Game Setup
Shuffle all decks. Shuffle the Plant Deck, Animal Deck, and Mineral Deck together; they collectively are considered the "Resource Deck".
Place the following, in order from left to right, on the table: Harvest Mat, Market Mat, Industry Mat, and Goal Deck. Place the Resource Deck and Opportunity Deck on the spots marked for them on the Market Mat. Place the Industry chits and Producers on their marked areas on the Industry Mat.
Give each player a Player Mat. Deal out two Goal cards from the Goal Deck to each player; these cards should remain hidden from all other players. Players should keep them face-down on the Goal Cards section of their Player Mat.
Randomly designate one player to be the first player for the first round of phases. Give that player the "leader token"- an object to remember who is going first for this round of phases.
Game Play
Game play takes place over "phases". A phase is a period of time set aside for an activity. There are four phases in a "round" of phases: Harvest, Market, Industry, and Goals. During any one particular phase, every player (starting with the player with the leader token and progressing to the left) takes their turn doing the activity designated for that phase. After an entire round of phases, the player with the leader token passes the leader token to player to their left.
The Harvest Phase
When the Harvest phase begins, ensure that there are two columns of five resource cards each face-up dealt onto the Harvest Mat. Notice that the Harvest Mat has the two columns marked as Latent and Available; as each player takes their turn in the Harvest phase, they select three cards from the Available column and place those cards face-up onto the Resources section of their own Player Mat. After all three have been taken, the three Latent resources directly across from the three that were taken move into the Available column. Fill the three empty spots in the Latent column with cards drawn from the Resource Deck. If the Resource Deck runs out, reshuffle the Resource discard pile and use that as the Resource Deck.
The Market Phase
When the Market phase begins, ensure that there are at least three Resource cards in the Supply column of the Market Mat. Discard any existing cards from the Demand column, and deal as many Opportunity cards into the Demand column of the Market Mat as there are players. If the Opportunity Deck runs out, reshuffle its discard pile and use that.
As each player takes their turn in the Market phase, they may individually choose to Haggle with other players, or Trade with the market directly.
Haggling: If a player chooses to spend their turn during the Market phase Haggling, then they may openly negotiate with other players. Any proposed trade may only involve one other player, but may involve any tangible asset the players own (including Resource cards, Producers, and Victory Points in any form). Once a trade has been agreed on, the agreed-upon exchange of assets occurs and that player's turn ends. The player's turn may also end if they are not interested in negotiating further with any other player, or if no other players are interested in negotiating with the Haggling player.
Trade: If a player chooses to Trade with the market directly, they first interact with the Supply column of the Market Mat, then with the Demand column. When a player interacts with the Supply column, they choose a Resource card that they own and place it in the Supply column. In exchange, they may pick up any one card from the Supply column, or pick a card from the top of the Resource Deck.
Notice that the Opportunity cards in the Demand column have criteria listed on them. A player interacting with the Demand column may capitalize on an Opportunity card if they own the assets listed as criteria on the Opportunity card. Any given asset can only count towards one criterion. When an Opportunity card is capitalized on, it is placed in the Victory Points section of that player's Player Mat, and the Victory Points listed on the Opportunity card count towards that player's Victory Point total.
The Industry Phase
During a player's turn in the Industry phase, they may do any or all of the following any number of times they choose:
Buying a Producer: A player may take a Producer from the Industry Mat after paying the cost listed on the Industry Mat for that Producer. The Resources used to pay this cost are placed in the Resource Discard pile. The Producer purchased should go face-up onto the corresponding Producer slot on that player's Player Mat. A player may only own or buy at most one of each kind of Producer.
Using a Producer: Each Producer is capable of processing its own kind of Raw Resource card. If a player owns both a Producer and a Resource card that this Producer is capable of processing, that player may place that Resource card onto the Industry Mat- permanently removing that Resource card from circulation. In return, that player picks up from the Industry Mat the number of Victory Points in Industry chits listed on that Producer and place them in the Victory Points section of their Player Mat.
The Goal Phase
During a player's turn in the Goal phase, they may do one action from the following list:
Fulfilling a Goal: Goal cards list criteria for their fulfillment. If a player has all of the Resources or other assets mentioned as criteria, they may lay that Goal card face-up onto the Victory Points section of their Player Mat. In exchange, the player must discard any of the assets used (returning Resource cards to the Resource Discard pile and returning Producers to the Industry Mat) to satisfy those criteria. Any given asset of the player may only count towards fulfilling one criterion on the Goal card. After a player fulfills a goal, they draw another Goal card from the Goal Deck. The Victory Points listed on the fulfilled Goal card count towards that player's Victory Point total.
Exchanging a Goal: A player may place a Goal card of their choice from their hand onto the bottom of the Goal Deck. In return, that player picks the top card from the Goal Deck in secret.
Endgame and Victory
If, at the end of a round of turns, at least one player reaches 40 Victory Points (taking into account their Industry chits, their capitalized Opportunity cards, and their fulfilled Goal cards), then the game ends. The player with the most Victory Points wins.