Thousands of years ago, a new era was beginning for humankind.

The nomadic hunter-gatherers who had laboriously earned their place on Earth organized into small
groups, differentiating social roles, building the first settlements, and initiating a great revolution.
Scientists call this period Mesolithic, and this game talks about those people. Step into the role
of a tribal leader, carefully choose the tasks to entrust to the people joining your tribe,
construct specialized buildings, and prepare wisely for the events you will face,
guiding your tribe to victory!

E A

2 Turn Order 7 Offer tiles 94 Tribe cards 2 Final Event cards

tiles (84 Characters, 10 Events
divided into Era I-II-III)

21 Building cards 5 Summary 48 Food tokens 75 Prestige Point tokens 5 Totem

(6 of Era I, 7 of Era II, cards (33 1-food tokens, (25 1/-1, 10 3/-3, 10 5/-5, pawns
8 of Era III) 15 5-food tokens) 10 10/-10, 20 20/-20)

1
 6 Divide the Building cards based on the back (Era I, II, and III),
OVERV IEW shuffle each stack separately. Then, based on the number
of players, randomly take the specified number of cards
In MESOS, you are the leader of an ancient tribe, and as such, your for each Era, as indicated in the following table, to form
role is to nurture the growth of your tribe by adding new members, 3 face-down decks:
ensuring its sustenance, constructing buildings, and addressing
the unfolding events.
PLAYERS ERA I ERA II ERA III
In each round, you must place your Totem pawn on the Offer track.
Then, following the pawns’ order on the track (from left to right), 2 1 2 3
you will acquire Character or Building cards and add them to your
tribe. Each card has specific effects and may provide Prestige 3 2 2 4
Points (PP) during or at the end of the game.
4 2 3 4
The winner at the end of the game is the one who has managed to 5 2 3 5
bring the most prestige to their tribe.

SET UP
1 Return to the box all Offer tiles showing (on the back) a T OP ROW 5
number of players (3+, 4+ or 5) not corresponding to the
players in the game. Then, arrange the Offer tiles to form the
Offer track, placing them next to each other in ascending order
from left to right based on the letter indicated on each tile.

2 Take the Turn Order tile that shows on one side a number
of spaces equal to the number of players. Place it with that
face up to the left of the Offer track and return the other tile
to the box.
T RIBE CARDS DECK
3 Return to the box all Tribe cards showing (on the lower right
corner) a number not corresponding to the players in the 3
game. Then, divide the Tribe cards according to the back 9
(ERA I, II, and III), and shuffle each stack separately.
Finally, form the Tribe cards deck, face down, placing the two
Final Event cards at the bottom (in any order), above them the
Era III deck, then Era II, and finally the Era I deck on top.
Place the assembled Tribe deck next to the Turn Order tile.

4 Draw from the Tribe deck a number of cards equal to the

number of players plus 1 and place them face up below the
Offer track to create the bottom row. If you draw Event cards,
place them above the Offer track in the top row and continue
drawing until you have revealed the necessary cards.

5 Draw from the Tribe deck a number of cards equal to the

number of players plus 4 and place them face up above the
Offer track to create the top row. If there are already Event
cards in the top row, draw only the number of cards needed to
complete the row. EXAMPLE OF SETUP FOR A 5-PLAYER GAME

2
Return the unused cards back to the box. Then,

6a Place the Era I Building cards face up in the top row

to the right of the Tribe cards;

6b Place the Era II and III decks face down next to the playing
area; they will come into play during the game.

7 Place the Food tokens and the Prestige Point tokens on the
BUILDING CARDS DECKS
table to form the general supply.
8 Choose a color and take the corresponding Totem pawn.
Also take a Summary card.

9 Randomly place the Totem pawns on the Turn Order tile.

This will determine the turn order for the first round.

10 Finally, regardless of the number of players, the 1st player

takes 2 Food tokens, the 2nd and 3rd players take 3 Food
tokens, while the 4th and 5th players take 4 Food tokens. 6b

