How to Play Fungopia
Master the art of fungal symbiosis
Ready to Cultivate Your Mycelial Network?
Explore fungal competition and symbiosis through strategic gameplay
Game Components
Everything you need for a rich strategic experience
44 Hypha Pieces
Branching filaments placed on hexagon edges to build your network
5 Immunity Tokens
Track your fungal immunity level throughout the game
32 Adaptation Cards
Special ability cards for strategic advantages
6 Hexagonal Tiles
Modular board pieces featuring trees, roots, and insects
1 Tree Tile
Central tile for the game board
52 Carbohydrate Tokens
Essential resources earned through mushrooms and tap roots
32 Mushroom Tokens
Colorful tokens representing your fruiting bodies on the board
4 Tracking Boards
Individual player boards for managing resources and abilities
1 Adaptation Board
Central board displaying available special abilities
Spore Tokens
Track your available actions and strategic options
🎯 Game Setup
Goal: Control tiles, form mushrooms, and earn the most points to become the dominant mycelial network!
Setup Steps:
- Arrange all tiles randomly around the central tree tile
- Place carbohydrate tokens (△) on all triangle symbols
- Set up the adaptation board with 4 face-up cards
- Each player selects a mushroom species (Boletus, Amanita, Chanterelle, or Morel)
- Each player receives:
- 11 hypha pieces
- 8 mushroom tokens
- 3 spore tokens (2 fresh, 1 decayed)
- 1 tracking board
- Boletus player goes first
🚀 Starting the Game
Starting with the Boletus player, each player places one spore on any tile (except the tree tile), then places one hypha piece on an unoccupied edge of that tile, removing the spore.
After all players complete their setup, regular turns begin!
🔄 Your Turn
Turn Order:
- Choose your action: Grow or Sprout (place 1 hypha)
- Manage spores: Return decayed spores, flip fresh spores to decayed
- Place new spores: Place any number of fresh spores on tiles
⚠️ Important: You cannot sprout with spores placed in the current turn - they must be from a previous turn!
🌱 Grow
Add a hypha piece connecting to your existing hypha on any vacant tile edge.
- Must connect to your network
- Cannot remove other pieces
- Safe expansion strategy
🍄 Sprout
Remove your spore from the board (place it decayed) and place a hypha on that tile's edge.
- Can only use spores from previous turns
- If no edges vacant, replace any hypha
- Replaced hypha owner must re-place it
- Aggressive tile control
🍄 Forming Mushrooms
When you form an intersection with three of your hypha pieces at a vertex (where hexagon edges meet), you grow a mushroom!
Mushroom Benefits:
- △Collect carbohydrates from the adjacent tiles (if they have △ symbols)
- ♻️Refresh one spore from decayed to fresh in your repository
- 🏆Earn 1 point at the end of the game
🌳 Taproots
Tiles with the taproot symbol at the center provide bonus carbohydrates.
⚡ Whenever you place a hypha on a taproot tile's edge, you immediately gain △ from the bank!
💡 Strategy tip: Controlling taproot tiles gives you steady resource income for purchasing adaptations!
🛡️ Infested Edges & Immunity
Some edges are infested (marked in purple/violet) and cannot be used without immunity.
Gaining Immunity:
- Purchase immunity token for 2△ (once per game)
- Use the "Immune Priming" adaptation card
Immunity Benefits:
- Access infested edges (purple areas)
- Win all ties when controlling tiles
- Break final game ties
🏅 Higher immunity = You win disputed tiles!
⚡ Adaptation Cards
Spend carbohydrates (△) to purchase powerful adaptation cards that give you special abilities.
How to Buy:
Cost = Card Number + Position in Row (1-4)
Example: A card numbered "2" in position 3 costs 2+3=5△
- You can buy at most ONE adaptation per turn
- You can use any number of adaptations during your turn
- After purchase, slide cards left and draw a new one
- Used adaptations are removed face-down from the game
Available Adaptations:
🔄 Adaptive Growth
Relocate one of your hypha to connect with your network
🌿 Sclerotia Formation
Relocate one of your hypha to where it doesn't connect with your network
⚔️ Antifungal Metabolite
Force any opponent to relocate one of their hypha touching yours to connect with their network
🛡️ Immune Priming
Increase your immunity by one (permanent!)
🐛 Cordyceps Parasitoid
Grow a mushroom on a vacant insect vertex. Collect △ and refresh a spore as usual
💰 Mutualistic Mycophagy
Remove one of your mushrooms to receive 4△ from the bank
🔀 Fungicolous
Pick an opponent's hypha piece. They pick one of yours. Exchange their positions
🏆 End of Game & Scoring
The game ends when players deplete their hypha pieces (11 turns).
Points Sources:
Ties: player with higher immunity wins. Equal immunity = both get points
Ties: player with higher immunity wins
Final Tiebreakers:
- Player with the highest total points wins
- If tied, player with higher immunity wins
- If still tied, the game is declared a draw
💡 Winning Strategy Tips:
- Balance tile control with mushroom formation
- Use taproot tiles for steady carbohydrate income
- Build immunity early to dominate contested tiles
- Plan your mycelium network for the longest path trophy
- Time your adaptations for maximum impact