The goal is to build healthy food webs in different biomes. If you create a healthy ecology you are rewarded with the perks and powers of that biome. Each organism card lists what it eats and what it’s eaten by. Cards are arranged with plants on the bottom, predators on top. There is a trade mechanic similar to Catan where players trade with others based on what their individual needs are. 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. The C cards, or consumer cards, do not have to be placed immediately over their food source, as one food source may effectively support numerous other organisms. The textbox on the card will show what it eats and what it is eaten by, so an effective food web can be created. When are players allowed to rearrange their cards? Can they purposely turn healthy ecologies on and off this way? Players create miniature worlds, and they need to ensure they stay strong and healthy. But it’s easy for things to go wrong and disturb your ecosystem, meaning you’ll have to act fast to ensure it doesn’t crumble. 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.

The game takes inspiration from titles like Settlers of Catan, Agricola, and Dominion. Real science is integral to the game, 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 game night. Do you still have gameplay questions about Ecologies? Here are some of the most common questions we get asked: 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. After a Biome Card has been played, organism cards may start to build the food web and Ecology. After the Biome Card, a Producer Card must be played. These two cards will create the foundation in which the entire food web will sit. Each card played into a Biome must match the Biome’s color and abbreviation , or else it will not survive!There is no specific rule for this; let the dealer go first if you struggle to choose someone. Once each player’s turn, you will follow four steps to complete your go. Every player follows the same pattern, so to simplify, we have laid it out in sections below.

The game takes inspiration from titles like Settlers of Catan, Agricola, and Dominion. The 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.Players earn points with their organism cards. The player earns the points as long as the cards are viable in their current ecosystem, meaning they have food and aren’t harmed. Once one player makes 12 points or more, they win. Ecologies Card Game – Educational and Enlightening! Many bonuses are used “every other turn.” These bonuses can be used the first turn they are activated, or players can wait to start using the ability in a future round. However, once the ability has been used the pattern is set and can not be altered, even if the food web temporarily becomes unhealthy and loses the bonus (no “resetting” the pattern). In ECOLOGIES, you build and maintain food webs in diverse biomes around the world. Each biome has a different ecology, and gives unique rewards when it is healthy and balanced. But watch out, your opponents may decide it's easier to disturb and degrade your ecosystems than nurture their own. In this hectic environment, you must choose how best to protect and care for your ecologies. No, it is a powerful defensive perk, but has several limitations. While the bonus protects all your organisms in every biome from destruction, it does not protect against negative cards in general. For example, other players can still play “parasitism” or “biomagnification of pollutants.” The bonus really only prevents opponents from pointing to one of your organisms and saying “I’m using my special card or ability to destroy this.” In fact, using “biomagnification of pollutants” on a healthy desert ecology would drop the maximum trophic level of the desert to C2 and therefore render it unhealthy. This would immediately remove the healthy ecology bonus and allow for targeted destruction of organisms. In effect, the biomagnification card is a counter to the healthy ecology bonus. Ecologies is fun to play again and again as you learn from your mistakes and successes. It is fun to try out new strategies and play with different levels of competitiveness. 3 Reasons Ecologies is a Favorite

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. The first player of the game is chosen by the group, there is no specific rule for this. The player will then take their turn in four distinct steps. The same pattern must be completed with each play for each player. Players may move their organism cards around their food web during their turn. Producers can never be moved, but cards that have numerous roles may be shifted. This must be done carefully, as a whole food web can collapse if something drastic changes. If a card is without a food source, it must be discarded. If you’d like to maintain the same game length and feel, we recommend choosing 10 factor cards and 7 different biomes.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. The game uses the terms “eats” and “eaten by” as simplified stand ins for “receives energy from” and “provides energy to.” Food webs and trophic levels are all about the way energy moves through ecologies. Producers make up the foundation of these webs by converting the energy of the sun into sugars. There is no sunlight card and biomes are assumed to have access to the sun’s energy. “Decaying biomass” just means it eats any dead tissues from the other organisms in the food web. This means the organism is a scavenger/decomposer/detritivore (SD) and should be placed on the second row above primary producers when you want that card to act in the (SD) role. This is because in terms of trophic levels, detritus (decaying biomass) is seen as level one, the same as plants, so things that eat the decaying biomass are level two, the same as primary consumers. There is no specific card for this, as long as there are any other cards in a biome, cards with (SD) are able to sit in the primary consumer level and “feed” off that decaying biomass.