I hate reading rulebooks and compiled this How to Play Earth board game rules to help get your game started quickly with minimal hassle.
If you are looking for an overview, click here to get a quick summary of the gameplay, game mechanics, videos and find out what makes the game fun and suitable for you.

Objective

In Earth, players aim to score the most Victory Points (VP) by creating a 4×4 grid (16 cards) tableau of flora, fauna, terrain, and event cards, reflecting a diverse and balanced ecosystem. The game ends when a player completes their tableau, and points are tallied based on various elements within the tableau and additional objectives.

Shared Setup for Earth Board Game

1. Fauna Board:
   • Place the Fauna board in the center of the table, visible to all players. For a simpler game, use the beginner side marked with an icon.
2. Player Boards:
   • Give each player a player board. Ensure all players use the same side of their player board (front side). The back side is for solo and team variations.
   • Leave space next to each player board for a 4×4 tableau of cards, which, along with the player board, creates the player’s area.
3. Central Supply:
   • Place all Sprouts, Soil tokens, and Growth (Trunks and Canopies) next to the Fauna board.
4. Earth Cards:
   • Shuffle all Earth cards and place them in a face-down draw pile within reach of all players. Leave space for a discard pile next to the draw pile.
5. Fauna Cards:
   • Shuffle the Fauna cards and place one face-up on each of the 4 spaces on the Fauna board. Return the remaining Fauna cards to the box.
6. Ecosystem Cards:
   • Shuffle the Ecosystem cards and place one face-up on each of the 2 spaces on the Fauna board.
   • Deal 1 Ecosystem card to each player. Return the remaining Ecosystem cards to the box.

This setup ensures all players are ready to start the game with a clear and organized playing area.

Individual Setup for Earth Board Game

1. Island and Climate Cards:
   • Shuffle the Island cards and deal one to each player. Return the remaining cards to the box.
   • Repeat the process with the Climate cards.
2. Advanced Setup:
   • For advanced players, deal 2 Island, 2 Climate, and 2 Ecosystem cards. Players choose one of each type to use and return the rest to the box.
3. Select Starting Player:
   • Randomly choose a starting player and give them the First-player token and the Active-player token.
4. Card Selection:
   • Each player selects one side of their Island, Climate, and Ecosystem cards to use, placing them face-up on the corresponding spaces on their player board.
   • Island, Climate, and Ecosystem cards provide starting resources, abilities, and Victory Points. Players should check the Fauna board and choose sides that help achieve their objectives.
5. Leaf Tokens:
   • Each player takes 5 Leaf tokens of one color. Place 4 tokens on the central leaf spaces on the player board and keep the 5th to the side for tracking action selection.

This setup ensures players are prepared with their starting resources and abilities, ready to begin gameplay.

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Getting Started in the Earth Board Game

1. Draw Earth Cards:
   • Each player draws a number of Earth cards as indicated on their Island card.
2. Review and Compost Cards:
   • Players review their drawn cards, choose which ones to keep, and compost the number of cards indicated on their Island card.
   • To compost a card, remove it from your hand and place it facedown on the Compost space on your player board. This creates your personal Compost.
3. Collect Soil:
   • Each player takes the number of Soil tokens indicated on their Island card and places them on the central area of their player board, creating their personal reserve.

Turns in Earth Board Game

Action Selection: The active player selects one of the four actions by placing their token above the corresponding action.

Plant

1. Planting Cards:
   • The active player may plant up to 2 cards (Flora or Terrain) by paying the Soil cost from their reserve.
   • Place the first card anywhere; subsequent cards must be adjacent to existing ones.
2. Tableau Limits:
   • The tableau is limited to 4×4 (16 cards).
   • Cards must be planted adjacent (orthogonally or diagonally).
3. Card Draw:
   • The active player draws 4 cards, keeps 1, and discards the rest.
   • Other players may plant 1 card and draw 1 card.
4. Activating Abilities:
   • All players activate green abilities on their player board and tableau.
   • Activate cards in order: left to right, top to bottom.
5. Important Notes:
   • Cards in the draw pile can be shuffled if the deck runs out, but not the Compost pile.
   • At game end, score the base VP value of each planted card.

Composting

1. Gain Soil:
   • The active player gains 5 Soil from the supply, placing it in their reserve.
   • There is no limit to the amount of Soil in a reserve.
2. Compost Cards:
   • The active player takes 2 cards from the draw pile and places them facedown on their Compost space.
   • Score 1VP per card in the Compost at the end of the game.
3. Other Players’ Actions:
   • Other players may gain 2 Soil or draw 2 cards and compost them.
4. Composting Options:
   • Players can agree to compost from the discard pile to avoid depleting the draw pile.
   • Typically, composting is done from the hand, but this action allows composting from the draw pile.
5. Activate Abilities:
   • All players activate red and multicolored abilities on their player board and tableau.
6. Compost Rules:
   • There is no limit to the number of cards in the Compost.
   • Once composted, players cannot look through their Compost pile.
   • If no cards remain in the draw or discard piles, players can no longer compost from the deck.