6a
3 4

2 3

5 3+

OF FER T RACK

7
A B C D E F G

2 1
A B C D E F G

GENERAL SUPPLY

4 BOT T OM ROW
3+ 5

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 HOW T O PLAY In this example, players will place Totems on the Offer track
in this order: red, violet, yellow, white, blue.
A game of MESOS unfolds over 10 rounds until the Tribe cards After they placed their Totems, as illustrated in the image
deck is depleted. In each round, you need to carry out the following below, they will resolve actions in order from left to right:
two phases, in order: • Yellow takes 3 Food tokens, then moves the Totem back
to the first place of the Turn Order tile and takes 3 additional Food
tokens;
1 Place Totem pawns on the Offer track
• Red takes 1 Character/Building card from the bottom row then moves
Following the order of the Totem pawns on the Turn Order tile, the Totem back to the second place of the Turn Order tile and takes
from top to bottom, place your Totem on an available Offer tile 1 Food token;
(i.e., a tile where there is no other Totem already). • Violet takes 1 Character/Building card from the top row;
• Blue takes 1 Character/Building card from the bottom row and
1 Character/Building card from the top row (in any order);
Each Offer tile shows:
• White takes 2 Character/Building cards from the top row and
A space where you can place 1 Character/Building card from the bottom row (in any order). Then,
your Totem moves the Totem back to the last place of the Turn Order tile and pays
1 Food token (only if they don’t have Food, they lose 2 PP).
The action you must perform (usually
the number of cards you can take and
the row from where you can take them)
A letter indicating the tile’s position on
E the Offer track
A B C D E F G

FOOD AND PRESTIGE POINTS

2 Resolve Actions Whenever you take a certain amount of Food, take the
corresponding number of Food tokens from the general supply
In turn, starting from the player with the leftmost Totem pawn
and place them in your personal supply. Whenever you need to
on the Offer track and proceeding to the right, resolve the action
pay Food, take the appropriate number of Food tokens from your
indicated on the Offer tile where you placed your Totem.
personal supply and return them to the general supply.
With the exception of tile A (available only in 5-player games),
Whenever you gain Prestige Points (PP), take the corresponding
which provides 3 Food tokens, all other Offer tiles allow you to
number of Prestige Point tokens from the general supply and place
choose and take Character and/or Building cards from the upper
them in your personal supply. Whenever you lose Prestige Points,
and/or lower row, as indicated on the tile itself.
take the appropriate number of Prestige Point tokens from your
You can never take Event cards from any row. personal supply and return them to the general supply. If your score
becomes negative, use the reverse side of the Prestige Point tokens.
If an Offer tile allows you to take multiple cards (even from different
rows), you can freely choose the order in which to take them.
TAKING CHARACTER CARDS
If, on your turn, there are no more available cards in the rows from
When you take a Character card,
which you should take them, you receive nothing. If, however, there
simply add it to your tribe by placing
are still available cards, you must take them.
them in front of you in columns of
After resolving the action on the Offer tile, return your Totem pawn the same color, leaving only the
to the Turn Order tile, placing it in the first available space starting icons in the top corners visible.
from the top. If the space where you placed your Totem provides
Note: Adding Character cards to your
a Food bonus, immediately take the specified number of Food tribe has no cost; however, during the
tokens. The player placing in the last space must pay 1 Food token Sustenance Event, you should have
if they have one. Only if they don’t have Food to pay, they lose enough Food to feed them all, or else
2 Prestige Points. The arrangement of Totem pawns on the Turn you will lose Prestige Points (see Event
Order tile determines the turn order for the next round. Description at page 6).

4
 There are 6 types of Character cards:

INVENTORS BUILDERS
At the end of the game, Inventors provide a During the game, each Builder reduces the Food
number of Prestige Points equal to the number cost of every Building card you take by the amount
of Inventors in your tribe multiplied by the indicated in top right corner.
number of different Invention icons you have.
At the end of the game, each Builder provides the
There are 10 different Invention icons. Prestige Points indicated in the lower left corner
of the card.

ARTISTS
During the Cave Paintings Event, you can gain
GATHERERS or lose Prestige Points based on the number of
During the Sustenance Event (see Event Artists in your tribe (see Event Description at
Description at page 6), they provide a discount of page 6).
3 Food tokens on the total you would have to pay.
At the end of the game, you gain 10 Prestige
Note: You do not take any Food from the Gatherers 3+
Points for every 2 Artists in your tribe.
under any circumstances.
3+

HUNTERS
Whenever you add a Hunter without a icon to
SHAMANS your tribe, you get nothing. Whenever you add a
Shamans can show from 1 to 3 icons. Hunter with a icon to your tribe, immediately
During the Shamanic Ritual Event, having the take 1 Food token for each Hunter in your tribe
majority of these icons provides Prestige Points; (with or without a icon).
having the minority, on the other hand, results in During the Hunt Event, you take Food and gain
losing Prestige Points (see Event Description at Prestige Points based on the number of Hunters
page 6). in your tribe (see Event Description at page 6).

