Northstar Game Studio - Evolution Climate Board Game - Includes Climate Expansion | Create Species in This Strategy Game for Adults, Teens and Families | 2-6 Players, Age 12+

Evolution (the game) manages to pull off what few modern games can. On the one hand, the engine and the basic rules of the game are fairly simple. Every action is based off playing the trait cards you have in hand. Play a card to put food in the water hole (everyone has to do this each turn); or play a card for its traits (the words); or play a card to gain a species; or play a card to grow your species. Then, you eat the food. The food you eat is your points. If you don't eat enough food, some of your population starves. Draw more cards. Rinse, repeat until the deck is dry. It was simple enough that when I played for the first time with my 6 and 8 year olds, who typically stink at action based games, both were doing just fine. But the traits themselves give an excellent level of complexity to the game. Once you start having multiple species who have evolved into carnivores, who have horns to defend against attacks, who can migrate and climb and hibernate, etc etc etc., the gameplay blossoms wonderfully. The choices you make on your turn become meaningful, which is precisely where you want to be in a game like this: you want your choices to matter, not the engine. Yet, because all the rules for each trait are on cards, everyone can see exactly what's going on. No one is unfairly surprised because the rules for "fatty tissue" is buried in the appendix. This also makes Evolution easy to teach. "What does climbing do, dad?" "What does the card say?" "Oh, right. So you can't attack me! Ha!" I am very excited to get this to the table again. Far too often, modern games have complex rules to go with complex gameplay. To have a family-friendly, quasi-educational game like Evolution buck that trend is a great thing for families and groups who enjoy light to medium games. Note that we played without the climate rules, as suggested by the developer. They will certainly make the game more complex, as you are worried not only about being eaten by your kids' carnivores but the risk of hypothermia, heat exhaustion, and volcanic eruption. I will bring these rules out after 4 or 5 playthroughs, I imagine. For more advanced gamers, they seem absolutely great and a lot of fun. I'd use them as soon as you have a handle on the base strategies.

Amazing game, loads of fun! A game you can actually play with a wide variety and # of players which is rare. First opening the box and looking at all the pieces and the manual you think it is complicated, too complicated. However, once you play it once you quickly get the hang of the concepts and strategy. I suggest you use YouTube video tutorials as an introduction to new players rather than reading the manual; it goes much faster and as long as one person knows the messy details you can bring them up when needed. I also suggest that you use the alternative fast play style for all #s of players rather than just the 5-6 players as suggested. It makes a big improvement in the flow of gameplay leaving each player with less downtime and feels more like a video game where everyone is playing at once together rather than waiting a turn. The artwork is gorgeous, the materials feel high quality. The Climate part can be left out if you want to simplify things. I worried for a first play through with non-serious gamer friends that the Climate part would be too complicated, but they insisted and it actually turned out great! Climate definitely adds interesting effects and strategies, and it might even be a way you can turn some people around to understanding climate change without actually debating and throwing science at them! The game overall certainly pulls in all aspects of evolution, but never once explicitly throws in science. Survival of the fittest at its best!

My wife and I bought this to bring to a family get together, and it was a big hit. We have played about 5 times now, and each time it feels unique and engaging. I would recommend to a new buyer reading the rules yourself beforehand, and instead of just verbally explaining the rules, I would hand out the quick reference cards the game comes with and then explain each of the four parts of a round as you play it with them the first round. I found with this game, learning it definitely came faster as you played. Additionally, I was thoroughly impressed with the thickness of the cardboard tokens, species boards, and watering hole. They are extremely durable, and feel like a high quality product. Even my 8 year old nephew was able to easily pick up and use the pieces (although the nuances of the strategy were a little much, but overall he played just fine with the adults and slight parent coaching).The cards as well were pretty firm, and the instructions are glossy and the pages have some weight.

