Official Rules
Lore
Welcome to,EarthAt long last your cosmic journey is over. After thousands of years floating in the void of space, earth has passed through a Physarum spore cloud - and you have crash landed in the human microbiome. As is the rule of Physarum and the way of the universe, you must consume or be consumed.Grow, evolve, and adapt to the ever-changing environment around you. You must fight for your survival, and the survival of your species. Which Physarian spore will conquer the planet? Sickly Slate? Ranciferous Red? Consume your enemies, manipulate the macrobiome and become the dominant microscopic species.
A brief history of,PhysariansLong ago, in a land before slime, alien spores from the planet known as Physarum landed on Earth. From that moment onwards, our world was forever changed - the planet seeded with extraterrestrial multicellular organisms known as the Physarians. Over thousands of years, these organisms evolved into new and strange species, dramatically altering the course of human history.Planet Physarum is a single planetary cell - a cosmic slime mold. Its collective consciousness demanding complete obedience from its subjects (Physarians) allowing them to travel its cytoplasm only to complete their specific and reductive function. Physarians, though microscopic, are entirely sentient, nearly indestructible and some believe even more intelligent than humans. In the great cataclysm, millions of Physarians ejected from their slimy, planetary home into the void of space, resigning themselves to float amongst the cosmos - dormant until arriving in a fertile and conquerable home.
You are a fledgling,PhysarianIn the game, you take the role of an adapted human, a living host fused with a Physarian. Through your actions you will
either flourish... or decay by competing to spread your species across the microbiome. Each player and their corresponding character / Physarian duo is
represented by a distinct color of game pieces.
Euphemia Taylor
Thomas Blackthorne
Henry Dufraine
Rodrick Neumann
Edgar Crook
Charlotte Everclear
Zachariah Graves
Elizabeth Abernathy
David Ashcroft
Core Concepts
Core Concepts,The Game BoardFlourish and Decay is a deck‑builder played atop Conway's Game
of Life and your battle field is the Microbiome. It is in the
microscopic arena that you will compete in a winner-take-all
battle with your Physarian kin. Each of you knows that there can
only be one dominant Physarian species on Earth.Your species is represented by colored game pieces that grow and change according to Conway's Game of Life. Use the cards you acquire to place cells, and spread slime across the grid — steering the simulation to favor your species.
Core Concepts,Game ElementsThese are the core components of the game.Game Pieces: There are 2 types of game pieces. Cells (cubes), and Slime (tiles). Pieces of the same color represent your species and are used in scoring.Game Board: Cells and slime are placed on a grid, which is a simulation of
Conway's Game of Life, don't worry this is explained later.
The size of the grid is adjusted for the number of players.Cards:Gameplay in F&D consists of strategically acquiring food and action cards. Food cards are a spendable resource, action cards have varied, but self-describing impact on the state of the game.
Core Concepts,Objective & ScoringScoring occurs at the end of the game where the player with the most points wins the match. Cells create slime on the board underneath their position. Each slime is worth 1 point.
Euphemia Taylor
Core Concepts, Your TurnOn your turn you will play action cards to advance your slimy, alien self and consume food cards to obtain calories. You can spend calories to place cells and to acquire new cards from the Central Mold. After all players have had their turn, unspent calories will be used in simultaneous cell placement.
Pre-Turn
Draw four cards from your deck. You start each turn by drawing four cards (unless otherwise specified).
Resolve duration effects from previous turns, these will be specified explicitly by actions cards.
Your Turn
Play actions cards from your hand, their effects are resolved immediately.
Play food cards from your hand to obtain calories.
Use calories to acquire cards from the Central Mold according to their adaptation cost.
End your turn. If you are the last player in the turn order, cell placement will now begin.
Simultaneous Play
Place cells by spending calories. Each cell (and associated slime) costs two calories. This step is done simultaneously with other players.
Each player may also spend calories to advance generations at two calories per generation. Players in the lead may wish to advance generations quickly to win.
Game Setup
Game Setup,The Central MoldThe Central Mold is the source of biodiversity in Flourish and Decay, offering a set of cards available for all players to purchase.To begin, select 8 action cards. 10 copies of each are placed into stacks. There are 7 types of food cards, with 15 copies of each also placed into stacks.
Game Setup,Player DecksEach player starts the game with eight crumbs, the smallest denomination of food card. These crumbs will form the basis for your organisms growth. However, you'll want to start quickly acquiring more powerful or higher value cards to outcompete the other Physarians on the board.
A lone crumb, so small and slight,
sustenance for those without might.x 8
Crumb
0
1
Conway's Game of Life (CGOL)
Conway's Game of LifeCells and slime
The heart of gameplay (and strategy) in Flourish &
Decay is covering the game board with your species' cells and slime. The
game board is a simulation of Conway's Game of Life (CGOL).Cells are the living engine of your organism. On your turn, you will place
cells onto the board. Cells behave according to the rules of CGOL.
