“Create the most harmonious ecosystem as you puzzle together habitats and wildlife.”

Link: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/295947/cascadia
Playing Time: 3-45 minutes
Weight: Light-to-Medium
Genre: Tile Drafting
Designer: Randy Flynn
Players: 1-4

Image from boardgamegeek.com

A simple, nature-themed tile drafting game, players will compete in order to build the best tract of Pacifica wildlands.

At the start of a turn, the player chooses to draft a land tile, and a critter tile that has been randomly placed with it.  The land tile has rules about what can be placed on it.  As for the critters, well – they have different scoring criteria chosen randomly at the beginning of a game. For example, bears may only score points if not placed next to other bears.

And…. that’s pretty much the whole game.  It may not sound like much, but it’s got plenty of thinly puzzleness going for it, while still being simple to teach and with a wildlife theme that has proven repeatedly to hit well with more casual board gamers.  There’s a reason why this one blew up – it’s a great, simple game that does what it does extremely well.