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Over the course of a game of Cascadia, players will build up their own ecosystem by placing habitat tiles and wildlife tokens. On your turn you’ll select one of the habitat tile and animal token pairs and place them in your environment.
Now, that all sounds rather straightforward. So, here’s where the puzzle ramps up. Each game, there are 5 Wildlife Goals. One for each type of animal, and there are multiple sets (A, B, C, D which can be mixed and matched), such that no single game plays according to the same scoring conditions as another. Each round you begin with a set of numbered tokens that represent your spell strengths. These tokens are used to cast spells and bid on a grid of items (and special actions) on the forest floor. Once you cast a spell, your rival mystics will have an opportunity to cast a more powerful spell onto an adjacent item, hoping to compel it towards them and prevent you from collecting what you need! As the forest is explored, different conditions of magical control will restrict pathways, leading to strategic situations where players can ‘corner cast’ and secure multiple items with less powerful spells. If your spell casting comes up short on the forest floor, you can always make an offering to the forest sprites - magical mice that have their own cache of treasures they may share with you, giving you further options to expand your collection.
Cascadia
Note that if 4 Wildlife Tokens are all the same, this is known as “ overpopulation“, and they are removed and replaced with 4 new randomly selected ones. It can also happen when there are 3 matching animals on offer. But in that case, it is the active player’s choice (aka yours in solo mode) as to whether those 3 are replaced or not. 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. Each carefully placed tile contributes to the growth and balance of your personal wilderness, and as your landscape evolves, you’ll find a deep sense of fulfillment in watching it flourish. The combination of gorgeous artwork, thoughtful gameplay, and the opportunity to create your own natural haven makes Cascadia a game that not only engages the mind but also nourishes the soul, leaving players with a tranquil sense of contentment after each playthrough. What’s included in Cascadia? Place all of the wildlife tokens into the bag and mix well. Then deal out 4 face up habitat tiles and pair each of them with a face up wildlife token. Set the nature tokens to the side (more on that later). Finally, select the A, B, or C wildlife cards and place them to the side where all players can see them. When you’re done, your setup should look something like this.
Fit to Print late pledges are open here HERE: https://gamefound.com/projects/flatout-games/2023-releases Cascadia is a puzzly tile-laying game featuring the habitats and wildlife of the Pacific Northwest! In Cascadia, players take turns building their terrain and populating it with wildlife. Players must create a diverse and harmonious ecosystem - each animal species has a different spatial preference and each habitat must be placed to reduce fragmentation and create wildlife corridors. Calico is a puzzly tile-laying game of quilts and cats. In Calico, players compete to sew the coziest quilt as they collect and place patches of different colors and patterns. Each quilt has a special pattern that must be adhered to, and players are also trying to create color and pattern combinations that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but also able to attract the cuddliest cats. The premise of Cascadia is simple- collect hexes of different terrain that can support different animals, and score accordingly. The foxes, eagles, elk, bears and salmon all score in a different way depending on how you place them on your board; and with four different scoring cards for each animal, Cascadia has enough variety from play to play to keep interest. In addition, you also score depending on how large an area of one terrain is, with bonus points awarded for the person with the largest and second largest of each type. Each hex, with the exception of special ‘Keystone’ tiles, has two terrains printed on it so placement is crucial to your score at endgame. Then select your Wildlife Scoring Cards. There are 4 sets marked A, B, C, and D. Each one includes the 5 animals in the game: Bears, Elk, Salmon, Hawk, and Fox. They are spatially based, placement optimisation goals and you can play with a single set or mix and match (so long as you have one of each species). A is the simplest set which is good for your first few games. There’s also a Family variant Wildlife Scoring Card which replaces all 5 individual animal goals with a single objective which is great for younger or less experienced gamers.Thistleville is the world’s most bustling little town — it’s a challenge to keep up with everything going on, from who took home first prize for their baked goods at the community fair to who has been digging in Mrs. Brambleberry’s carrot patch. Fit to Print is a puzzly tile-laying game about breaking news, designed by Peter McPherson and set in a charming woodland world created by Ian O’Toole! Cascadia is like that for me. The tiles and wildlife tokens are so beautifully and lovingly illustrated, and fit together so perfectly that they form a wonderful tableau expanding out in front of you. During my games I found myself selecting tiles which would complement my landscape in addition to just earning me points. In fact I intentionally arranged my environment in such a way that mountains led to rivers which led into wetlands and prairies…because that’s how nature works, right? Even though I never won a game, I was always proud of the environment that I crafted!
Whether solo or multiplayer, your starter tile is a 3 Habitat Tile hex combo showing a random selection of 3 out of 5 terrain types (Mountains, Forests, Prairies, Wetlands, and Rivers). There’s also one or more animals on each (Bears, Elk, Salmon, Hawk, and Fox). The number of Habitat Tiles in the pool depends on the number of competing conversationists around the table, but the set-up and gameplay is the same for single or multiplayer. Take A Turn The geographic region of North America known as Cascadia encompasses some (or all) of 8 US states (Northern California and Nevada, Northwestern Wyoming, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Alaska) as well as the Canadian province British Columbia and Yukon territory. Stretching for more than 2,500 miles and encompassing nearly 1.4 million square miles, it contains over 75 distinct ecoregions with an astonishing number of plants, animals, and habitats. It’s also stunningly beautiful.What makes Cascadia’s components pop is the art by well-known game artist Beth Sobel. The animal art on the box and cards is first rate stuff, evoking the splendor of the natural wilderness. Even the small animal art on the counters and the tiny terrain on the hexes manages to stir the heartstrings a little. Rules and How to Play 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. After your habitat tile has been placed, you’ll move on to placing your wildlife tokens. Placement rules for animals also have only two rules: a wildlife token can only be placed on top of a matching animal icon of an existing habitat tile and only one wildlife token can be placed on each habitat tile. Since you’ll get a large portion of your points from scoring animal cards, you’ll want to pay close attention to where the animals wind up. 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 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.
Through two rounds (twilight and moonlight) players compete to collect the strongest sets of magical items like firebird feathers, creature skulls, glowing mushrooms, mysterious eggs, and rare herbs. These items have value when collected in specific sets, but can also be combined to fulfill recipes needed for concoctions, scoring you even more prestige! After that stuff is sorted everyone playing gets a starter tile, made up of three normal tiles and you are just about ready to go. Cascadia, on the surface, feels and plays very simply, however, bubbling underneath is a puzzle that could be pondered for hours upon end. As I mentioned earlier, it’s two puzzles in one that must be navigated in conjunction, like a tandem being ridden in two separate directions.
Deep Dive
Winning in “Cascadia” requires a balance of tile placement, habitat completion, and strategic use of Animal Tokens. Here are some winning strategies to help you maximize your score: Preisträger – SPIEL Messe". Spiel. Archived from the original on 2020-11-03 . Retrieved 2022-12-17. 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.
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