Overall I love this game. I had a board game night coming up so I pick up evolution. It was super easy to teach and after about 15-20 min we were off and running. I played several games with 5-6 players and it was a great time. Now here comes the but ... the entire time I felt like it needed something like a bit of polish. I liked the game play and making your own species is super cool and hit that nerdy itch. I just couldnt shake the felling like was missing something. So I did some digging and found it is offered on SOME mobile devices and steam. On mobile if available its free and on steam its like $15. So I hedged my bets and bought the steam version because my phone was not compatible. And oh boy I was not disappointed the steam version allows you to do a campaign that varied the theme and gives you a varied difficulty AI to play against. Then my Gf got on her phone and downloaded the free version..... and was able to play with and against me on my steam version. This irritated me a bit at this point I had bought the board game and steam version to then see it could be free. All you would need is internet and your phone and 4 friends(4 is the limit online) could play for free. That being said I am not regretting my purchases and have looked into the expansions (which arent available on the digital version). I can easily recommend this game. I would say if youre on the fence or dont plan on playing with more than 4 people check if its available on you phone. Give it a spin and see what you think. Then see if you want the physical version. I am not bashing this game its great and I will continue to play both versions. In Summary - The digital version On the phone is free and on steam is $15. These are cross compatible and can play with each other . The limit is 4 players. There are new cards to purchase through the digital version Campaign and AI to play again The Physical Board 2-6 players two expansions

I bought this for my 9th grade biology class to help solidify some concepts about evolution. The game is fun and entertaining and the kids really like it. I also bought three other games, and this one was one of the easiest to learn and kept kids attention the longest. It is a great little game. I just can't believe the price - holy crap - If it wasn't so expensive, Id've bought 3 of them so my whole class could play, but as it is, I have to settle for 1 on my teacher's salary. Oh well

Such a cool game! A student of mine brought in this game for me to try with my board game club. I've played it a half dozen times now and I still love it. I can't figure out a fool-proof strategy to win, because I honestly don't think there is one. The success of your species depends on what others do. Getting attacked by predators, add a defense mechanism. Great! Until the predator adapts to your defense. So much strategy involved, yet straightforward enough to learn and love after one go around. The approximately one hour game time, regardless of player size is an added bonus. Highly, highly recommend this game (just purchased my own copy).

The quality of the pieces is excellent! Game play takes about 40 minutes. Has a little bit of a learning curve, but once everyone understands all of the card types, play speed and enjoyment improve. We have played with ages 7+.

I purchased this game as a gift for my husband because he's been asking for it for a couple of years. We both love playing Settlers of Catan (and all the expansions) and have been playing these games for years so I admit I was a little hesitant/skeptical that this game could even come close to being as awesome as Catan. I'm so glad I have it a try. The artwork on Evolution Climate is gorgeous and the game itself is full of depth. There is certainly an element of strategy involved as you create and evolve your own species but the climate aspect adds a level of uncertainty that makes this game interesting (and addicting!). We've never had two games turn out the same way - each time we play is a unique situation. If you're into Settlers of Catan or games like it I highly recommend Evolution Climate for a fun new board game addiction :-). Also, you can play this game with only 2 players which is awesome if there are just two of you sitting around wanting to play something!

This is a great competitive game which involves "evolving" different species with different abilities. At the start of the game all species are herbivores, but they can evolve to become carnivores (who only feed by attacking other players and sometimes your own other species if none other are available). The clever design does not end there. You have to try to outsmart your opponents by evolving abilities to help you resist attacks as well as prevent the ever present danger of starvation which will kill your species. Finally, the climate is able to change, and it can affect the game from mild changes to drastic changes. The players are able to exercise some control over the climate by playing ability cards. The climate changes things because that predator at the table who has been ravaging your species might not do so well in really hot or really cold weather. Changing the weather can help you deal with it without having to fight it. The purpose of the game is to collect as much food as you can. It is a pretty easy game to learn but ends up having a lot of complex strategies developing as the players try to adapt to the climate as well as to other opponents. All in all this is a great game and very fun. Go buy it. You will thank me.

Cartas un poco delgadas pero excelente

Great board game. Loads of fun to play with friends & family. Has surprising depth to such a simple concept & the art work is beautiful.

Tough to learn but sooo fun to play! It helped to download the free app and learn the rules from there but once we did, even my 8yo loves this game. Very well thought out game with lots of strategy. Highly recommended!

Es un excelente juego para pasar el rato, cada juego es único e inesperado totalmente recomendable. de preferencia jugar con 4 personas de 5 puede ser un caótica al principio pero ya cuando todos saben jugar es algo excelente.