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6 Billion™ - Hunter Gatherer to Civilisation

This game variant for 6 Billion™ covers the rise of Homo Sapiens Sapiens from over 100,000 years ago in Africa to a global population of over 6 billion today. Don’t go looking for Neanderthals (even though they did co-exist with us for a while)  nor any other Homo Sapiens!. The game is divided into 2 phases: Hunter Gatherer  phase (up to 1499AD),  and an Age Of Sail phase (from 1500AD). Initially, just play the Hunter Gatherer to Civilisation phase (but see Additional Notes below).

All rules as per 6 Billion™, except as stated below:

Hunter Gatherer phase

  1. All starting tokens begin in Sub Saharan Africa.
  2. Do not use the Distance Chart
  3. Use all Discovery cards, and the Discovery Chart. 'Planet' Discovery cards are all 1 Action to reveal.
  4. A faction can only colonise or migrate to up to 2 lands away, except Colony 2 which is restricted to adjacent lands. Neutral migrants are not limited by distance. Tokens on Hunter Gatherer tracks cannot be used to colonise or migrate to a civilised population track.
  5. Turn limitations on lands apply, preventing colonisation or migration outside those turns. Discovery cards can only be revealed (for a free colony) during unrestricted turns. Neutral colonies are limited by turn restrictions (Exception - rule 6).
  6. The Neutral(s) must generate a free colony (in preference to the usual free migrant) for one of North America, South America or Australia (max. 1 token per Neutral faction’s turn) if they were not colonised and are not about to be colonised (i.e. a token is in the holding box for that track) by a player during permissible turns and have not been colonised by a Neutral faction. This is done by the controlling player during Neutral turns (during 'generating free migrants').
  7. When Free Doubling tokens, double twice (ie. quadruple), subject to growth limits.
  8. Double cards cannot be used on tokens on a Hunter Gatherer population track to exceed the growth limit (if any) for that population track.
  9. Famine cards are never removed from the game.
  10. A player must apply the effects of War (halving a token) to one of his/her tokens on a Civilised track if possible.
  11. The Recycle card can be used to double any token on a Hunter Gatherer population track (including Neutrals, score 2 points ; Another Player, score 3 points), exceeding growth limits. It cannot be cancelled. A Recycle card can be used normally on either population track, or when played as a symbol.
  12. If a token reaches the last position of a Hunter Gatherer track, and that land has no civilised population, then score that track immediately. Then remove the highest placed Neutral faction and place it on the 1 space of the Civilisation track for that land. Now remove all other tokens from that Hunter Gatherer population track - this Hunter Gatherer population track is now out of play.
  13. If a faction colonises a Civilisation population track, remove any token for that faction from the Hunter Gatherer population track for that land. A faction can be either represented on the Hunter Gather track for a land, or the Civilised track for that land (and never both for one land).
  14. All player factions start each phase with a token in the 7 space of the Leaf  track.
  15. The first player faction to reach a 64 space of a Hunter Gatherer population track loses 1 Leaf (representing the extermination of Mega Fauna) . The first player faction to reach a 8 space of a Civilisation population track loses 1 Leaf (subsequent species extinctions, and deforestation).
  16. This phase ends immediately when China, India, North Africa & The Middle East and Europe are civilised, and 1 other land is civilised. Lowest position on Leaf track loses 6 points (reduce the penalty by 1 for additional faction tied for lowest position).  Score occupied Hunter gatherer tracks, occupied Civilisation tracks and Discovery Tracks. Count positions from Civilisation first, then Hunter Gatherers. Remove all tokens from the Smiley and Dollar tracks, and reset the Leaf track to number 7 for all player factions. Reshuffle Hidden Agendas and deal one face-down to each player. All Discovery cards are returned, and reshuffled to form a new Discovery deck. Drop highest Neutral back 1 position in European Civilisation track, then add 1 token for each player onto the Neutral’s new position. Redraw the turn order, and start a new turn. Retain your existing hand, and do not reshuffle the deck.
  17. If a token from a Civilised population track colonises North America, South America or Australia then all Hunter Gatherers there suffer a special form of Pestilence, Famine & War (place another token of the affected factions in the "p" space to keep track; remove this extra token once the affected faction has suffered all 3 results). These population are halved once, instead of doubled (once or twice, depending upon current phase), during free doubling.

Age Of Sail phase (Hunter Gatherer rules 5, 6, 7 & 16 no longer apply)

  1. Civilised tokens from Europe are not restricted to colonising and migrating to lands up to 2 lands away. Hunter Gatherer tokens from Sub Saharan Africa (if they still exist) are allowed to migrate to North America, South America or Europe (this represents the Slave Trade). Civilised tokens from anywhere else can still only colonise up to 2 lands away. Civilised tokens from anywhere else are allowed to migrate free of restriction.
  2. Any combination of 2 cards comprising Power Politics or War can be played together (counts as 2 actions - cannot be cancelled) to conquer a civilisation population track, providing the player’s faction is present on that track. That faction scores first position points, then go by population as normal. Place a 2nd token on the conqueror's token (this extra token may affect control of the Neutrals). Only the first player faction to do so can conquer a civilisation population track.
  3. Once a civilisation population track is conquered, they can be "liberated" by any combination of 2 cards comprising Power Politics or War played together (counts as 2 actions - cannot be cancelled) by any player and can never be conquered again. Remove the conqueror's 2nd token. The track is now scored normally.
  4. The first token from a  European Civilised faction to become established anywhere other than North America, South America or Australia causes an immediate Double for the highest Neutral faction token present.
  5. The Age Of Sail phase ends immediately when all lands are civilised, or 3 civilised lands have a token on the final number. Lowest position on Leaf track loses 6 points (reduce the penalty by 1 for additional faction tied for lowest position). Score occupied Hunter gatherer tracks, occupied Civilisation tracks and Discovery Tracks. Count positions with Civilisation tokens first, then Hunter Gatherers.

Additional Notes:-

  1. The intention is to allow players to play each of these phases as one linked Campaign game (over more than one gaming session). At the end of a phase, if you do not wish to play the next phase (or have run out of time), then simply record the scores for each player, and the finishing positions for each faction on all population tracks. Then continue the Campaign game by setting up the game from the recorded positions.
  2. In time I will provide "historical" set-ups for the Age Of Sail phase. In the meantime, use your own result(s) from the previous phase to come up with your own "historical" set-ups.
  3. I'm working on ideas for a Barbarian Hordes (ie. population pressure from Eurasia) rule, and another to simulate The Black Death (e.g. first player faction from civilised Europe in China causes top 2 populations to halve in Eurasia & Europe).
  4. I would like to extend the Campaign game to include 6 Billion™ itself, following on from The Age Of Sail. Later, I intend to create a Galaxy variant which takes us 1,000,000 years into the future. Hence, you can play the entire history and an unimaginable future for humanity using one game system with 5 phases. I'll let you know how this goes.
  5. I will work on design notes to help you visualise why certain rules work they way that they do. If something especially bothers you (for whatever reason), please let me know.

Contact me  with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 1999 Board Not Bored Games Pty Ltd.
A.C.N 072 086 072
ABN: 83 072 086 072
Last modified: 08 July, 2000