The Fox Experiment

Continue the ongoing experiment of domesticating wild foxes and see which traits begin to appear!

        We finally got to play my second birthday gift that I have wanted for a while: The Fox Experiment. Foxes are one of my favorite animals, so naturally, I gravitated towards this game. Pandasaurus Games has yet to lead me astray with all of their games I own, so I was sure that this game would also be fun.

In the game, you are a researcher breeding the friendliest foxes to create pups showcasing more domesticated traits: spots, curly tails, floppy ears, and barking. Players will select a male and female fox and roll dice each turn to see what traits their pups will exhibit. Each pup will be chosen to breed for a future generation, continuing the evolution of the domesticated fox. At the end of the game, players will score points for evolving their research, pleasing patrons, and breeding the friendliest of foxes!

Mechanics & Categories: Dice Rolling, Roll & Write, Open Drafting, Animal, End Game Bonus

FOX LOVERS REJOICE

   Elizabeth Hargrave does it again in The Fox Experiment. Already renowned for her incredible artwork in Wingspan, she now brings Russian breeds of foxes to life. Even the snow-capped city sucks you into a day in the life of a scientific researcher. The thoughtfulness of graphic design is truly wonderful, putting you in the role of a scientist. 

Though there is so much going on strategy-wise, the main joy is creating the friendliest fox you can and, better yet, getting to name the fox pup you breed. Other players will have the option to choose your pup in a future generation to breed more pups as the game progresses. If you ever wanted a dog and couldn’t have one, now’s your chance to use the names you always dreamed of. 

Each fox is beautifully painted to look as realistic as a photograph. Though I wish there were even more illustrations, the artist provides a great variety to keep you entertained throughout the entire game. Which traits will your pups possess?

BECOME A RESEARCHER

The layouts of the cards, patrons, research, and more are perfectly designed to look like folders, notebooks, photographs, and scribbles, jotting down everything you would expect to have on your desk during research. Rolling so many dice at once feels like an experiment where you must piece together the puzzle to ensure you have got your DNA traits just right.

Scramble to uncover more traits as you breed foxes, and rush to research more as time passes. How many pages of research can you accomplish? Which traits will you focus on?

With numerous paths to victory, no one strategy surpasses the rest. Focusing on breeding the friendliest fox with the most domesticated traits could put you ahead of your competitors, but you might lose out if you don’t please a patron with your findings. If one scientist studies far more than you, they could outclass you in the end.

PASTEL BRINGS LIFE TO A SNOWY CITY

It is always fun to see what colors game makers choose for their meeples and what shape. Not only does this game have fox-shaped wooden meeples, but there are three different positions that make each fox come to life. Some are standing or sitting, while others are in a more playful pose. This decision keeps things interesting when you choose which fox to place.

I also thoroughly enjoy the use of a pastel color palette. Yellow, blue, orange, and purple are not often used colors for components in games, but if they are, they are much more vibrant. In the snowy land of Russia, the choice for pastels blends perfectly. While the boards remain snowy gray with deep forest evergreen trees, the colors add a pleasant contrast to typical Russia.

Now for the dice. There are so many. These are also fun pastel colors: pink, purple, mint, blue, and tan. Each has a different printed white icon representing the different traits foxes can exhibit (which also is quite accessible for those who are colorblind). Though you have to store these in lots of bags as the game tray doesn’t have designated spots, I can overlook that since they are so pretty to look at.

The usual stuff is the boards and cards with cardboard punch-outs for the traits. Though I would love to get a 3D-printed version of the traits, they have a nice glossy finish, which is far better than most punch-outs I have seen.

Last but not least, rather than wasting paper that most “roll and writes” offer, The Fox Experiment provides players with their own set of male and female pups on whiteboard cards. I didn’t know you could print or finish a card with a whiteboard gloss.

Each player receives a marker to jot down their pups’ traits as the game progresses. These markers intentionally have an eraser on the end so you can wipe them after the game ends. Very well thought out and saves on resources!

Final Comments

This game is a lot of fun. I have only played it once, but am itching to play again. Some try to compare this to Wingspan and say it’s a bit easier, but I disagree. Each has its own set of challenges and strategies. Drafting-wise, the game is straightforward about which foxes possess the better traits and provide the most dice to roll. The challenge is in the dice rolling and choosing where to place your friendly dice.

Dice are used for fox pups to gain traits, but friendly dice are “wild” and can be used for any trait. How you choose to use them impacts the trait tokens you acquire, which are then used to score points at the end of the game. To be fair, even if you don’t think much about this, there are still plenty of options to choose as you will acquire trait tokens no matter what.

Regardless of planning and skill level, if you can roll dice, count them, and put shapes together, you will do fine at this game. It feels difficult to do poorly but rewarding to play well. We messed up some of the rules initially, so I highly suggest watching each other’s turns for the first few rounds or games to ensure you understand placement rules and obtain research correctly.

Being able to play simultaneously is a significant benefit for my family, and it feels nice to have a bit of autonomy when playing. I would assist anyone in playing this game in the beginning to make sure they understand how dice go together, but afterward, this would be an excellent game for anyone to play after a few run-throughs.

Animal lovers, art enthusiasts, and fans of dice rolling can’t go wrong picking up The Fox Experiment. Time will tell how replayability feels, but for now, it seems like a great time and a sweet addition to my collection!

Similar To: Dinosaur Island, Genotype

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Publisher:  Pandasaurus Games

Game(s) Pictured: The Fox Experiment