Board game "Evolution": reviews, review, rules

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:35

Probably every board game fan has heard of Evolution. Really interesting and original, it is able to lure anyone for many hours, despite the rather simple rules and the ease of learning them. Not surprisingly, the board game "Evolution" received mostly positive reviews from even the most picky players and critics. Therefore, it will be useful to talk about it in more detail.

Game in brief

Let's start with the plot. It is quite simple and easy to guess. The main task of the player is to create several animals that are maximally adapted to the prevailing conditions of survival. They must feed themselves and not die of hunger. To do this, they can be endowed with useful properties that increase the chances of animals for survival. On the one hand, they should not starve to death - perhaps by becoming predators and turning other animals into their prey. On the other hand, the animal has to avoid the fate of becoming the food of opponents. The easiest way to do this is simply by reaching a certain size, that is, becoming large. But in this case, food intakeincreases and new problems have to be solved. A huge number of cards provides high flexibility and allows an experienced player's animal to survive even in the most extreme conditions.

The creator of the board game "Evolution", reviews of which you can read the best, was our compatriot - Dmitry Alekseevich Knorre. Moreover, he did not choose such a plot at all by chance. As a candidate of biological sciences, he is well versed in all the intricacies of relationships in the animal world, the principles of survival, the variability of species.

The game came out in 2010. And almost immediately it became widely known - a year later versions were released in English, German and French. The decision turned out to be correct: the board game "Evolution" received excellent reviews not only in our country, but also abroad. Many thousands of players around the world compete with pleasure, creating new animals, endowing them with a variety of properties and ensuring existence in difficult conditions, giving the maximum chance of survival.

The main advantages of the game

When describing the board game "Evolution", you should definitely list the main advantages of the game.

One of them is the simplicity of the rules. You can explain them even to a teenager, which is displayed in the age limit: from 12 years and older. Yes, you can figure out the rules even earlier, but it is unlikely that the game will give a five-year-old child as much pleasure as a teenager.

At the same time, the games are played quite quickly, whichis a very important parameter for many players who do not have the opportunity to spend half a day on games every day. On average, the duration, if experienced "boarders" take part, is from 30 to 60 minutes. Quick preparation for the game also contributes to this - there is no need to lay out dozens of tokens on the playing field, as in some other projects, which takes tens of minutes.

It is important that the game perfectly develops strategic thinking and imagination. The latter will be needed to visualize how the created animal will change after endowing it with certain traits or features. Well, without a strategy it is impossible to win - you need to clearly understand what skills the created animals will have, how much food they need to survive, and much more.

So it's safe to say that many fans of really good board games will definitely like Evolution.

Basic rules

Having talked about the main advantages, it will be useful to briefly acquaint you with the instructions for the board game "Evolution". Or rather, with the rules and the course of the process.

Preparation for the game is as simple as possible. It is enough to shuffle the deck and distribute six cards to each of the participants. The first player is then chosen by lot and the competition begins.

Four phases follow, the order of which cannot be changed: development, establishment of a food base, nutrition and extinction, after which all participants receive new cards.

In the development phase, you can lay out any cards -animals and their features. And the same one can be used in two ways. For example, on one card the property "Sharp vision" can be applied, and if you turn it over, you get "Fat reserve". The player himself decides which feature will be more useful for his animal. Therefore, he has the opportunity to make a choice by laying out the card with the desired side up. Each participant plays one card per turn, after which the second round passes, and so on.

A player stops participating in the development phase when he runs out of cards or when he decides that he has done everything necessary. If he has cards left in his hand, he simply says "pass". The phase continues until all participants have passed.

The next phase is the establishment of a food base. It is determined by a die roll and depends on the number of players. If there are only two participants, then one die is rolled and +2 is added to the result. If there are three players, then two are thrown. Finally, for four participants, two dice are rolled and +2 is added to the total. According to the results of the phase, the corresponding number of food tokens must be placed on the playing field.

After that, the feeding of the animals begins. It is also performed sequentially. Each participant can take one chip and feed one animal. The exception is special features that allow you to get several chips at once, for example, "Interaction". A standard animal needs one token to "eat". But to somefor example, large ones, it takes two chips or even more - you need to look at the upper left corner to find out the "appetite" of the animal. Predators may attack other competing animals or their own owner. They don't need standard food chips. Of course, this takes into account the presence of different cards like Camouflage, Sharp Vision and others. When the food supply ends or all animals are fed, the phase ends and the last one begins.

During the "Extinction" period, players must discard all animals that could not be fed: they did not pass natural selection. In addition, predators that have eaten poisonous animals go into the dump. Each participant has their own discard pile where cards are placed - they are never shuffled back.

After that, cards are distributed. Each player receives as many of them as he has surviving animals, plus one more. If some participant is unlucky - there are no cards left in the hand, and there are animals in the game, then he must draw six cards and start the game over.

As you can see, the rules of the board game "Evolution" are quite simple, and even a beginner can deal with them.

Game over and victory

The game continues until the deck runs out of cards. After that, the players play the last round, consisting of already familiar phases, including extinction. Then the points are calculated.

