Ecologies Card Game - Use Science to Build Food Webs in 7 Biomes - Beautiful Vintage Nature Art for The Classroom or Game Night

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Yes, it’s strange for most people to realize, but the diet of most animals is wider than you think. Many creatures commonly thought of as herbivores are actually omnivores, and will eat just about anything they can to survive. Remember that when cards list what eats what they don’t explain how often that food is taken or in what life stage. For example, dragonfly larvae eat toad tadpoles, but adult toads eat dragonflies. Ospreys are famously focused on catching fish, but will eat many other types of animals when given the chance, or during periods of extreme hunger. Cards list only the other cards in the biome that are possible prey. It’s all about building healthy food webs in different biomes. If you create a healthy ecology you get the perks and powers of that biome. Each organism card lists what it eats and what it’s eaten by. You arrange them with plants on the bottom, predators on top. There is a trade mechanic similar to catan where you trade with others based on what you need and what they need. It is a race to get 12 victory points and different organisms give different points. There are biotic/abiotic factor cards that can affect opponents and different strategies such as focusing on one biome, going for perks and bonuses, or disrupting other ecologies. Once drawn, the player can trade the cards with other players. Players can trade any card in their hand, and there are no restrictions on how trades can work. Meaning you can trade two cards for three and vice-versa.

Factor cards may also be played throughout the game. These cards may benefit or severely farm the Ecology players have worked so hard to build! These may be played at any point throughout the game, and the rules must be followed. If the Producer card is destroyed, all cards above it must be discarded unless they can move to another viable Biome that the player has created. Biome cards each have their own bonus associated with it. These bonuses may be fulfilled when there are cards in each of the five roles. The first card any player puts down must be a biome card. This card will set the foundation for what cards can be used to build your ecosystem. You only need one biome card per ecosystem; the cards are easy to tell apart because they have unique colors and abbreviations. When are players allowed to rearrange their cards? Can they purposely turn healthy ecologies on and off this way? Gameplay is rooted in authentic science, as it is used in the classroom to teach real concepts to biology students. While it is scientific enough for the classroom, it is also strategic enough for any game night.Do you still have gameplay questions about Ecologies? Here are some of the most common questions we get asked:

After the chosen number of Producers have been played, additional organisms may be added to the Ecology. The second row will be reserved for C1 cards or SD cards. The third row will be reserved for C2 cards. The fourth row will be reserved for C3 cards, and anything above will be C4 cards.

Cards are arranged with plants on the bottom and predators on top. Players negotiate trades and use biotic and abiotic factor cards to affect their webs and the webs of players around them. It is a race to get to 12 victory points, with players using different strategies such as focusing on one biome, going for perks and bonuses, or disrupting other ecologies.