Dominant Species

I want to preface this by saying that I have quite a large collection of board games when compared to the general population, and that I host a board game night every week at my house. That weekly gathering happens to be where I first brought out this game, and personally loved it, but the general consensus was very mixed. (Just for reference, games my game group LOVE and play often are: Cosmic Encounter, King of Tokyo, Eclipse, and Sentinels of the Multiverse. Games that totally flopped were: Mission: Red Planet, and The Resistance. There are many more games that fall somewhere in between. This, unfortunately, was one of them.) Well, I explained it to them in 10-15 minutes, and then the six of us played it. After our 4 hour game, I had one guy very loudly proclaim that it was one of the most boring of games, apparently the theme/mechanics didn't do it for him. However, and much more concerning to me, I had another friend approach me that night after everyone else had left and ask that I inform him privately ahead of time if I ever decided to bring Dominant Species out again. He explained that he felt overwhelmed by all the available choices and couldn't wrap his mind around how to outmaneuver his competitors. So by the end of the game he just placed Action Pawns (APs) semi-randomly hoping for the best (and, honestly, his final score reflected this fact). The other three in our group loved it with almost the same intensity I did and have asked for me to bring it out again many times (several times, I have). I guess I relay this story to warn you to be careful when deciding whether or not to buy this game. It may sound exciting (it is), you may have a seasoned and willing group to try it with you (I did), but this is not a game everyone is going to enjoy. It's fairly quick to teach if your buddies are familiar with this type of game (place an AP in an open action spot, get stuff or stuff happens), but the sheer number of choices and stats to keep track of/manipulate to your advantage can be a real deterrent to some. The rules are easy to medium to learn. The depth is very, very deep. For instance, here are a few things you need to keep track of in an average turn to play this game decently well: land values, land placement, abundance of certain elements, lack of certain elements, available adaptable elements and their significance, other players adaptations, locations of other players, glaciers, what elements and lands are bordering glaciers, number of opponents species on various lands, dominance cones on various lands, where opponents placed their AP, where they want to place an AP, where you want to place an AP, what spaces are still open to be placed in, AP order, the current available dominance cards, which dominance cards are still left to be played, how far until the Ice Age dominance card, where opponents are on the Victory Point (VP) track, how many APs both you and they have left to place each round, how many species you have left, what special abilities each player has, when and where to make a grab for the Bonus VPs, how to set yourself in a good position for the end game (which is worth a LOT of points), etc. etc. etc. Any one of these things could help you, hinder you, or be completely unnecessary for you to know at any given point in time. Lest some of you are wrongly deterred, I want to end this with a rain of praises for this game: This is the deepest and most mentally satisfying game I own. I love the tension, the struggle, the feeling that in any turn you could be wiped out or soar ahead. I love the well laid plans and their (usual) crumbling into dust, but sometimes, sometimes they work and you smile at your cleverness (or give the nod to your opponents cleverness). The theme is (in my opinion) brilliant. The game well designed. I'm in love with it. Yes, there are a lot of balls in the air at any given point in time, but when you can catch them just right (or drop less than everyone else), this game can be magical. If you are a person who loves thick, deep, rewarding board games, look no further.

One word - AWESOME This game is not necessarily for a casual gamer who just wants to kill a half-hour on a board game. This is definitely a much more involved game that involves a LOT of worker placement and strategy. My wife and I like to play a board games and this, Terra Mystica, and Tzolk'in, are three of our current favorites. Even in a two player game, you will need at minimum 2 hours to play a full game. For us, it's definitely worth it, but if you're just not into it, I can see how the game might drag out for some people. This is definitely one of those games that you're either going to love or hate, and unfortunately it's not cheap, so if it's not love, that would be a disappointment. My suggestion to anybody on the fence is to watch a demo of it online first, before buying it. We took a chance and bought it sight unseen and frankly lucked out that we love it. There is a lot of strategy to consider and also your competitor(s) strategy as well. The game is competitive in the sense that there will inevitably be times when you or your opponent are forced to take actions that hinder the other players progress. Would I call it cut-throat? Absolutely not, if given a choice to wipe out all of my species on a tile or wipe out my opponents, what choice (really) do I have if you want to win the game? If you're not competitive when playing a game, then stick to cooperative games or competitive games with a lot of luck, you'll probably be happier. But you can definitely work your strategy to try and minimize what your competitors can do to you (like taking the initiative to move up the food chain to grab the first domination card - it it's something you really don't want played against you, etc.) Overall, great theme, great game play, and just a fun way to spend the better part of an afternoon.

