Cascadia is a tile laying game where you are trying to make your own little ecosystem.
Players take turns picking Habitat Tiles (made of combinations of Mountains, Forests, Prairies, Wetlands, and Rivers) and a Wildlife Token (Bears, Salmon, Elk, Hawks and Foxes). You then add those tiles and tokens to your board. Each Habitat will have either one, two, or three different options of what animals you can play on that tile. You score points in a few different ways. You can get one point for each tile in your largest connected area of each Habitat. You get a bonus for having the most of each of the different types if Habitats (the player with the most Mountains would score bonus points, for example). You also receive one point per nature token, which you get for placing animals on Habitats that can only support one type of animal. Then there are the animal scoring cards.
The scoring cards are what add a lot of replay value to the game. There are four different scoring cards for each animal which score you points in different ways. For instance the 'Mother and Cubs' Bear card gets you points for each set of three bears you have together, and the 'Rings' Elk card which scores points for having elk in a circle.
Think all the different scoring options will be to confusing for your game group? They have that covered too. Instead of having different goals for each animal you can play either the intermediate variant or the family variant where you score points based on having basic groups of each animal instead.
Cascadia is a great game for people who like other tile laying games, such as Kingdomino, Carcassonne, or Calico. It's great for people who want a game where they don't have to remember too many rules, without losing depth of strategy. It's great if you want a game that has minimal conflict. It's great for nature lovers that like a pretty game.
Cascadia is a relaxed tile laying game, where you have to keep changing your plan based on what options you have on your turns. You might not be able to do exactly what you planned on doing at the start of the game, but there is almost always something useful you can do on your turn.
If you're looking for a relaxing game to play with your friends and family, why not give Cascadia a go?
