In カメとカエルとエスカルゴ (Turtles, Frogs, and Escargot), you are an archaeologist exploring the "Ruins of Escargot". The players earn victory points by finding traces of the Ruins of Escargot, rescuing wild creatures, and completing unexplored terrain.
It is a hex-based tile placement game, where terrain edges must match, but players are also given fence pieces which can be used to allow non-matching edges to be adjacent.
In addition to points being earned for placing animals next to like animals and placing tiles next to at least 3 other tiles, players are given goal cards to choose from which will earn them points. Some goal cards are public and will score the player points during the game and others are secret and will score at the end of the game. These goal cards have to do with completing areas of certain terrain types or creating large areas of certain terrains.
The game includes a small expansion which adds tiles featuring a railroad.
The player with the most points wins.