Darwin's Journey

2023 · Travel

Darwin's Journey

Players reenact a 19th-century naturalist’s expedition across the Galapagos using a worker-placement engine. Each round, players assign workers to study disciplines, explore islands, collect specimens, correspond with institutions, and prepare repertoires for shipment to museums. Workers progress by gaining skills that unlock more advanced actions, creating a tempo of short- and long-term planning over five rounds. Victory points come from discoveries, completed objectives, successful dispatches, and scientific contributions recorded during the voyage.

Players
1–4 best 3
Playing time
60–120 min
Age
14+
Complexity
3.9 / 5
8.5 on Ludoyafrom $47.99ExplorationWorker Placement, Different Worker TypesOwnershipPick-up and Deliver

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1,237
Plays logged
1,072
Players
1h 53m
Average play
251
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50
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8.5/10

from 129 Ludoya reviews

  • Fun9.5
  • Interaction8.0
  • Replayability8.5
  • Uniqueness8.0
  • Looks8.5
  • Accessibility6.5
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Rules questions

Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.

Do I pay a placement penalty every time I place a worker in a Diary Section?

No. The first worker placed in a Diary Section has no penalty; later workers pay the listed penalty, regardless of how many workers are already there. Square or rectangular Magnifying Glass locations never impose a placement penalty. (pp. 8–9)

Can I use a Temporary Knowledge token to meet a Wax Seal requirement?

Yes. When placing a worker, you may spend a Temporary Knowledge token to count as any one color of Wax Seal for that placement. Temporary Knowledge cannot be used to fulfill Objective or Crew card Wax Seal requirements. (pp. 10, 21–22)

Do I have to perform every action at the location where I placed my worker?

No. You may perform the available actions in any order and may choose not to perform some of them. Benefits gained from one action may be used to pay for later actions during the same turn. (p. 10)

When exploring, does an opponent's Explorer count as a movement space?

No. Occupied spaces containing opponents' Explorers are skipped and do not count toward your movement limit. Only one Explorer may occupy most locations, while the first and last spaces can hold any number. (p. 13)

Do I have to spend anything when I achieve an Objective?

You do not spend anything to meet an Objective's requirements; you only need to satisfy them. However, if you take the Objective from your reserve and place it on a location with a Coin penalty, you must pay that placement penalty. (p. 20)

Can I place Correspondence Stamps on several Envelopes with one action?

Normally, no: you may take Stamps from any combination of your personal stacks, but all of them must be placed on one Envelope. You can distribute them among multiple Envelopes only if the action has the Split Stamp Locations distinction or is the Distributed Correspondence special action. (pp. 15, 18–19)

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Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.