Watering

• Place Sprouts:
  • The active player places up to 6 Sprouts on any Flora cards with empty Sprout spaces.
  • Sprouts can only be placed on Sprout spaces and cannot be saved in your reserve.
• Unlimited Sprouts:
  • There is no limit to the number of Sprouts in the supply. Use substitutes if needed.
• Convert Sprouts to Soil:
  • Players can convert 3 Sprouts from their tableau into 2 Soil at any time, except during the Watering action or while resolving a card’s ability.

• Extra Sprouts:
  • Extra Sprouts are lost if there is no room during the Watering action.
• Gain Soil:
  • The active player gains 2 Soil from the supply and places it in their reserve.
• Other Players’ Actions:
  • Other players may place up to 2 Sprouts on their available Sprout spaces or gain 2 Soil.
• Activate Abilities:
  • All players activate blue and multicolored abilities on their player board and tableau.
• Conversion Tips:
  • Early game: Converting Sprouts to Soil can be helpful for the Planting action.
  • Late game: Converting too many Sprouts may be unwise, as each Sprout is worth 1VP.

Growing

1. Draw Cards:
   • The active player draws 4 cards from the Earth pile, placing them in their hand.
   • There is no limit to the number of cards a player may have in their hand.
2. Shuffle if Depleted:
   • If the draw pile is depleted, shuffle the discard pile to create a new draw pile.
   • Do not shuffle in Compost from player boards, as these are VP at the end of the game.
   • If no cards remain in both draw and discard piles, players can no longer draw or compost cards from the deck.
3. Place Growth:
   • The active player places up to 2 Growth pieces on their Flora with available Growth spaces.
   • Growth spaces can have up to their maximum growth number.
   • The last piece on each space is a Canopy, not a Trunk. Flora with a maximum growth space of 1 will have only a Canopy.
4. Other Players’ Actions:
   • Other players may draw 2 cards or place up to 2 Growth on their Flora with available space.
5. Unlimited Growth:
   • There is no limit to the number of Growth pieces in the supply. Use substitutes if needed.
   • Extra Growth pieces are lost if they exceed the maximum growth number.
6. Activate Abilities:
   • All players activate yellow and multicolored abilities on their player board and tableau.
7. Scoring:
   • Each Trunk in the tableau scores 1VP at the end of the game.
   • Flora with a Canopy will earn their listed Canopy completion VP.

Activating Abilities

General Rules:

• Abilities matching the color of the current action (GREEN, RED, BLUE, YELLOW) can be activated by all players at the end of each action.
• Each ability can be activated once per turn.
• Tableau activation must be done row by row, left to right, starting from the top left.
• Island and Climate cards can be activated before or after the tableau, but not during.

Activation Process:

• Some abilities require a cost to be paid before activation.
  • For abilities with a negative number (-X), the cost must be paid in full.
  • For abilities with a resource requirement (number before a colon), the resource must be paid to gain the benefit.

Multicolored Abilities:

• Multicolored abilities (BLUE, YELLOW, RED) are triggered when their corresponding action is chosen and are activated along with other abilities.
• Cards with multiple ability colors can be counted as either color for scoring objectives.

Special Abilities:

• BLACK abilities: Trigger automatically when played.
• BROWN abilities: Provide extra endgame scoring options or ongoing advantages and do not trigger during action selection or engine abilities.

Optional Activation:

• Players are not required to activate a card and may skip activations as desired.
• Only Island, Climate, and tableau cards can activate their abilities, not cards in hand, Compost, or Event stack.

Simultaneous Activation:

• To keep the game moving and players engaged, all players may activate their abilities simultaneously.

Endgame

• The game is played over a series of rounds, with each player being the active player once per round.
• The game ends at the end of the round when a player completes their 4×4 tableau (16 cards).
• The player who completes their tableau first places a Leaf token on the 7VP bonus space on the Fauna board.
• Any remaining turns in the round are completed so all players have an equal number of turns.
• If multiple players complete their tableaus on the same turn:
  • The active player claims the bonus.
  • If the active player is not one of them, the player closest to the active player’s left (clockwise) claims the bonus.

