Ecosystem

We received this game as a gift and we were all excited to open it (2 adults and kids ages 5, 8 and 10). The artwork is gorgeous and engaging, and the concept of the game is fairly intuitive (drafting a card and placing it in front of you where the animal/landform would work best in the ecosystem). You eventually make a 4x5 grid as you draft and place the cards until you have your ecosystem complete. You then score points based on favorable ecosystem setups (i.e. trout and dragonflies next to streams, bees next to meadows, etc.) The game plays fairly quickly (about 15 minutes) and allows up to 6 players, which is nice for larger families. Every game feels different because there are so many variations for how to display your grid. This game was reminiscent of Sushi Go in terms of drafting and passing your hand. Some of the point scoring felt similar as well (the scoring of wolves in Ecosystem feels like the way to score puddings in Sushi Go). The similarity helped us understand how to play the game better, but the two games feel very different as you play. For one thing, the theme of animals in an ecosystem is way more appealing and relevant to us than a game about sushi. The pictures on the cards were beautiful to look at, and there was a sense of pride and ownership as you drafted cards and created your own ecosystem. The end grid result is also lovely to look at, and our kids were excited to compete for the longest stream or the biggest wolf pack. This game is definitely a winner and will go into our game play rotation! A few tips we found helpful: - Put the cards in a holder for younger kids. This makes it easier to pass and easier for younger kids to easily pick a card after each pass. - Even though it says 10+, our 5 year old picked up on the game fairly quickly (though we do play board games often as a family). Some ways to modify the game for younger kids might be to take a few types of animals out of the game or don’t give negative points for ecosystem gaps at the end of the game. - Scoring can take a long time, and young kids will lose interest during this phase of the game (comes at the end after your grid is made). To keep kids engaged, I had my 8 and 10 year old add up everyone’s scores (they were motivated to know who won, and we got some bonus math practice in) while the 5 year old helped clean up the cards. - While scoring, you need to know which cards did not score any points. You can’t immediately remove them because they may affect scoring for other cards. It can be hard to remember which cards didn’t score, so we simply placed some kind of marker on those cards (gems, buttons, etc.) and at the end of the game, it was really easy to see your ecosystem gaps. - If playing with kids, score one animal at a time. Go around and have everyone tally their bears (and mark their ecosystem gaps as suggested above), then their bees, and so on.

Like the card version of Cascadia basically, which is awesome! Another review said it's like Arboretum, it's not. So glad because I can't stand that game. It's easy to learn, easy to set up....just deal 10 cards, 2 rounds. Game time probably about 15 to 20 minutes. So a great filler or after dinner game. Good 2 player game. Haven't tried more yet. You definitely have to look at the reminder card a lot to know where to place stuff but once you've played a few times you know generally what's gonna work. Beautiful cards, enjoyable to look at. Bought for my nature loving, future ecologist teenage daughter and she loves it. Just for reference our favorite games are Wingspan, Parks, Bohnanza. We love Atlas Enchanted Lands, it's not too much like that game but it's similar in having to really think about your moves. . Like Bohnanza and Cascadia, it has cards that are more rare. The replay value is great, definitely one I'll grab over and over. So yeah, go ahead and add it to the shelf. It's a keeper.

A very entertaining card-drafting game, especially if you play it with your family! I will surely be buying the other two decks as well (Coral Reef and Savanna).

We are a homeschooling family who dabbles in board/card games. I bought this for us because the cards are beautiful and we love nature. It's kind of weird to figure out how to play properly, but only a game or two until it makes sense. Our 5 year old could not grasp the concepts so it didn't work for him at all. Gameplay is not very exciting, but it's mildly fun. You just kind of get whatever the best card is at the time and hope for the best. Not too much skill required, definitely no heavy thinking or hardly any strategizing during the game. My biggest complaint is the scoring. My 10 and 13 get kind of confused and need me to help them, and it winds up taking just about as long as the game itself to tally it all up. So the end of the game is a total drag for us. I know they will get it the more we play, but again, it's not that exciting so we only play like once a month. It hasn't been one we play at home much, but we do take it with us to restaurants or grandma's house, because it is easy to bring and quiet to play and not disruptive. Overall a 3 out of 5, but an extra star for the beautiful illustrations on the cards.

I played this game at someone elses house, and immediately decided to buy a copy for my own home. The ecosystems aspect of this game is intuitive, whereas the coral reef one looked harder for me to understand what goes with what. The art is gorgeous, and I would eventually like to buy the other versions. We tried to use AI to automatically calculate the points, and while it got close, it wasn't 100% correct. Scoring isn't hard, just tedious, but I will get faster over time, I'm sure. I am going to try to double and single play rules soon, I love that it's an option.

No waiting for your turn. Everyone draws a card from their hand, adds it to their ecosystem, then passes the remaining cards to the next person. You score points for creating simple relationships. Trout score points by being next to rivers or dragonflies. Honeybees score points by being next to flowery meadows. Bears score by being next to honeybees and trout. My eight-year-old granddaughter was able to play after a few minutes. The game also generated a discussion of food chains, apex predators, and animal environments on a simple level. The game is beautifully illustrated and a pleasure to look at and play with. I recommend this game for children, teens and adults.

The instructions are not clear enough about each player needing their own grid. It took a while to parse it out. The video that is linked in the manual also is not very obvious about this. I wish they'd redo it. Otherwise a neat and gorgeously illustrated game.

We're reading about Biomes in my class. I purchased this to use with my higher functioning students. It is a little hard to get the hang of at first. I've modified the rules a little for my students. The pictures are gorgeous. It is a nice looking game.

This game was easy to learn and you can't really make a wrong move so it made it fun for the younger players to start. Rounds are quick and everyone wanted to play again

Fantastic game. Illustrations are amazing and the cards are great quality.

Easy to follow instructions and a simple, inexpensive, card game. The graphics are beautiful and it is a great family game. All ages like it.

Bought for my 10yr old. She loves all things animals & ecosystems. You can play it quickly by luck, or take your time with strategy. 2-player needs a neutral pile, so we get a Teddy bear to play with us as the 3rd pile. It takes a while to add the scores at the end, but you'd get faster with practice. The cards are small and the pictures are beautiful.

Fun deck/card drafting game that as a bonus manages to represent ecological niches in a way that makes learning effortless