At the start of Explorers, you and up to three other explorers place four landscape tiles - grass, water, desert or mountains - and three different scoring tiles in your playing area. You then go on an exploration tour from your starting village.

The exploration cards, which each show two landscapes, indicate which landscapes you can tick. On your turn, you play an exploration card, choose one of two types of terrain, and then cross three spaces from your current location. Your fellow players must then decide whether to place only two crosses on the same landscape, or choose the other landscape and place three crosses. All your crosses should be adjacent, so you'll need to plan carefully to avoid getting stuck because of "poor" landscaping choices.

In four rounds you expand your territory and receive a special action for each checked box with an object in it. Explorers includes both a solo version and additional task tiles for experienced players, with over a million possible game combinations.