Designed by Randy Flynn
Release Year: 2021 Complexity: Low-Medium
👥 1-4 Players ⏰ 30-45 min 💸 ~$35 🔗 Buy
Overview
In Cascadia, you are building out your own landscape filled with different habitats and wildlife, puzzling everything together to score the most points for large groups of the same terrain and meeting the scoring conditions for each animal type.
Each turn has you selecting one of four pairings, each with one habitat tile and one wildlife token, which are then added to your personal area: habitat tiles adjacent to any existing tile, and wildlife tokens onto any open tile that shows that animal type. A new habitat-wildlife pairing is drawn to replace what was selected, with the occasional clearing of animal tiles when there are too many of the same type.
Once all tiles have been drafted, final scores are determined by scoring how well each player grouped their habitat tiles, as well as how effectively their animals meet the conditions on the corresponding wildlife cards.
Game Feel
The heart of Cascadia is found in the intertwining of two puzzles: trying to group tiles of the same terrain type and arranging the animals on top of those terrains. You are always forced to take a terrain tile and wildlife token that have been paired together, leading to a lot of interesting tradeoffs as you weigh how much you value each of the options that are available.
Each tile that you place limits which animals can be placed there in the future, so you are always thinking ahead to how you can keep the second layer of the puzzle flexible. At the same time, you don’t want to waste any turns, so you are always trying to select an animal that you are currently able to place.
Inevitably, there will be times when none of the pairings work well for you, but the game gives you a tool in the form of “nature tokens” that can be acquired when an animal is placed on specific keystone tiles. While you can hold onto these for a point at the end of the game, it is often more valuable to spend them for the powerful abilities of either selecting a tile and animal that are not paired together or replacing the animals with new ones from the bag.
There is a certain element of push-your-luck as you decide how flexible to keep your animal-placement options, and how aggressively to pursue high-scoring wildlife arrangements that may require many of one type of animal. It is often players who can balance keeping their options open with optimizing placements across both layers of the puzzle that come out on top.
FAQ
Player Counts - Cascadia plays well from two to four players, and if you want to get more of your puzzling fix, there is also a solid solo mode.
Abstract vs. Thematic - The inviting nature theme is certainly helpful when introducing the game to new players, and there are some clever ways the theme is evoked in the wildlife scoring conditions, but it is mostly window dressing on a dual-layered spatial puzzle.
Luck vs. Skill - While the turn-by-turn decisions are simple and the pairings are drawn randomly, there is a lot of room to optimize your scoring and have skillful play determine the victor at the end of the game.
Multiplayer Solitaire vs. Highly Interactive - There are some hints at interaction with the habitat scoring at the end of the game, but there is no doubt that almost the entirety of the game is focusing on building your own independent puzzle in front of you.
Short Setup vs. Long Setup - There is a little bit of setup as you remove tiles based on the number of players, but still relatively quick to get playing.
Easy to Teach vs. Hard to Teach - Cascadia’s low rule complexity is one of its big strengths in introducing it to new players, but there are still a handful of modern mechanisms here that need to be understood.
Low Setup Variability vs. High Setup Variability - Each game of Cascadia is going to feel fairly similar, but there is some nice variety from the different wildlife scoring conditions and the randomly drawn tiles ensure your landscape develops differently each time you play.
Things to Like
✅ Paired Drafting Provides Fun Tradeoffs - The drafting in Cascadia always requires you to take a tile and an animal together, a decision that is more interesting and nuanced than selecting just one in isolation. You are always assessing the value of two pieces to determine the overall value of the pair which adds a nice complexity, but the inclusion of only four pairs keeps the decision space from feeling like too much.
✅ Crunchy Dual-Layered Puzzle - Every decision you make is with two different puzzles in mind, and there is a lot of satisfaction that can come from optimizing both layers of the puzzle simultaneously. That optimization feels tight since, if you always play your wildlife token, you will only ever have three available spaces that do not already have an animal. This also has the nice side effect of making the game easier for players that don’t perfectly optimize; a missed wildlife token permanently increases the number of open tiles you will have available at any given time.
✅ As Thinky As You Want It To Be - One of the key reasons Cascadia appeals to a wide range of players is its flexibility in gameplay depth. Casual players can enjoy simply selecting pairs and building their landscape without the pressure to perfectly optimize habitats and wildlife, while more strategic players can focus on maximizing every decision for a more complex, "thinky" experience. The game even works well with younger kids, as the rules are straightforward, and there's little risk of them forgetting or breaking core mechanics, even if they don’t fully optimize their scoring opportunities.
✅ Variety in Wildlife Cards - And for a game that is easy to get to the table with a variety of groups, it is a huge benefit to have different versions of the wildlife scoring that you can mix up from game to game. A lot of the variations feel very similar, but it is just enough to keep the experience fresh over repeated plays.
Things to Dislike
❌ Eyeing Terrain Majorities Can Be Tedious - Since the terrain bonuses can have a big impact on scoring, strategic players will want to be aware of how they compare to other players. However, this means a lot of looking across the table and trying to count tiles, which can not only slow down the game, but can make players feel like they’d rather just “wing it” and see what happens, even at the expense of optimal strategic play.
Our Ratings
Ryan (10 Plays) - 8 Daniel (9 Plays) - 8.5
🎬 Watch Extended Final Thoughts
Is It For You?
If you want meaningful player interaction or aren’t drawn to crunchy spatial puzzles, then Cascadia might not be for you. 👎
But if you want an accessible and broadly appealing puzzle game that is quick to teach and play and gives players the flexibility to think as little or as deeply as they prefer, then Cascadia is an excellent choice. 👍