TAKING BUILDING CARDS

When you take a Building card, you must pay the Food cost END OF T HE ROUND
indicated in the top left corner of the card. Then, add it to your
tribe. If you don’t have the required Food, you cannot take it. After all players have finished their turns, perform the following
For details on Building cards, refer to the Appendix at page 8. steps in order:

Remember: Each Builder in your tribe reduces the Building’s cost. If you have 1 Resolve Events
multiple Builders, sum up all the discounts of all cards, but you can never
reduce the cost below zero. If there are Event cards in the bottom row, resolve them.
If Sustenance is among the Events, resolve it last.
Each Building card shows:
4 In the rare case you have to resolve two events of the same type
Cost in Food
during the same round, resolve them following the Era order.
There are 4 Event cards (Hunt, Shamanic Ritual, Cave Paintings,
and Sustenance) in each Era. The same Event shows increasing
values from one Era to the next. For details on Event cards, refer to
3 Prestige Points at the end of the game
the Event Description at page 6.
Effect Remember: You cannot take Event cards to add to your tribe.

5
 There are 4 types of Event cards:

SUSTENANCE SHAMANIC RITUAL

Pay 1 Food token for each Character card in The player with the most icons in their
your tribe (Building cards do not count). If, after tribe gains the Prestige Points indicated on
paying all the Food you have, you couldn’t feed all the Event card.
your Characters, you lose the amount of Prestige
The player with the fewest icons in their
Points indicated on the Event card for each
tribe loses the indicated Prestige Points.
Character card you couldn’t feed (in the example
illustrated on the left, you lose 2 PP for each In case of a tie, all tied players gain or lose the
Character you cannot feed). indicated Prestige Points (during the resolution of
the Shamanic Ritual illustrated on the left, Simone has 4 icons,
You cannot choose to lose Prestige Points to avoid paying Food
Lorenzo has 3, Arianna and Giada have 2 each: Simone gains 10 PP,
(for example, if you have 2 Characters and only 1 Food token, you
while Arianna and Giada lose 5 PP each).
must still pay 1 Food token and lose 2 PP; you cannot choose to
lose 4 PP and keep the Food).
CAVE PAINTINGS
In any case, keep all your Characters, even if you don’t have To gain Prestige Points with this event, you must
enough Food to feed them all. have a minimum number of Artists, as indicated
by the Event card.
Remember: Each Gatherer gives you a discount of 3 Food.
If you have the number of Artists indicated by the
If there are multiple Events to resolve, Sustenance must be
Event card in the top line, you lose the amount
resolved last.
of Prestige Points indicated (in the example
illustrated on the left, if you have zero or one
HUNT
Artist, you lose 3 Prestige Points).
Take 1 Food token and gain the amount of
Prestige Points indicated on the Event card If, on the other hand, you have the number of Artists indicated in
for each Hunter in your tribe (in the example the lower line, you gain the indicated amount of Prestige Points
illustrated on the left, you gain 2 PP for each for each of your Artists (in the example, if you have at least two
Hunter). Artists, you gain 2 Prestige Points for each Artist).

4
2 Discard all Character and Event cards in the bottom row
If there are any Building cards, however, they remain in place. 3

3 Move all remaining Character and Event cards from

2
the top row to the bottom row
If there are any Building cards, however, they remain in place.
3
4 Restore the top row
Draw from the Tribe deck a number of cards equal to the number A B C D E F G

of players +4 and place them above the Offer track to create a new
top row. 1
At the end of the round illustrated on the right: first resolve the Shamanic
Ritual Event, then remove all the cards from the bottom row, then move the 2
highlighted cards from the top row to the bottom row (not the Building card,
then draw new cards (number of players plus 4) to create the new top row.
5

6
 Building 1 Building 2

BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA 8 3

As soon as you reveal a Tribe card from the next Era (while
restoring the top row at the end of a round), the new Era begins.
8 2
Immediately perform the following steps in order:

>

-
Discard any Building cards present in the bottom row
This happens only at the beginning of Era III.

2 Move any Building cards present in the top row to the bottom
row, and place them to the right of the Tribe cards
This happens at the beginning of Era II and III.

