Cascadia: A Game of Animals, Nature, and Calm Strategies
Create a diverse ecosystem from salmon to bears across beautiful areas of the Pacific Northwest in Cascadia.
A new game arrival meant I simply had to dive right into it! Cascadia seemed like something that was going to work well for me, although I’m careful not to set high expectations. Sometimes that’s a monumental effort, though! You give me almost anything with animals, and it’s hard for me not to get excited in some way. Off to build an ecosystem!
Game Overview
Game Name: Cascadia
Publication Year: 2021
Designer: Randy Flynn
Artist: Beth Sobel
Publisher: Flatout Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
With a combination of wilderness tiles and animal tokens, a lovely landscape takes shape. Animals like salmon, hawks, foxes, elk, and bears all inhabit specific territories and have their own unique requirements. It’s a very relaxing nature-themed game with lovely artwork!
First Play
August 1, 2021
Complexity
2
Latest Play
September 20, 2025
Expansions
1
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
18
Play Time
20 Minutes
High Score
101
Game Area
24" x 22"
Low Score
73
An Early Start
Everything begins with a starting tile, which contains 3 hexes. Look closely, and you’ll notice that it contains every type of environment and animal. Very nice!
Only a single type of animal may exist on a tile, though. The icons help show which ones may be placed, yet it’s easy enough to remember since tokens cover the icons.
So many possibilities! The rules were a very simple affair, though I could see plenty of different kinds of strategies.
Was I going to be able to make an ecosystem that could house every type of animal? I was about to find out!
The Joy of Familiarity in a Set of Rules
As I prepared to begin, I was struck by the fact that I knew a lot about the concepts from playing Calico, also by Flatout Games. At the same time, nothing was simply copied and pasted over. Matching environment types and placing animal tokens vaguely reminded me of quilt patterns and cats, yet in a pleasantly familiar setting. Not too much overlap!
That’s sometimes the nice part about recognizing titles that play similarly. It isn’t so much a case of learning all new rule sets, but finding the differences between them. That sense of familiarity can cut down on the time needed to get into a new game. At the same time, there should be enough unique elements to make each game stand on its own.
Looking to the Plains
I’ll get to actual gameplay in a moment, yet I wanted to appreciate the underlying artwork. Not everything has nice transitions… Which resembles nature in many ways!
Connecting the same type of environment is helpful for scoring purposes, but there isn’t a penalty for mixing things up. There are considerations without restrictions.
I really enjoyed how clear and crisp the animals appeared on every hex tile. Very easy to see the colors and outlines!
My first play was delayed as I read through the back of the rulebook and learned more about the animals… Very cool!
Guided Scenarios
Randomizing the scoring cards for each species is a viable way to play, yet it can be nice to have solo goals.
Voila! A full set of 15 scenarios are included, each with its own designated setup and requirements to win.
A structured approach to play might not be for everyone, but I absolutely love this! There are definite victory conditions, rather than trying to score the best each time.
The scenarios also ramp up in difficulty level so that it becomes a challenge to complete the later ones. I’m looking forward to getting to that point someday!
My Own Wilderness
In a relatively short period of time, I was all done! The first few rounds were a little shaky as I tried to figure out what I wanted to do, but then it all fell into place.
Each turn is simple: Choose a tile and token pair to add, discard the furthest tile and token, refill, and repeat!
Special nature tokens allow pairs to be broken up and taken from different columns, though it’s all a very simple sort of system. The fun comes from the challenge!
I managed to do quite well with my pairs of bears and run of salmon. Lots of biodiversity going on in this area!
High-Quality Tokens
Don’t think that the animals were left out and forced to endure a life of cardboard! Nope: These are wooden tokens that complement the aesthetics extremely well.
The colors are very different, as are the animal outlines that stand out. At a glance, I was able to see all of the information I needed without a visual overload.
I fared very well, indeed, although I think my past experience with Calico helped me out a bit!
Perhaps the early scenarios are more akin to tutorials, but I still felt challenged by the various scoring opportunities.
All of the Animals
Such lovely illustrations! Every animal has its own unique scoring conditions, and these can be randomized. Some are easier than others, yet all provide a challenge.
Most are pretty self-explanatory, too, although the rulebook includes an appendix with more details. Very nice to have that easily accessible for questions!
Some of the animals can synergize a little bit with the way they score, although not always. So much to explore!
I was pleasantly surprised by the way a simple ruleset could create plenty of interesting strategies. Awesome!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 and 2
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Scenarios 1 and 2
Outcome: 94 and 91 (2 Wins)
Back-to-back victories! I still didn’t lead the way with the greatest of scores and was far from the top scoring tiers. As I hoped it would be! There’s more to learn, although a bit of luck is needed to get the right animal tokens. I needed just 1 more elk for lots of points, but no more showed up. Still, I managed to expand the environments and score very well. Definitely an excellent game to play!
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
9
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
8
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- The rulebook is easy to understand with a relatively short ruleset and plenty of illustrated examples.
- Only about half of the tiles are used in the solo game, adding a level of the unknown in terms of the available tiles.
- A turn requires some thought but typically flies by very quickly since there is some level of pre-planning.
- Although it’s possible to score poorly or fail a scenario, there isn’t a stressful losing condition: It’s all relaxing.
- Each component stands out on its own and is easy to see, even when animal tokens are on top of the hex tiles.
- Increasingly difficult scenarios provide specific challenges to work towards completing over many plays.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The box insert doesn’t do much for organizing the components, and removing it might be the best solution.
- Bad luck can mean the desired animal tokens never show up, although this sometimes helps drive a new strategy.
- With such a beautiful setting, the amount of included artwork feels a little light for what might be expected.
- It takes a certain skill to be able to see the abstract in this way, so some scoring goals can be hard to envision.
Victory Conditions
Meet the Scenario Requirements
- Overall Goal Progress 59%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 90 points.
Score at least 100 points.
Complete every scenario. (8/15)
Continue the Conversation
What do you think of Cascadia? Are you absolutely appalled that I didn’t use some Calico Critters with an animal-themed game? Ha ha! I thoroughly enjoyed this one and it felt great to get a game out of shrink and to the table almost right after it arrived. There is a lot more to explore, and I look forward to working on the rest of the scenarios!
Thank you for sharing such a detailed description of this game. The photos are beautiful. I look forward to reading more about your experience with Cascadia.
You’re very welcome, and thank you for the kind words! I hope to get it back to the table soon to complete some more scenarios. Should be a fun time… Until that moment when it all goes wrong and I score horribly. Ha ha! Yet it’s very quick and relaxing, so even an utter failure will probably have its funny explanation, like how the bears ate too much honey or the foxes were too clever for anyone’s good!
It’s a beautiful production (and colour-blind friendly while not eschewing colour)… though I’d be curious to see how well it might work as a pure abstract. (Given what I’ve heard from publishers, it would probably sell to me and nobody else.)
Abstracts seem to have a very niche audience. Very true! I love the theme here, although it doesn’t feel tacked on since the scoring goals seem to be related to the animals. The salmon runs are especially fun to put together, at least for me!