This week’s Monday Night Gaming: Evolution by NorthStar Games.

This is not the sort of game I would have found on my own, but when my husband and I were at PAX Prime, we sat down with one of the developers of Evolution and played a demo game.

And had a LOT of fun.

So much so that we pre-ordered the Kickstarter special edition, which we received last month.

The goal is for players to adapt their chosen species in an ever-changing ecosystem. Food can be scarce at times and other players’ predators may eat your species into extinction. You can give various traits to your species. Some of them will protect you from carnivores (like horns), while others will help you get all the food you need. You can play the game rather simply or go full on PvP carnivore style.

# of Players:  2-6 players

General Mechanics: Players take turns drawing & playing cards, some of which determine how much food is available, what new species pops up, or what traits your existing species possess. Players will also feed their species (or feed on other species), watch species go extinct from lack of food, reduce the population of species that didn’t get enough to eat, or place extra food in the score bag.

How to Win/Lose: When the deck runs out, players will go one more round and then score their points. Players get 1 point for: each food in the score bag, each population for existing species, and each trait for existing species.

What I Liked: The game is simple to explain to someone. Fast setup and fast break down. While simple, the game is fun. Creating different species with the various traits is like playing a tabletop version of Spore in some ways.

What I Didn’t Like:  I can see that without an expansion pack with more traits, this game could get old after a dozen or so plays. I haven’t played it but twice, so hard to say that it will get that way, but I suspect it will.

Overall Rating/Impression: 8/10. It’s a fun, yet simple game with some science behind it. I hope they will release a trait expansion in the future to keep the game from growing stale. Definitely a recommended game to play with the kiddos.

Game On!

Read other Monday Night Gaming posts on games like Firefly, Boss Monster, Munchkin, and more by clicking here.