Excavating fun

In ⛏️ Archeos Society you recruit specialists and send them on expeditions to different excavation sites, to search for artifacts and ancient secrets. 📜
It’s a set-collection card game with 6 tracks you can move up on, with the goal of having the most points at the end.

The game has 12 different types of cards in 6 different colors. 🧐 Every card type has a unique ability, and as you will only ever have 6 types in a game, you will always have different combinations that change how you approach the game.
The 6 tracks of the game are also double-sided - the advanced sides have special effects, but the basic sides give more points. This is another nice boost to replayability. 🙃

Your turn is super simple: 👇
Either draw a card from the display or from the deck
Or play a set of cards from your hand - either of the same type or the same color

The crucial decision with sets is which card you select as the expedition leader. The leader’s color decides which colored track you can go up on (if the set is big enough), and only the leader’s ability is activated. ☝️And an interesting twist: when you play a set, you have put your unused cards into the central display, potentially helping your opponents grab some useful cards.

Every now and then you will draw golden monkey cards - the first 2 are no problem, but when the 3rd is drawn, the season is over. 🙊 You then do the season end effect of cards, score the current standings on the tracks and score every set in front of you. ⭐
Finally, shuffle the cards and start a new season! The game ends after 3 seasons (or 2 when playing with 2, because you play a lot more cards in 2p).

💬 The game flow is very simple, but I think it’s fun deciding how to play your sets and what to set as the leader card. Bigger sets score more points, but track advancement at the beginning only require small sets. There is also this fun push-your-luck element as you draw cards from the deck, desperately hoping to improve the set you have in hand.
The card abilities are what makes the game, and the way they combine should make each game feel unique! 😊 In summary I think this is a very lovely gateway game.