Dominant Species is probably one of my favorite board games, if not number one. Its a blast to play with two to six players. When playing with two or three players, each player can play with two animal families, such as mammals, amphibians, birds, insects, arachnids, and reptiles (as if the game was playing with six total) after you get the hang of the game. It seems very complex at first, but is as simple as place an action token on the action you want, then the next person does the same and so on until everyone has placed all their action tokens (or action pawns, action markers, etc.) and then the actions chosen are carried out from top to bottom, left to right. Of course, the strategy is complex, trying to figure out what is the best move to counter your opponents all the while expanding your species gaining points to win the game. There are also dominance cards that can be accessed by using the dominance action and scoring a tile in which you are dominant. The cards can drastically change the game and are usually fun for the person playing them. The game is long usually 2 to 3 hours, occasionally longer with more players. Well worth it though. I would highly recommend to those who like an intense strategy game or war game as Dominat species can be broken down to building armies, in vading, and controlling area, with worker placement.

For anyone that is looking for a serious challenge, Dominant Species is the game for you. This game has a medium complexity rule system that allows for the tides to turn in mere seconds. I have played a variety of sized games and I can say this game truly shines with a full 6 person group. There are a variety of elements that make this game great for both advanced players. Because of the elements, this game will be different every time you play it. My boyfriend and I are in love with this game and highly suggest it to anyone considering. The cons of this game is there is A LOT happening. If you easily get overwhelmed by a lot of choices then you may want to reconsider. Because of how quickly the game can change directions new players may feel very confused and unsure of what direction they need to go in in order to win. This game is also LONG. For new players, it takes at least 15-30 minutes to explain the rules for players to truly grasp the core of the game. If you are playing with a new group, expect this game to take 3-4 hours to play. However, if you can keep turns quick, you can finish this game in 1 to 2 hours. However, if you like complex games with a variety of elements as well as something to challenge an medium-advanced group of gamers, then go for this game. It's a surprising amount of fun.

Very deep gameplay, super fun for 3 to 6 nerds but not as accessible to new gamers as something like Catan. Games run long so start early.

THis is a phenomenal game. NOT an introductory board game. If you want to buy this for a child, please don't. It's really a game that is very complex and has tons of strategic depth to it. If you want to read more about this you can check out Boardgamegeek(dot)com for more info on this game. I do play with my 10 and 12 year old but we play board games all the time and I didn't purchase this for them to play alone. The quality is very high and the components all work well together. If you like games like Small World, Agricola, Risk, Stone Age and other war games and worker placement games, then you'll probably like this once you master the rules. It's quite fun to play best with 4-6 players. Good with 3 and playable with 2 (highly analytical/organized/well thought out board game vets) but is really in its wheelhouse with a group of 5 or 6......

This game is GREAT! With every move, even if it isn't your move, the game changes and requires you to pay attention. Fun concept, great depth of play, great for serious gamers as well as the casual gamer, easy to learn as well. Game play can get a little long depending on the choices that are made, but you get so involved, the time goes by quickly. This is a must buy! UPDATE: After a few more plays - this may be the most ingeniously designed board game I have ever seen. I read somewhere that it took seven years to complete this game, and it shows! The game play is flawless and so carefully thought out that it seems like nothing is missed. INCREDIBLE! I can't say enough about it.

I'm quite the fan of board games, and this game wins in many ways. Unlike many games of space/resource control, there is no downtime where you're simply waiting for your turn to come around. (For example, think about how dreadfully boring RISK is when it's not your turn.) Nope, in DS, it feels like it is always your turn. What your opponents are doing right now will change what you're going to want to do. The rules are complex. That's for sure. Trying to parse out the differce between what species is "dominant" versus which species has dominance is not intuitive. Thankfully, a basic version of the gameplay rules are printed on the gameboard, as well as on the individual player cards. If there are any bits of confusion, the instruction bookless does a good job of explanation. Within the rule complexity is where the fun kicks in. Trying to balance out early game success into mid-game sustainability and finally into late-game dominance is terrifically fun. Each turn, you're thinking ahead ... "is now the right time to glaciate? should I be propagating more of my species? should I start climbing onto the glaciers now, or stay out in the oceans?" In each game I've played, I don't think the winner of each one followed anything like the same strategy. Another nice feature is that unlike many competitive games, Dominant Species plays well with 2 players as well as more.