Probably every fan of board games has heard of Evolution. Really interesting and peculiar, it can attract anyone for many hours, despite the rather simple rules and the ease of learning them. It is not surprising that the Evolution board game received mostly positive reviews from even the most picky players and critics. Therefore, it will be useful to talk about it in more detail.
Briefly about the game
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 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, by becoming large. But in this case, food consumption increases and new problems have to be solved. A huge number of cards provides high flexibility and allows the animal of an experienced player 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. And he chose just such a plot not by chance. Being a candidate of biological sciences, he is well versed in all the intricacies of relationships in the animal world, the principles of survival, and variability of species.
The game was released in 2010. And almost immediately became widely known - a year later, versions in English, German and French were released. The decision turned out to be the right one: the board game Evolution received excellent reviews not only in our country, but also abroad. Many thousands of players around the world are happy to compete, creating new animals, endowing them with a variety of properties and ensuring their existence in difficult conditions, giving the maximum chance of survival.
The main advantages of the game
Giving a description of the Evolution board game, 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 a game will bring a five-year-old child as much pleasure as a teenager.
At the same time, games are played quite quickly, which is a very important parameter for many players who are not able to spend half a day on games daily. On average, the duration, if experienced "tabletops" take part, is from 30 to 60 minutes. This is facilitated by the quick preparation for the game - 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 animals created will have, how much food they need to survive, and much more.
So we can say with confidence: many fans of really good board games "Evolution" will definitely like it.
Basic Rules
Talking about the main advantages, it will be useful to briefly familiarize yourself with the instructions for the board game "Evolution". Or rather, with the rules and the course of the process.
Preparing for the game is as simple as possible. It is enough to mix the deck and give each of the participants six cards. Then the first player is chosen by lot, and the competition begins.
Four phases follow, the order of which cannot be changed: development, establishment of the food supply, nutrition and extinction, after which all participants receive new cards.
In the development phase, you can upload any cards - animals and their features. Moreover, the same can be used in two ways. For example, on one card, the property "Sharp Vision" can be plotted, and if you turn it over, you get the "Fat reserve". The player himself decides which feature will be more useful for his animal. Therefore, it is possible to make a choice by laying out the card with the right side up. Each participant plays one card per turn, after which the second round passes and so on.
The player ceases to participate in the development phase when he runs out of cards or when he decides that he has done everything necessary. If he has cards in his hands, he simply says “pass.” The phase continues until all participants save.
The next phase is the establishment of the feed base. It is determined by the die roll and depends on the number of players. If there are only two participants, then one die is thrown and +2 is added to the result. If there are three players, then two are thrown. Finally, for four participants, two dice are thrown and +2 is added to the resulting amount. According to the results of the phase, the corresponding number of food tokens should be laid out on the playing field.
After this, animal feeding begins. It is also performed in turn. Each participant can take one chip and feed one animal. An exception is special features that allow you to get several chips at once, for example, "Interaction". A standard animal needs one token to "eat up". But some, for example large ones, need two chips or even more - you need to look at the upper left corner to find out the "appetite" of the animal. Predators can attack other competing animals or their own master. They do not 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 the animals are fed, the phase ends and the last begins.
In the period of "Extinction", players must discard all animals that could not be fed: they did not pass natural selection. In addition, predators who eat poisonous animals go to the dump. Each participant has their own discard pile, where the cards are stacked - they are by no means kneading back.
After that, cards are dealt. Each player receives as many as the animals survived, plus one more. If some participant is not lucky - there are no cards left in his hand, but in the game of animals, then he must draw six cards and start the game again.
As you can see, the rules of the Evolution board game are quite simple, and even a beginner can deal with them.
End of the game 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 counted.
Each surviving animal brings the player two points. If he has some property (or several properties), then it brings one more point (or several). Finally, all cards that require the animal to consume more food (for example, "Big" or "Predator"), bring an extra point. A “Parasite" gives two points at once.
