In order to Recruit a new Worker you must complete tasks in order, which takes up a Players full turn:

1. Select a Trait (Positive or Negative) for your Worker. Do this for each Trait that your Worker Requires (At least 1 Positive and 1 Negative):

   1. Draw 2 Traits from the top of the deck and place them face down in front of you without looking at them

   2. Look at one of the cards

   3. Choose whether you want to keep the card you looked at or the one that you didn't, placing your choice face up in front of you

   4. Place the other at the bottom of the deck

2. Draw two Equipment Cards and look at them. Pick one and place it face down in front of you, putting the other card at the bottom of the Equipment Card deck.

3. Collect Oxygen (opaque white crystal) equal to the max that Worker has (5 is the default unless changed by Traits or Colony Cards)

4. Collect Energy (silver crystal) if you have any boosts to your Energy 

5. Collect Movement (gold crystal) if you have any boosts to your Movement

After these tasks have been completed, your Worker is ready for play

Energy is the representation of how many actions a Worker can take on one turn. Energy is determined by the value of the Energy Die rolled at the beginning of a players turn. Most things a Worker does during a turn will cost 1 or more Energy. Once a Worker is out of Energy, they can no longer do anything that turn that requires Energy.

Note: A nice way to keep track of your energy as your play out your turn is to change the face up value of the die to however many energy you have left. For example if you rolled a 5 and you moved one tile, you would turn the die to show 4 face up instead of 5 to signify that you have spent that 1 energy

Oxygen defines whether or not a Worker is able to stay alive on their turn. Oxygen is spent at the very beginning of a turn in order to define whether or not that Worker is still alive. If a Worker doesn’t have Oxygen to spend at the beginning of the turn, they are then considered dead (see Dying for more details). A Worker has 5 Maximum Oxygen unless altered by Traits or Colony Cards. 

Discovery is a Free Action in this game that occurs automatically when you move onto an empty space in the Play Zone. When this happens, blindly draw a random tile from the box of Tiles and place it down where your worker is located. You may pick the orientation the Tile is placed as long as it connects to the Tile your Worker moved from.

If a Tile is a Gem Tile, place the matching Gem Crystal on that Tile. (If the Tile is a Dead End, 3 of that Resource are placed on that Tile)

Note: The Tiles surrounding the Colonies must be 3-Way or 4-Way Tiles, and they must wrap around the Colonies so that there is an accessible circular path. See photo below for an example setup of these tiles

Note: Dead End Tiles can only be placed down if: it is in the outer ring of tiles (4 tiles away from the centre); if the only way to get to that Tile is from the outer ring; or if there are only Dead End's left.

Note: If you run out of Tiles while discovering, treat all empty spaces afterwards as 4-Way Tiles

When a Worker is on the same tile as a Gem, they may collect that Gem at the cost of 1 Energy (this cost can be changed by Traits). This is then placed in the same area that the Worker Cards are to signify it being collected. You can do this as many times on a turn as long as Energy permits it

The Event Die is an extra die in place to roll when players need to make rolls to determine outcomes. This is used so that the Energy Die remains unchanged during a turn. 

Fighting is a mechanic in place to assist Players who want to effect other Workers without spending Resources. A Fight is an altercation between two workers and results in the loss of a single Oxygen. In order to enter a Fight, a Worker on their turn must be standing on a tile another Worker is on. They may spend any amount of Energy (0 to Total Energy available) to Fight that Worker. The amount of energy spent is ADDED to the roll Value of the attacker. Each Worker then rolls the Event Die and the Winner gets to steal 1 Resource or 1 Oxygen from the Loser. In the event of a tie, the Defender wins.

Note: You can only fight each Worker once per turn.

At any point of time in a game, even when it is not your turn, you may trade Resources/Equipment with another worker who rests on the same tile as your Worker. The ONLY time you cannot engage in a trade is when one of the Workers that would be involved is in any sort of conflict (Equipment/Anomaly/Fight)

If a Worker starts their turn with no Oxygen to spend, they are considered dead. If the Worker had collected any Resources, place the Resources on the tile the Worker died on. Move the Worker Piece back to the Colony and discard all Traits and Equipment. Then go through the process of Recruiting a new Worker. After Recruiting, your turn is over and your Worker can make its first actions on your next turn.

After Completing 5 Colony Cards, you are the winner and the game is over. Optionally, the rest of the players may play out the game to see the order of Victory.