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English: General principle. Our game simulates the real-world innovation process in which the production of complex artefacts (that is, virtual ‘totem poles') depends on the discovering of high-level innovations (for example, axes), whose discovery is contingent on the discovering of lower-level innovations (for example, stone tools), both low- and high-level innovations resulting from a specific production process. ( a ) The ‘resources panel'. Players were provided six initial basic resources that could be combined using a workshop panel containing four slots ( Fig. 2 ). ( b ) Examples of successful combinations. By placing items into a four-slot workshop panel (black squares; only three are depicted here), participants could produce innovations (red squares). Innovations occurred when players produced a combination that belonged to a list of pre-determined successful combinations. Low-level innovations (created by combining basic resources) could be combined to produce higher-level innovations. Further accumulation of innovations could produce complex tools (such as axes) that potentially allowed players to get logs (by cutting trees) to build their totem. From top to bottom: a ‘stick' could be obtained by placing a ‘bough' alone in the workshop. A ‘stone tool' could be obtained by combining two ‘refined stones'. A ‘string' could be obtained by combining two ‘bunches of fibres'. The combination of a bough, a string and a stone tool allowed players to get an ‘handaxe'. The handaxe allowed players to cut trees and get ‘logs'. The order of the items in the workshop panel had no effect on the result. ( c ) Examples of totem poles. Other high-level innovations (such as carving tools or pigments) could be subsequently used to refine totems to increase their value. Players' gain depended on the number of innovations they discovered and the value of their totem. The totem depicted on the left represents the achievement of the best isolated individual, required 22 innovations and scored 920 points. The totem depicted on the right represents the achievement of the best social learner, required 54 innovations and scored 6,526 points.