3 Place the Building cards from the just-started Era in the top 4+ 5 3+

row to the right of the Tribe cards, face up

Yaniv ended the game with the illustrated cards and gained 19 PP during
This happens at the beginning of Era II and III. the game. At the end of the game, he gains:

Afterward, proceed as usual with a new round. INVENTORS: 20 PP (5 Inventors x 4 different Invention icons)
BUILDERS: 4 PP (3 + 1)
BUILDING 1: 8 PP + 15 PP (3 x 5 Hunters)

END OF GAME BUILDING 2: 2 PP

Yaniv’s final scoring is 78 PP.
The game ends at the end of the 10th round when the Tribe deck is

EXPERT VARIANT
depleted, and it is no longer possible to restore the top row. At the
end of this round, resolve all visible Events, including those in the
top row. As usual, the Sustenance Event must be resolved last.
This variant is designed for experienced players or those already
Afterward, add the following Prestige Points (PP) to the total familiar with the game who want a more challenging experience.
Prestige Points gained during the game:
Apply the following changes to the standard rules:
• PP from Builders in your tribe
SETUP
• 10 PP for every 2 Artists in your tribe
During step 6, after forming the three decks of Building cards, lay
• PP equal to the number of Inventors in your out all the Building cards face up:
tribe multiplied by the number of different
Invention icons on the respective cards 6a. Era I cards in the top row, to the right of the Tribe cards

• PP from Buildings in your tribe (PP illustrated 6b. Era II and III cards beside the playing area
on the card, plus PP derived from endgame This way, you’ll have knowledge of the Building cards in play
effects) from the beginning of the game and can plan your strategy more
The player who, after this count, has the most Prestige Points precisely.
wins the game. BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA
In case of a tie, the tied player with the most Food wins. At the beginning of a new Era, proceed normally by placing the
In case of further tie, the victory is shared. Building cards from the just-started Era (II or III) in the top row,
next to the Tribe cards, but they will already be face up.

7
APPENDIX - BUILDING CARDS DESCRIPT ION
Starting from when you have this Building, During the Shamanic Ritual Event, if you have
every time you complete a set of 6 different more icons than any of the other players,
Character cards, you take 5 Food tokens. you gain double the indicated Prestige Points.
You do not receive Food tokens for sets You still gain Prestige Points in case of a tie.
already completed at the time of acquiring the
Building. During the Hunt Event, you take 1 Food token
and gain 1 additional Prestige Point for each
During the Sustenance Event, you have a Hunter in your tribe.
discount of 1 Food token on the total you
would have to pay, for each of the indicated At the end of the game, you gain double the
Characters in your tribe (Artists/Inventors/ Prestige Points indicated on the Builder cards
> in your tribe.

-
Gatherers).

During the Shamanic Ritual Event, you do not During the Cave Paintings Event, you take
lose Prestige Points if you have fewer icons 1 Food token for each Artist in your tribe.
than all other players.

If at the end of your turn (also during the last At the end of the game, you gain 6 Prestige
round), when you move your Totem back to Points for each set of 6 different Character
the Turn Order tile, you place it in a space that > cards in your tribe.

-
provides a bonus in Food, you immediately
take 1 additional Food token. If you place the At the end of the game, you gain the indicated
Totem in the last space, you pay 1 Food token amount of Prestige Points for each Character
normally, and the building has no effect. >
- card of the indicated type in your tribe.

Starting from when you have this Building, After resolving all actions (once all Totems
every time you obtain a pair of identical have been moved back to the Turn Order tile)
Inventors (with the same Invention icon), you and before the End of the Round phase, you
take 3 Food tokens. You do not take Food for can take 1 Character or 1 Building card (paying
pairs already owned at the time of acquiring its cost) from the top row.
the Building.
At the end of the game, you gain
During the Shamanic Ritual Event, your tribe 25 Prestige Points.
25
has 3 additional icons.
>
-

SPECIAL T HANKS CREDIT S

The game’s authors wish to express their special appreciation to Galit Game Design: Yaniv Kahana
Kahana, Itai Kahana, Eran Kahana, Maayan Kahana, Yosefa Kahana, Arie Simone Luciani
Kahana, Sally Halon, Samantha Milani, Sara Luciani, Clara Romagnoli for Illustrations: Kerri Aitken Cranio Creations S.r.l.
their incredible help and support. Via E. Romagnoli 1
They also wish to thank everyone who helped test Mesos: Vital Art Direction: Arianna Santini 20146, Milano – Italy
Pinchas, Yaakov Buchsbaum, Michael Pevzner, Isaac Eshkenazi, Natan Graphics: Arianna Santini [Link]/en
Shtockhammer, Tamir Aloush, Yotam Harris, Simone Colombo, Pierpaolo Giada Lo Duca
Paoletti, Ido Traini, Claudio Ciccalè, Andrea Giuliani, Matteo Neri, Elisa
Rules: Stefania Niccolini
Seri, Roberto Benedetti, Jonny J. Rojas as well as all other friends for their
support and valuable suggestions. Editing: Giuliano Acquati