Overview

Paleo is a cooperative adventure game set in the Stone Age. Players work together as a prehistoric tribe, exploring the wilderness, gathering resources, crafting tools, and facing dangers. The goal is to complete a cave painting (collecting all required painting tokens) before the tribe suffers too many skull tokens. The game uses modular card decks that create different scenarios. Won the Kennerspiel des Jahres (Connoisseur Game of the Year) in 2021.

Components

• Dream cards (scenario-specific)
• Wilderness deck cards (various backs showing terrain types)
• People cards (tribe members with skills)
• Resource tokens (food, wood, stone, etc.)
• Tool/Item cards
• Painting tokens (victory condition)
• Skull tokens (defeat condition)
• Camp board
• Various tokens and markers

Setup

1. Select a module set (scenario) which determines which Dream cards and special rules are used.
2. Build the Wilderness deck by combining module-specific cards with base cards. Shuffle.
3. Deal People cards to each player (each player controls a group of tribe members).
4. Set up the Camp board with starting resources and tools.
5. Place painting tokens and skull tokens nearby.

Turn Structure

Each round consists of:

1. Day Phase

Each player simultaneously draws 3 cards from the Wilderness deck (choosing based on card backs showing terrain). Each player then selects 1 card to resolve, placing the others face down.

Players reveal and resolve their chosen cards simultaneously:

• Resource cards: Collect the indicated resources if you meet the requirements.
• Danger cards: Must be dealt with or suffer consequences (skulls, lost resources).
• Event cards: Special occurrences affecting the tribe.

Players may spend resources, use tools, and collaborate to overcome challenges.

2. Night Phase

• Feed the tribe: each People card requires 1 food. Unfed people result in skull tokens.
• Resolve end-of-day effects.
• Discard and reshuffle if needed.

Actions

During the Day phase, when resolving cards:

Action	Description
Explore	Choose cards based on terrain backs; resolve for resources/events
Gather resources	Collect wood, stone, food, berries, etc.
Craft tools	Spend resources to create tools that help with future challenges
Hunt	Engage dangerous animals for food (requires strength/tools)
Help others	Assist another player’s group with their card challenge
Use abilities	People cards have skills (perception, crafting, strength) used to meet card requirements

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Win (cooperative): Collect all required painting tokens (completing the cave painting) before defeat.

Lose: Accumulate too many skull tokens (varies by scenario, typically 5).

No individual scoring – all players win or lose together.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Card backs matter: The back of each Wilderness card shows the terrain type (forest, mountain, river, etc.), giving players a hint about what they might encounter.
• People skills: Each tribe member has specific skills (strength, perception, crafting). Skills are required to successfully resolve many cards.
• Tools persist: Crafted tools remain available for future rounds.
• Modules: Different module sets create different experiences and scenarios. Start with Module 1 and progress to higher difficulty.
• Secret missions: Some modules add specific objectives beyond the cave painting.
• Multiple people per player: Each player controls a group, not just one character.
• Cooperative discussion: Players should discuss strategy but cannot show each other their cards.

Player Reference

Round: Day (draw 3, resolve 1 per player) → Night (feed tribe, cleanup)

Win: Complete cave painting (collect all painting tokens)

Lose: Too many skull tokens (usually 5)

Key resources: Food, Wood, Stone, and various special materials

People skills: Strength, Perception, Crafting

Modular scenarios: Progress through numbered modules for increasing complexity