Do you remember biology when teachers went on about food webs and food chains, and all you could picture was a chain gang of different animals in black and white striped outfits doing work along a roadway? Or was that just me?

Ecosystem is a light drafting game for one to six players aged 10 and up that plays in about 20 minutes, in which each player builds a tableau of nature-themed animals and biomes. Ecosystems is designed by Matt Simpson with art by Lindsey Falsone and published by Genius Games.

Game Overview:

Ecosystem starts with each player having 10 cards, and they simultaneously draft and place cards, passing one direction. I’ll get into the placement in a moment, but after all 10 have been drafted, another 10 cards are distributed to each player, and a second round begins with passing going the opposite direction. At the end of the game, each player should have 20 cards displayed in a five wide by four card high tableau.

Placement is, at its core is pretty basic: plop down a card adjacent to a previous card (except for the first round, where you can place it anywhere). Your tableau can only be a maximum of five cards wide and four cards high. Nice and easy, right?

Sort of. And that’s where the secret sauce of ecosystems lies.

The various cards that will build up your ecosystem

Each card wants to be adjacent to or not to other cards. To avoid listing out the twelve different cards, here are some examples: Bears gain two points for being adjacent to either bees or trout. Trout gain points by being adjacent to dragonflies and streams, while dragonflies only get points for being next to streams (and probably dislike trout for what it’s worth). The largest and second-largest streams are worth eight and five points, respectively, at the end of the game. And foxes gain three points to not be near bears or wolves. So, a bear surrounded by food might be worth eight points, which is the same as loading up on streams.

There’s also a two-player version where there’s a dummy hand of cards, where a random one is placed face up, and this neutral set of cards is used for calculating the scores of wolves and streams.

Additionally, there’s also a solo variant where you’re trying to beat the automa player with drafting and placing cards in their tableau. This beat a score style game play has you needing to influence their scoring in addition to maximizing your own.
In all cases, the highest score wins.

Each card can score in different ways giving each turn some fun decisions.

Game Experience:

This game is super easy to teach and explain, yet it can be challenging to excel at because of how each card interacts with the others. To be fair, it’s not a “Always Sunny in Philadelphia” everything-is-connected board, but there’s a bit to keep track of. Luckily, the game comes with a large reference card for each player to explain each card’s scoring, making it easy to know what each card does.

One part of final scoring is recording the gaps in your ecosystem, and much like an English subway station, you’ll want to mind the gap, as having too many will cost you points, while building a well-balanced ecosystem that would do an ’80s breakfast cereal commercial proud can net you up to 12 bonus points.

This scoring card makes teaching the game simple as every player will have one to help them as they build their tableau.

One of my favorite cards is the rabbit. It’s worth one measly point, but allows you to move two other cards. This allows you to connect meadows and rivers or move a deer to gain more points. While other cards are worth more, having a second-chance card can be impactful.

None of the cards, outside of the reference cards, have any text on them, making this game fairly language independent, if you can explain the interactions to a non-reader or non-English speaker. On the flip side, this also limits the education provided by the game. The concept of different creatures being dependent on others is front and center, but the game isn’t dropping any real science facts or figures on the players. And I was a little surprised there wasn’t a blurb about this stuff in the rulebook, like Rainforest City.

The solo mode is fine and was how I taught myself the game. Beating it on easy is, well, easy. I’d tell you how hard it is on normal and hard, but I haven’t pulled it off yet, so I think this is a game that you can improve at over time, especially if you’re mindful of both what you’re taking and what you’re giving the automa adding an additional mental load to the experience which is good for such a light game. But while Ecosystems can be played solo and at two players, it feels better at three or more players, with higher player counts making it harder to game the system by knowing what’s in play in that round’s pool of cards.

Kind of caught between “Over in the Meadow” and “River of Dreams” with a splash of eco diversity.

I’m sure you can hate draft in this game if you try, but with every card being useful, I’m not sure how effective that strategy would be. Outside of that, there’s not a lot of player interaction. That multiplayer solitaire puts the game closer to cozy than cutthroat as long as you don’t worry too much about what happens to the trout who reside next to the bears.

At a high level, a good comparison for Ecosystems, as a light drafting game, is Sushi Go. Sushi Go has you collecting sets of cards that each has a different scoring mechanic, while Ecosystems is more about building an array of cards that each have unique interactions. While there are a lot of interactions to keep track of, I think Ecosystems is a little easier to teach than Sushi Go, where chopsticks (take 2 cards next round and put the chopsticks back) and wasabi (boost the next nigiri card you draft) add layers of depth and complexity to that drafting and set collection game.

Final Thoughts:

Ecosystem is a very light drafting and tableau-building game with a nature theme. I appreciate the quick playing time and think it’s a good family weight game. For a lot of gamers, this may come up feeling a little light, but as a family or filler game, it can work as an alternative or a precursor to games like Sushi Go.

Final Score: 3 Stars – A light nature-themed drafting game where your tableau embodies the circle of life.

Hits:
• Simple to teach despite the 11 different card types
• Conceptually educational
• Plays one to six players

Misses:
• 11 card types with unique interactions could overwhelm new players
• Science/educational theme is a veneer
• Plays best at three plus players