Description
At the start of the 18th century, Europe is rediscovering nature: instead of relying on old books, scholars study it in gardens, cabinets of curiosities and on long expeditions. In Carl von Linné you are naturalists following the Swedish scientist who gave living things their two-part names. Your explorer travels across Scandinavia collecting specimens, which you then study under your lenses back home. You plant flowers in the shared botanical garden, while your students sail to other continents in search of exotic species. All this knowledge turns into books that earn you points and reputation.
How to play Carl von Linné
The game lasts five rounds, and you take three turns in each. On each turn you place one of your lenses on one of the three instruments on the workbench: the spectacles carry out the action once, the magnifying glass twice and the microscope three times. The lens decides the action: exploring the field, studying specimens, writing letters, gardening or sailing. A lens placed on the microscope is locked for the next round, so you plan every round afresh.
After your action you may publish a book if you have enough knowledge and sketches for it. As you advance on the taxonomy track, you gain upgraded lenses with extra effects. Points come from books, studied specimens, flower beds, letters and lectures at universities. After the fifth round, the player with the most points wins.
Why you will love it
- The same lens on the spectacles, the magnifying glass or the microscope makes for a completely different turn, and each instrument also gives its own reward, such as a better place in turn order for the next round.
- You turn the specimens in your library so that your explorer collects several rewards in a single move.
- You stack letters of the same colour in columns, and each new letter also triggers the effects of the earlier ones in its column.
- The botanical garden is shared: the player with the most flowers in a completed bed scores the most points, so it pays to watch where the others are planting.
Who is Carl von Linné for
Carl von Linné is a medium-weight strategy game for ages 12 and up that takes one to two hours. It plays with one to four players, and players like it best with two or three. In the solo game you compete against a scientist driven by special cards and choose one of four difficulty levels. Once you know the rules, the advanced game gives you four characters with their own abilities: Linné, Jeanne Baret, Maria Sibylla Merian and Count Buffon. Historical sidebars and appendices in the rulebook tell true stories about books, species and Linné's students.
What might you not like?
The game has a lot of components, symbols and ways to score, and it takes up quite a bit of table space, so it may not be the best fit for those who prefer quick games with few rules.
What is in the box
- game board and wooden helm
- 4 player boards, 4 character boards and 4 reference guides
- 45 specimens, 18 exotic specimens and 6 starting specimens
- 36 sketches (plus 3 spares)
- 20 journey cards and 4 starting journey cards
- 30 book cards and 6 starting book cards
- 40 letter cards
- 24 basic lenses and 25 upgraded lenses (plus 2 spares)
- 7 scoring and achievement tiles, 6 garden reward tiles, 9 pond tiles, 5 turn order tiles, 15 starting tiles and 4 setup cards
- 24 pot tokens, 24 tool tokens and 83 coins
- player components in four colours: 120 markers, 48 flower tiles, 20 ships, explorers, and lecture, turn order and score tokens
- 20 cards, 9 lenses and a supply token for the solo game
- tokens for the advanced game with characters