Each surviving animal earns the player two points. If it has some property (or several properties), then it brings one more point (orseveral). Finally, all cards that require the animal to consume more food (for example, "Large" or "Predator") are worth an extra point. And "Parasite" gives two points at once.

After counting the points scored, the winner is determined.

Three popular additions

Now that readers know how to play the Evolution board game and may be interested in it, it will be useful to talk about the additions.

Three of them were released in total. Each of them significantly diversified the gameplay, making it much more interesting and exciting.

The first one is "Time to fly". It was released in 2011, and the following year, analogues appeared in foreign languages: German, English and French. Thanks to the addition, completely new features appeared, as the name implies, allowing animals not only to run on the ground, but also to fly. It's nice that the maximum number of players, limited to four in the basic version, has now increased to six.

The second addition is called "Continents". Its release took place in 2012. The addition not only brought some interesting properties, but also significantly changed the rules - the animals received certain habitats. That is, the animals no longer live in the same conditions. An ocean and two continents have appeared - each location affects creatures and their survival in a certain way.

Finally, the thirdAddition developers called "Plants". It went on sale in 2016, which demonstrates serious interest from users - not every game has been popular for half a decade. The number of randoms has decreased here, since now the food base is created not thanks to dice rolls, but by special plants - cards that appeared thanks to the add-on. All plants are shared by the players. They can influence the harvest using special cards, giving them unique properties.

In fact, these are all additions to the board game "Evolution".

True, a mini-add-on "Variations" was also released. However, it cannot boast such a significant change in the game as those listed. The deck included only three types of cards, six copies of each. You cannot buy it separately. But it includes a gift board game "Evolution". It was released in our country in 2012.

However, the popularity of "Evolution" and add-ons led to the fact that the developers have created completely new games based on the original. Let's talk about them in more detail.

Random mutations

The first novelty was the board game "Evolution: Random Mutations". "Correct Games" - one of the most popular publishing houses in our country - released it in 2013. A year later, the game was also released abroad in foreign languages.

The basic mechanics and principle of the original game have been preserved. However, in the reissue, the developers trieddelve into the basic aspects of evolution. Now the properties have become rather random. Changes occur through positive and negative mutations. Creatures from the same species began to change beyond recognition, which made the game more realistic and interesting. Severe natural selection allowed only those animals to survive that received positive mutations that increase the chances of specific individuals for survival.

Natural selection

Another revision of the board game "Evolution" - "Natural Selection". In fact, this is no longer a reissue of the popular desktop game, but a completely different one. True, the mechanics remained the same, but completely new cards appeared. This caused quite a bit of controversy.

On the one hand, some players accused the developers of not fundamentally changing the game, changing only its appearance and some features. On the other hand, many people liked that the rules of the board game "Evolution: Natural Selection" did not differ from the basic ones. That is, after going through several original games, you can safely play the new one. There will be no discomfort. At the same time, completely new maps force you to develop a unique strategy for the survival of animals. Of course, this made the game even more interesting, diverse and rich.

Awards

It would be surprising if the game, which received considerable popularity both at home and abroad, did not receive awards. Well, the experts did not allow sucherrors.

In 2010, immediately after the release of the basic version, it received a huge amount of positive feedback from numerous board game fans. Popular thematic sites and regular publications did not bypass it either.

For example, according to the website BoardGamer.ru, "Evolution" became the best Russian game of the year. "Premmy" - a prize of audience sympathy among fans of "tabletop" - awarded her victory in the nomination "Best Russian Game of the Year". The "Tabletop Mania" project also named "Evolution" the best Russian "tabletop game" of 2010. Well, at the exhibition-fair of board games MIPL, the domestic development generally received the title of the best board game.

So, given the abundance of awards not only from thousands of players, but also from serious experts who value their reputation, it is worth recognizing: the game "Evolution" is one of the most successful among domestic "tabletops". And it will be useful for every lover of interesting and unusual projects to get acquainted with it.

Reviews

In general, the board game "Evolution" received positive reviews. If you look at thematic sites on the Internet, you can easily determine what the "desktop" liked and what disappointed.

The advantages usually include the importance of building the right strategy, depending on the prevailing circumstances and the actions of rivals. Also, many players liked the flexibility of actions and high-quality execution of the game. The educational component was called a serious plus - children and adolescents can see with their own eyes how certain features acquired by animals in the process of evolution, stretching for millions of years, influenced their future life. Beginners especially liked the maximum simplicity of the rules. Controversial situations practically do not arise during the game, and most of those that have arisen are resolved thanks to a more careful reading of the properties of certain cards.

Alas, no game is without flaws, even if some of them are quite subjective. For example, some gamers felt that the game was too expensive. But they also admit that in general, the pleasure of passing compensates for the financial costs. Others believe that the 4-person limit spoils the impression - a large family or a large group of friends cannot enjoy the game together. With this in mind, the developers have released the "Time to Fly" add-on, thanks to which the maximum number of participants has increased to six. Some players have stated that biology is too narrowly specialized and not of interest to everyone. Well, this is a very subjective opinion, which still has the right to exist.

Conclusion

This concludes our review of the board game "Evolution". Now you know more about this popular "desktop" and you can decide for yourself whether it is worth buying it for your home collection or it makes sense to look for another, more suitable option.