Image Courtesy of <PERSON>
This review continues my series of detailed reviews that attempt to be part review, part resource for anyone not totally familiar with the game. For this reason I expect readers to skip to the sections that are of most interest.
If you liked the review please thumb the top of the article so others have a better chance of seeing it and I know you stopped by. If you thumb the bottom as well, I consider that a bonus. Thanks for reading.
Summary
Game Type – Card Game
Play Time: 15-20 minutes
Number of Players: 2 - 6
Mechanics – Card Drafting
Difficulty – Pick-Up & Play (Can be learned in under 20 minutes)
Components – Very Good
Artist – <PERSON>
Release – 2019
Designer – <PERSON> -(Debut Title)
Overview and Theme
Every now and again I get surprised by a game either because it was far better than I thought it would be or somehow it had flown under my radar and I had heard little (if anything) before coming across it. Ecosystem falls into the latter category with perhaps a good dose of the former.
Ecosystem does nothing particularly new as it is a card drafting game coupled with a scoring system at games' end. And yet this is a surprisingly deep game from Genius Games, a company that is committed to publishing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) based games. I'll admit to their name not being at the forefront of my mind but a quick click to their website and I see games that I have heard of, and from memory, have been well received such as; Tesla vs Edison, Lovelace & Babbageand Cytosis.
Naturally ( ) given the title, Ecosystem is focusing on the Earth\Natural Sciences with concepts such as - habitats, predator and prey and perhaps the symbiotic relationships between all living things being at play.
Put on your hiking shoes and fill that canteen. We are off on a bear hunt...well, to find them anyway.
The Components
Ecosystem is a design by , which now features in the Genius Gamescatalogue. The production is well done, ticking off all of the important points for a game of this nature and I appreciate that it comes in a small box (read this as 'the box is no bigger than it needs to be).
Cards – Ecosystem uses the small card format and I think it is the right decision for this game. That’s because the players are creating a 4 x 5 grid with their cards, so the normal card size would require quite the table space indeed, especially at the max player count of 6.
Each card features either an animal or a habitat and the cards are completely dominated by artwork that lovingly depicts various animals and habitats. 470
The cards feature no text or icons of any kind as the art makes it clear as to what it is meant to be. The only thing they possibly could have added was a small number in one corner to remind players of how many cards of that type feature in the deck but this information is provided on the Player Aid. I think I like how the art is allowed to dominate and bring the tabletop to life.
Image Courtesy of UnkindnessGames
Player Aid – The game offers up a mid-sized reference card to outline the key details of every card, the nature of the scoring regarding diversity and a listing of how many of each card is in the deck. It does the job well although some card summaries do not include the finer details and so the rule book is still required when learning. This is a slight nuisance at first but once a player has 2-3 plays under their belt the reference alone will be enough.
The back of the Player Aid features a nice illustration of a creek meandering through a meadow but serves no functionality.
Image Courtesy of Alice87
Scoresheets – The Scoresheet is a must in this game to help track scores. It also includes a summary of the negative points for a lack of diversity and helps to tally this element of the scoring easily. The scoresheets come in that classic style.
Image Courtesy of <PERSON>
Rules – The rules are a simple double-sided leaflet and spell the game out well. Some of the text is on the smallish side but it has a QR code to take new players to an online summary of the rules. All the cool kids are doing it nowadays.
Image Courtesy of Alice87
Overall the component quality is very good and at the price point of AUS $20 it is a bargain. This must be cheap as chips in the US.
Image Courtesy of Alice87
Set-Up
Ecosystem is almost ready to play right out of the box. Each player is given a Player Aid and then the deck is shuffled and dealt out. 872