Evolution Review

I very much have a science-based mind.  I like facts, figures, data, charts, timelines, etc.  Yes, I can be a dreamer, too, but at the end of the day, I need verification to really believe in something.  That’s why I’ve always been on Team Evolution vs. Team Creationism.  It fascinates me how these huge beings like dinosaurs (oh yeah, I love dinosaurs a lot, too) could be preserved in time well past their deaths.  But it leads to questions like, “What happened to them?  Why couldn’t they make it in the end?”  And the game Evolution by North Star Games attempts to answer those.

Disclaimer: There are several expansions to this game, but we are not reviewing them at this time. Should we review them in the future we will either update this review or post a link to the new material here. Furthermore, I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rule book, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays.  For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy from the publisher directly or from your FLGS. – B

You start the game in control of one species of animal.  One non-descript, traitless species that you will slowly (or maybe quickly) build up to be something bigger and better.  You evolve it.  (Huh.)  You’ll start each round by contributing plant food to the watering hole.  Each card in your hand is worth a certain amount of plant food.  Once that food is in the watering hole, it’s fair game for anyone to eat.  Depending on your strategy, you may want a lot of food in that watering hole, or you may want to starve your opponents out (some cards are even worth negative food!).  Once all the food is in the watering hole, it’s time to evolve your critters.  The cards in your hand have unique traits on them.  To imbue your species with that trait, simply place the card next to your species’ gameboard and voila! You now have horns, or intelligence, or the ability to forage, or many other possibilities.  You may also take this opportunity to evolve your creature into a carnivore (more on that later).  At this point in the game, you may also discard cards in order to increase the population of your species, or to increase the body size of your cute little guys.  This will be important later.  You can also discard a card to create a whole new species.  There’s no limit to how many species you can have, but there is a limit to the available food, so be wise with the number of species you create.

After everyone has evolved, it’s time to feed!  You’ll take turns taking plant food from the watering hole.   Yummy!  You want to eat enough food to sustain your whole population size (1 piece of food per population).  If not, your population size will decrease, meaning your species is dying.  If you are unable to sustain the last remaining member of your species, that species will become extinct for eternity.  Sad face.  But don’t worry.  You’ll get a new species for free at the beginning of your next turn.  Once everyone is fed and happy, the round is over and you start a new round.  The winner of the game goes to whoever has eaten the most food because, just like in real life, the success of your population is based on its ability to sustain itself, which, in this case, means eating the proper amount of food.

It SOUNDS simple, but I haven’t told you about all the curveballs yet.  As stated before, you may choose to make your species a carnivore, which means that you will no longer take plant food from the watering hole.  In order to eat, you have to attack another species!  You can only attack other species who have smaller body sizes than you (I told you body size would be important.  It’s your first means of defense against predators!).  But some of those smaller species might have evolved some defensive traits, like a hard shell or the ability to burrow underground or to climb trees and taunt their predators from on high.  This is the beauty of the game.  How well can you evolve your herbivore creature in order to keep it well-fed and also free from predators?  If you’re a carnivore, how well can you adapt to your surroundings and your ever-evolving prey before you can no longer feed on them?  (I should also mention that you may find yourself in the truly depressing situation where all of your opponents have out-evolved your carnivores and the only other option left to feed them is to attack one of YOUR other species.  The rules clearly state that every species MUST feed if able to, so you may have to sacrifice your other friends.  VERY sad face.)

Components: Evolution comes in a standard cardboard box containing lots of high-quality trait cards, plant and meat food tokens and a large watering hole token (on which you put the plant food tokens).  It also comes with cardboard food screens so you can conceal how much food your little (or maybe not so little) critters have eaten.  You’ll get a stack of thick, double-sided species boards for you to keep track of your body size and population.  I love that they’re double-sided because it gives you the flexibility to change their orientation (portrait or landscape) to save on table space.  Body size and population are tracked using little brown and green cubes, which fit nicely in little holes on your species board.  And to top it all off, the first player token is a a very large dinosaur-shaped meeple.  Adorbs.  The cards do tell you how to use them, but the rulebook has extra clarification for each card in case you need it.  The cards are even color-coded so you’ll know if the trait is used for defense or eating, or maybe only usable by carnivores.  Everything is very top-notch quality and the artwork is quite beautiful, creating new creatures and using bright, vivid colors.  The artwork alone drew me to the box in the first place.

I really love this game.  The theme is very on-brand for me, but I also really like that it’ll take a bit of luck (by hopefully drawing usable cards) and a ton of strategy to try to outwit your opponents.  It’ll never be played the same way twice.  Evolution is so spot-on, in fact, that it’s actually been used in the evolutionary biology department of the University of Oxford, so come on.  It’s fun AND educational.  I’ve also downloaded and quickly become obsessed with the mobile version, which is available on Google Play, in the App Store and on Steam.  As of this writing, there are two expansions available: Flight and Climate, but there’s also a Climate stand-alone game, and an Evolution: The Beginning game, which is suitable for our younger friends.  I own the Flight expansion but have yet to play it and I can’t wait to change that!  Give this game a go.  You’ll be happy you did.  In the words of esteemed Dr. Ian Malcolm, “Life, uh, finds a way.” Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a (r)evolutionary 13 / 18.