Create the most harmonious ecosystem as you puzzle together habitats and wildlife.
In a remote working world, sometimes it’s hard to form connections. Thankfully, we have applications that allow us to create groups of people with similar interests. I discovered I had a teammate who also loved games, and thus, we began the “once-a-week lunch game day” on Tabletopia. We would alternate weeks choosing a game to play. This week, we wanted to test a potential Christmas gift: Cascadia!
Cascadia is a simple hex tile placement game where you create habitats for various wildlife in the Cascadia bioregion. As you grow your ecosystem, you will place bears, elk, foxes, hawks, and salmon in their relevant terrain areas. Sometimes, you might collect the occasional pinecone that grants you special abilities to use to your advantage. Once all tiles have been placed, whoever scores the most points wins!
Players will earn points based on contiguous habitat and adhering to special rules depicted on the animal cards. For example, the starting scorecards have fox scoring points for each unique animal adjacent to them or salmon scoring points for how many you have connected in a row.
Mechanics & Categories: Tile Placement, Drafting, Animal, Pattern, Puzzle
EASY TO PLAY
I looked at the rules for two minutes and was already good to go. Nothing about this game prevents anyone, even younger kids, from picking it up and playing it. Each turn, you take a combination of a habitat tile and a wildlife token. Tiles are placed in your ecosystem, and wildlife are placed on those tiles, matching a habitat they can reside in. You can play this game as long as you can match colors and animals to pictures.
The strategy portion involves having the most contiguous habitat tiles in a group and the placement of your wildlife. There are several different wildlife scoring cards, but they offer a recommended set for your first game, which we used. If you want to score the most points, you need to make sure you are trying to connect habitats and ensure wildlife can score the most they can. If you need to place a salmon, try to ensure it is adjacent to other salmon so you can score more!
There are many ways to score, making you feel fulfilled playing this game. As an optimization game with a bit of chance, I see how you would want to play repeatedly, trying to beat your score. Playing with two players, there was a bit of cut-throat-ness stealing certain wildlife before your opponent, making gameplay enjoyable at every turn.
NATURAL BEAUTY
Beth Sobel was a fantastic artist choice for this game. With her focus on nature and wildlife in most of her artwork, Cascadia could be brought to life even with small components. The habitats look realistic and blend nicely when tiles slowly form together to create a beautiful ecosystem.
Every card, tile, wildlife token, and box art displays vibrant paintings with realistic textures: rocky mountains, fluffy elk, lush plant life, and more. Each animal has different scoring rules, so you get to see all the different art variations of the animals. Cascadia is quite a sight to play, encapsulating nature’s true beauty in all aspects.
FACTUAL HABITAT
Playing a game can be a great learning opportunity! The wildlife on each habitat tile shows only animals that would reside there. For example, salmon will only exist in the water, while bears could live by the water but also in the mountains or forests. These are small details that can be great learning lessons for younger kids.
Even the mechanics of scoring each animal play well with their nature. Hawks are predators and can score points for the amount of salmon touching them. Bears can travel solo or in families and score points for no other bears nearby. It is refreshing to play a game where realism is considered when creating the game's mechanics.
Final Comments
I knew little to nothing about this game upon playing it, but I learned it in a matter of minutes and thoroughly enjoyed my first play-through with two players. This is a great two-player game to hammer out quickly. I am curious how the game evolves and becomes more complicated when other players interrupt your strategy by stealing wildlife or habitats that you were aiming to obtain.
Cascadia feels like another gateway game to me. It is simple for newer gamers and brings a beautiful art piece to your collection. This would be a great gift if you have friends or family who love the outdoors and enjoy playing games.
Heavy thinkers and deep strategy gamers, this is not for you. There are way too few rules and scoring opportunities to make you think long and hard. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a deep strategy game here and there, but I often find myself looking for quick set-up games and games I don’t have to overthink after a long work day.
Ultimately, Cascadia is a solid game to add to one’s collection, even if it doesn’t hit the table that often. With the optimization that needs to be considered, almost anyone can play this game. I especially think this is a great stepping-stone game for children. If you love the outdoors, appreciate nice art, and want a relaxing game to play, Cascadia is your game!
Similar To: Calico, Framework, New York Zoo, Land vs Sea
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Publisher: Flatout Games
Game(s) Pictured: Cascadia
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