Alderac Entertainment Group, Cascadia, Board Game, Multicoloured, Ages 10+, 1-4 Players, 45+ Minutes Playing Time

Product Information

Game End: The game continues until all tiles have been placed on players’ wilderness grids. The player with the highest score at the end of the game wins. Ties are broken by the player with the most remaining Scoring Tokens. Additional Rules The graphic design on the tiles, cards and discs is very attractive. The animal photos are gorgeous, the terrain tiles are bright, bold and very clear and the animal discs are also very bold and clean looking. Cascadia leaves no option for confusion in the components with very little symbology, clear, precise art and high-quality design. It’s all rather elegant, in a classically simple way.

Benjamin Abbott (2022-07-18). "Cascadia is board game of the year after Spiel des Jahres 2022 win". gamesradar . Retrieved 2022-07-22. I sit and look at the row of pairs, sometimes for a really long time. And a series of trade-offs and options run through my head. A Chinook Salmon swims around my brain suggesting this tile and pondering that objective. Everything about Cascadia feels calm. Methodical. Meditative. I almost feel like I am breathing in the fresh mountain air when playing. The only rules for habitat tile placement is that your new tile may not be placed on top of another habitat tile and must be placed against the face of an existing tile. Matching the geography of the placed tile isn’t a rule, but while geography doesn’t matter for placement it will have an impact on your scoring, as well as where you’re able to place your wildlife tokens. Hall, Charlie; Johnson, Sarah; Theel, Charles (2021-11-05). "The 22 best board games". Polygon . Retrieved 2022-07-22.

Calico

Terrain Diversity: Aim for a diverse selection of terrain types on your wilderness grid. Having a variety of terrain tiles will increase your flexibility in completing habitats that require different terrains. Nocturne is a puzzly spatial bidding and set collection game set in a whimsical moonlit forest illustrated by Beth Sobel! The game ends when the pool of habitat tiles runs out (which is, rather satisfyingly, exactly 20 turns per player). There is a slight variation in the scoring of corridors for solo mode: your corridors have to have at least 7 matching adjacent terrain tiles to get a 2 point bonus. But besides that, it is a standard BYOS affair (unless you are playing the Achievement/Campaign mode – see below) Curious Creatures

Despite the fact you need to remain aware of other player’s actions, Cascadia is otherwise a rather lonely affair. You’re focussed on what you’re collecting and there’s no direct interaction with other players. On the positive side that means it plays well solo and minimizes friction during family play. On the negative, especially given that it’s entirely a tactical game, it can make the time between turns drag. It’s fast playing, so this is really only an issue with a full complement of four players.Cascadia was my #3 new game of 2021 thanks to a combination of easy-to-learn rules and variable scoring methods, making it a solid family game that is meaty enough to satisfy more experienced gamers as well. It’s a game that not only rewards replaying, but makes you want to do so immediately because you realize all the other strategies you didn’t get to try the last time around. If you counted 65 points you’re right on the nose. Only time will tell if that’s enough to win you the game! Final Thoughts on Cascadia

The active player draws tiles from the draw pile based on the number of players (2 tiles in a 2-player game, 3 tiles in a 3-4 player game). After placing tiles, players score points for completed habitats according to the requirements on their habitat cards. Habitat and nature token scoring is easy to understand, but let’s have a look at some examples for the A wildlife cards. Elk score points for being in a straight line. This arrangement would be worth 9 points. Foxes score points for each unique animal type in the tiles surrounding them, even other foxes. This arrangement would be worth 4 points. Grizzlies score for each pair of bears, with no other bears on the surrounding tiles. This arrangement would be worth 5 points. Salmon score points for being in a run, but not necessarily a straight line. Runs cannot be next to each other. This arrangement would be worth 11 points. Hawks score an increasing number of points for each hawk that is next to no other hawk. This arrangement would be worth 5 points because the lower right two hawks are adjacent and will not score. Finishing a Game of Cascadia

Animal Placement: Be strategic with the placement of Animal Tokens. Consider how they will help you complete habitats in the future. Placing animals adjacent to incomplete habitats can set you up for big points in later turns. The setup of the forest grid and twilight and moonlight goals along with concoction cards and special player abilities in each game provide great variability so that no two games of Nocturne will play out the same. Different spatial goals and situations will necessitate different strategies and tactics to outwit your opponents in this highly interactive and unique spatial bidding game! Cascadia came out last summer from Flatout Games, the same studio that gave us the surprisingly complex game Calico the year before, with Cascadia a sort of “spiritual successor” to the first title. Calico looks cute and simple, with a theme built around cats and quilts, but the game itself presents a difficult challenge with tight scoring rules and an unforgiving structure—you have a board with a frame around it and have limited places to put hex tiles, with no chance to move them later if you make a mistake.