After scoring the points, the winner is determined.
Three popular add-ons
Now that readers know how to play the Evolution board game and may have become interested in it, it will be useful to talk about add-ons.
In total, three were released. 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 appeared analogues in foreign languages: German, English and French. Thanks to the addition, completely new possibilities 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 in the base version to four, has now increased to six.
The second addition is called Continents. Its release took place in 2012. The addition not only brought several interesting properties, but also significantly changed the rules - animals received certain habitats. That is, animals no longer live in the same conditions. An ocean and two continents appeared - each location in a certain way affects creatures and their survival.
Finally, the third addition, the developers called "Plants." It appeared on sale in 2016, which demonstrates serious interest on the part of users - not every game remains popular for half a decade. The number of random houses here has decreased, since now the forage base is created not thanks to the rolls of cubes, but by special plants - cards that appeared due to the addition. All plants are common to players. They can influence the crop using special cards, giving them unique properties.
In fact, these are all additions to the board game Evolution.
True, a mini-addition "Variations" was also released. However, it cannot boast of such a significant change in the game as those listed. The deck included only three types of cards, six copies each. You cannot buy it separately. But it includes a gift board game "Evolution". She was released in our country in 2012.
However, the popularity of "Evolution" and add-ons has led developers to create completely new games based on the original. We will tell you more about them.
Random mutations
The first novelty was the board game Evolution: Random Mutations. "Right Games" - one of the most popular publishing houses in our country - released it in 2013. A year later, the game went abroad in foreign languages.
The basic mechanics and principle of the original game are preserved. However, in the reprint, the developers tried to delve into the main aspects of evolution. Now the properties have acquired, rather, a random nature. Changes occur due to 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 to survive only those animals that received positive mutations that increase the chances of specific individuals to survive.
Natural selection
Another revision of the Evolution board game is Natural Selection. In fact, this is not a re-release of the popular "desktop", but a completely different one. True, the mechanics remained the same, but the cards appeared completely new. This caused quite conflicting reviews.
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, having passed several original games, you can safely play a new one. There will be no discomfort. At the same time, completely new maps are forcing 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 gained considerable popularity both at home and abroad, were not awarded with awards. Well, experts did not make such a mistake.
In 2010, immediately after the release of the basic version, she received a huge number of positive reviews from numerous fans of board games. Popular thematic sites and regular publications did not pass by her side.
For example, according to the BoardGamer.ru website, "Evolution" became the best Russian game of the year. “Prammy” - a prize of audience sympathy among fans of “desktops” - awarded her a victory in the nomination “Best Russian game of the year”. The Nakolomaniya project also called Evolution the best Russian nastolka of 2010. Well, at the exhibition-fair of board games MIPL, domestic development generally received the title of 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’s worth recognizing: the Evolution game is one of the most successful among the domestic dice ’. 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 “desktop gamers” liked and what disappointed.
The advantages usually include the importance of building the right strategy, depending on the circumstances and the actions of the opponents. 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 course of evolution, stretching over millions of years, influenced their future life. Beginners especially liked the maximum simplicity of the rules. Disputes during the game practically do not arise, and most of those arising are resolved through a more careful reading of the properties of certain cards.
Alas, no game is complete without flaws, even if some of them are very subjective. For example, some gamers found that the game was too expensive. But they also admit that overall the pleasure of passing compensates for financial costs. Others believe that a limit of 4 people spoils the impression - a large family or a large group of friends cannot enjoy the game together. Taking this into account, the developers released the addition "Time to Fly", thanks to which the maximum number of participants increased to six. Some players have stated that biology is too specialized a topic of interest to far from all. Well, this is a very subjective opinion, which nevertheless has the right to exist.
Conclusion
On this our review of the board game "Evolution" comes to an end. Now you know more about this popular “desktop” and you can decide for yourself whether it is worth buying it in your home collection or it makes sense to look for another, more suitable option.