While you are working single-handedly on your ecosystem, there is a small amount player interaction when selecting what to take on your turn.

Each turn you pick and place hexes to create terrains that provide the correct habitats for the diverse and beautiful local wildlife. It presents suitably challenging puzzles for the player to overcome without the need to score for any AI players.I feel there is just enough choice and ways to mitigate randomness to make every turn feel worthwhile and important. Your Habitat Tile must be placed next to an existing hex in your region so that at least one side is next to another tile. Randomly pick 4 Habitat Tiles and 4 Wildlife Tokens and pair them up in a row – this is your common pool. So, for example, salmon score higher the more you have in an adjacent run, and Elks like to be with their buddies so score better in groups.

This is a great abstract game and an excellent choice for those hoping to get their friends and family into board games. At the same time, you want to place wildlife tokens so that you can maximize the number of points scored by them, with the wildlife goals being determined at random by one of the three scoring cards for each type of wildlife. On your turn, you simply select one pair of tile and token and go about fitting it into your little ecosystem trying to fulfil as many of the animal requirements as you can.Not wishing to make this all about Calico, but the same solo “insider information” appears there too.

Whether solo or multiplayer, your starter tile is a 3 Habitat Tile hex combo showing a random selection of 3 out of 5 terrain types (Mountains, Forests, Prairies, Wetlands, and Rivers). There is a slight variation in the scoring of corridors for solo mode: your corridors have to have at least 7 matching adjacent terrain tiles to get a 2 point bonus. You will find a great mix of long-term strategy and short-term tactics available as you work to solve each new puzzle. You start with three hexagonal habitat tiles (with five types of habitat in the game), and on a turn you choose a new habitat tile that\'s paired with a wildlife token, then place that tile next to your other ones and place the wildlife token on an appropriate habitat. Landmarks give each environment its own look and feel, while also providing dynamic endgame scoring bonuses!Four tiles are on display, with each tile being paired at random with a wildlife token, so you must make the best of what's available — unless you have a nature token to spend so that you can pick your choice of each item. Ideally you can place habitat tiles to create matching terrain that reduces fragmentation and creates wildlife corridors, mostly because you score for the largest area of each type of habitat at game\'s end, with a bonus if your group is larger than each other player\'s.