Scoring Victory Points in Earth Board Game

1. Base VP from Cards:
   • Add the base VP from Island and Climate cards, and all cards in your tableau (exclude Event cards, hand cards, and Compost).
2. Event Cards:
   • Add the base VP from cards in your Event space (this may be negative).
3. Compost:
   • Add 1VP per card in your Compost.
4. Sprouts:
   • Add 1VP per Sprout in your tableau.
5. Trunks and Canopies:
   • Add 1VP per Trunk, or Canopy completion VP if a Canopy is present.
6. Terrain Bonuses:
   • Add VP from Terrain cards with end-game scoring bonuses.
7. Ecosystem Objectives:
   • Add VP from fulfilled Ecosystem objectives (personal and shared).
8. Fauna Board:
   • Add VP from Leaf tokens on the Fauna board, including the 7VP bonus for the first completed tableau.
9. Beginner Mode:
   • No shared Ecosystem cards, and Fauna objectives are worth 10VP each.

Tie Breakers

1. Most Soil in reserve.
2. Most cards in hand.
3. Most Growth in tableau.
4. Most Sprouts in tableau.
5. Most Composted cards.

Earth Board Game Cards

Ecosystem Cards

1. End-Game Scoring:
   • Ecosystem cards provide end-game scoring bonuses, with different objectives on each side.
2. Cards in Play:
   • In a standard game: 3 Ecosystem cards (2 on the Fauna board for all players to score, 1 on each player board for individual scoring).
   • First-time players can use the beginner side of the Fauna board, which excludes Ecosystem cards.
3. Card Selection:
   • At the start of the game, players choose which side of their Island, Climate, and Ecosystem cards to use. These choices remain for the entire game.
4. Scoring Multiple Times:
   • Players can score Ecosystem cards multiple times if they meet the requirements with different cards/components.
5. Single Use Rule:
   • Once a card/component has been used to score an Ecosystem objective, it cannot be used again for the same objective.
6. Optimization:
   • Optimize Flora, Terrain, and Event cards to achieve Ecosystem and Fauna objectives.
7. No Abilities:
   • Ecosystem cards do not have abilities and are never activated.
8. Visual Aids:
   • Some cards have visual aids (white arrowheads) for directional/placement scoring reminders.

Fauna Cards

1. In-Game Objectives:
   • Fauna cards provide in-game scoring objectives with different goals on each side.
2. Cards in Play:
   • Each game has 4 random Fauna cards placed on the Fauna board.
3. Claiming Points:
   • When a player fulfills an objective on a Fauna card, they claim the highest available VP tier by placing a Leaf token next to it.
   • The first player to fulfill the objective scores the most points; subsequent tiers have lower values.
4. Simultaneous Fulfillment:
   • If multiple players fulfill an objective on the same turn, tokens are placed in clockwise order starting with the active player.
5. Permanent Claims:
   • Once claimed, a Fauna objective cannot be lost, even if the requirements are no longer met later.
6. End-Game Scoring:
   • Points from Leaf tokens on the Fauna board are added to the final score, including the 7VP bonus for the first completed tableau.
7. Beginner Mode:
   • In beginner mode, all tiers score 10VP regardless of the order of fulfillment.
8. No Abilities:
   • Fauna cards do not have abilities and are never activated.
9. Visual Aids:
   • Icons and percentages on Fauna cards indicate how to meet objectives and the likelihood of meeting them based on card availability.

Island Cards

Overview:

• Island cards provide starting resources (Earth cards, Compost, and Soil) and an ability to support player strategy. Each side of the card offers different options.

Unique Features:

• Base VP: Each Island has different base VP values.
• Habitats: Various combinations of Habitats.
• Initial Draw: Number of Earth cards drawn at the beginning.
• Composting: Number of cards to compost from the initial draw.
• Soil: Amount of Soil received at the start.
• Ability: Unique ability to aid in gameplay.

Setup:

1. Choose Side: At the start of the game, choose which side of the Island card to use. This choice is permanent for the game.
2. Draw Cards: Draw the number of Earth cards indicated.
3. Compost Cards: Compost the number of cards indicated from your hand.
4. Collect Soil: Gather the amount of Soil indicated.

Gameplay Importance:

• Compost: Essential for in-game strategy and end-game VP.
• Soil: The currency needed to plant Flora and Terrain into the tableau.

Climate Cards

Overview:

• Climate cards provide an additional ability to help players either focus or diversify their strategies. Each side of the card offers different options.

Unique Features:

• Base VP: Each Climate card has different base VP values.
• Habitats: Various combinations of Habitats.
• Ability: Unique ability to aid in gameplay.

Setup:

1. Choose Side: At the start of the game, choose which side of the Climate card to use. This choice is permanent for the game.