CGOL is a deep and fascinating representation of cellular life. For the mathematically inclined,
it's a cellular automaton devised by the British mathematician
John Horton Conway in 1970. It's also Turing complete! Not a math-person? No worries! These are important rules to consider, but you don't need the details to win the game.There are four simple rules that are applied to each and every grid space and cell in CGOL for every passing generation.
| Reproduction: Empty grid spaces (dead cells) are born when exactly 3 live cells surround them (e.g. three neighbors) | |
| Survival: Any live cell with two or three live neighbors lives on to the next generation. | |
| Loneliness: Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbors dies, as if by loneliness. | |
| Overcrowding: Any live cell with more than three live neighbors dies, as if by overpopulation. |
Conway's Game of LifeRules Illustrated
Conway's Game of LifeMore Examples (Advanced)
There are an infinite number of shapes and possibilities in CGOL. This
creative and emergent gameplay is the heart of Flourish & Decay. Below are a few examples of
shapes with a specific function that could help your species conquer the board.The flyer shape is self-perpetuating and moves diagonally across the board. The century shape
grows and changes before stabilizing after approximately 100 generations.
Conway's Game of LifeMultiple Species
The astute reader (or generally slime-ready individual) may be thinking, wait! When cells are born, what color should they be? The simplest scenario is with a single species. The new cell will be the same as its neighbors. When two species neighbor an empty cell, the largest contiguous group's species is born.When there are three species, the largest adjacent contiguous slime determines which species' cell is born. If there is still a tie, the species closest to the North West corner of the board is born.
Now let's talk about,Deck Building,Cards constitute the other major component of gameplay (other than cells and slime) and form a large part of winning strategies.Cards are organized into 6 areas.
Player Deck: Cards that players have in reserve which are available to play on future turns. Face down and not visible to the player.
Player Hands: Cards drawn by the Player and held for the duration of the players turn. Visible to the player.
Played Cards: Cards that are played from a players' hand into the game space during
a players turn. They re-enter play at the end of a players' turn when they are discarded.
Discard: This is where cards you play, or purchase are stored before re-entering your deck.
Central Mold: This is where you acquire new cards to improve your deck.
Trash: Cards that are 'trashed' are removed from play. They are added to a communal trash pile, and do not re-enter a player's deck or discard.
Deck BuildingCard TypesIn Flourish & Decay, there are two types of cards. Food cards and
Action cards. You'll need both in order to out-slime your ruthless competition. On your turn, you can (and should) play all of the cards in your
hand to maximize your organisms' growth.There is no limit on the number of cards you can play, so long as they've been drawn into your hand according to the rules of the game. Once a card is in your hand, it becomes available to play. You'll learn more about each card type in the next two sections.
Food Cards
A spendable resource (worth calories).Action Cards
Self-describing, impact the game.Deck BuildingFood Cards
Everyone (and every slime) has gotta eat. Food is the currency of
Flourish & Decay and consumed by your sentient slimy self to either create cells, or obtain new powerful cards. You may play any food card present in your hand. When you do, you are awarded calories. The more calories you can obtain on your turn the more you can grow!Food cards have an Adaptation Cost and a Caloric Value, both denominated in calories. Adaptation Cost indicates the amount of calories a player must spend to purchase the card from the central mold and add it to their deck. Caloric Value indicates the amount of calories a player receives when playing the card from their hand.
Adaptation CostCaloric Value
0
0
0
1
3
2
7
5
5
3
10
7
13
10
Deck BuildingAction Cards
Action cards are the other type of card in Flourish & Decay. Their impacts are varied, self-describing and have dramatic effect on the state of the game.Like food cards, action cards can be played at any point during your turn once drawn into your hand. When played, action cards resolve completely before your turn resumes (unless otherwise specified).Action cards also have an associated adaptation cost and caloric value. Powerful action cards will have a higher adaptation cost. Action cards often have a small or zero caloric value. The primary value to the player of an action card is it's impact on the state of the game.Here are some examples of action cards from the Genesis Deck (the first card set available for Flourish and Decay).
6
0
3
0
8
0
7
0
5
0
6
0
5
0
3
0
2
0
4
0
3
0
3
0
8
0
4
0
3
0
4
0
3
0
3
1
4
0
3
0
3
0
2
0
4
0
5
0
5
0
2
0
Start with theSeed PhaseHaving crash landed into earth, you need to choose a starting location for your species. In two subsequent setup rounds, players secretly commit to placing 3 cells (and slime) on the board in any location. Once all players have committed, the placements are revealed simultaneously.At the end of the seed phase, each player will have placed 6 cells and 6 slime. Once the seed phase is complete, the game begins and each players draws four cards from their deck.Below is an example of each of the players (Euphemia Taylor, Edgar Crook, David Ashcroft) placements during the seed phase.
Your TurnPlacing CellsSo you've spent your food to obtain calories, and you'd like to place a cell. Excellent! You are well on your way to conquering the microbiome.Each cell requires two calories to place. If you've only banked a single calorie, you'll need to play more food before your organism can expand.After the setup phase, cells can only be placed on, or adjacent to your own slime. You can think of slime as space you've claimed on the game board. That
said, you may also place cells on top of OTHER species' slime, so long as it's still adjacent to your own slime.You may also place multiple cells at a time, so long as they are all adjacent and you can afford two calories for each of them. See the examples below.
Your TurnPurchasing & the Central MoldPurchasing from the Central Mold is how you build your deck. Building your deck is the process of acquiring more powerful action cards or higher value food cards. Doing so increases the chance of drawing higher value cards in your hand each turn.Open the Central Mold and select a card to purchase. You'll see the associated Adaptation Cost and Caloric Value of the card. Spend the required calories to acquire the card and add it to your discard pile.Action CardsFood Cards
3
0
3
0
3
0
8
0
3
0
4
0
5
0
5
0
0
0
0
1
3
2
7
5
5
3
10
7
13
10
That's it - time to slime.