Dominant Species (English)

90,000 B.C. - A great ice age is rapidly approaching, and a titanic struggle for survival has begun among the various animal species.

Dominant Species is a game for 2 to 6 players that abstractly recreates a small part of ancient history: the coming ice age, and what it entails for the living beings trying to adapt to the slowly changing earth.

Each player takes on the role of one of six major animal groups - mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, spiders, or insects. Each starts the game in a state of natural balance with respect to one another. But it doesn't last: It is truly "survival of the fittest."

Through Action Pawn placement, players will strive to become dominant in as many different areas as possible to draw beneficial Dominance Cards. Players will also want to spread their individual species to earn Victory Points. Players will be aided in these efforts through growth, migration, and dominance, among other things.

All of this eventually leads to the endgame - the final ascent of the ice age - where the player with the most victory points has their animal crowned as the dominant species.

Gameplay

Throughout a game of Dominant Species, large hexagonal tiles are placed on the table to create an ever-growing representation of Earth, as it might have appeared thousands of centuries ago. These tiles represent the different types of terrain such as desert, mountain, forest, and sea. The smaller Tundra tiles are placed on top of these larger tiles - converting them to Tundra in the process - as the ice age sets in.

The cylindrical Action Pawns (or "AP") drive the game. Each AP allows a player to perform the various actions that can be taken - actions such as growth, environmental change, migration, competition, or ice age. In the planning phase, players take turns placing their available APs on the Action Display, indicating a specific action that the player wishes to perform this turn. In the subsequent execution phase, these APs are removed in a prescribed order, and their specified action is carried out.

Generally, players will attempt to improve their own animals' survival abilities while trying to hinder their opponents' - and hopefully collect valuable victory points along the way. The various cards assist in this effort, providing players with useful one-time abilities or an opportunity for recurring gains in victory points.

During the game, species - represented by colored wooden dice - will be added to, moved around, and removed from the terrain tiles in play.

When the "Ice Age" card triggers the end of the game, players will make a final score for each tile - after which the player controlling the Animal with the highest VP total wins the game.

Players: 2-6
Playing time: 2-4 hours
Complexity: Medium
Age: 13+

Components

• a 20-page rulebook
• a 22” x 34” game board
• six animal screens
• 27 cards
• 31 large and 12 small hexagonal tiles used to create “Earth”
• 330 wooden dice in six colors representing the species belonging to the six animal groups
• 60 wooden cylinders used for Animals' Action Pawns
• 60 wooden cones used as the animals' dominance markers
• 120 round markers representing Earth's resources
• 6 square markers used to indicate each animal's "initiative"
• a cloth bag