Cascadia

Overview

Cascadia is a tile-laying and token-drafting game themed around the habitats and wildlife of the Pacific Northwest. Players draft habitat tiles and wildlife tokens to build a landscape mosaic, creating contiguous habitat corridors and arranging wildlife into scoring patterns. The game features five habitat types (mountains, forests, prairies, wetlands, rivers) and five wildlife species (bear, elk, salmon, hawk, fox), each with unique scoring conditions that change every game. After exactly 20 turns per player, the player with the most points wins.

Components

85 habitat tiles (including 25 keystone tiles)
100 wildlife tokens (20 each: bear, elk, salmon, hawk, fox)
1 cloth bag (for wildlife tokens)
5 starter habitat tiles
21 wildlife scoring cards (4 per species + 1 family/intermediate card)
25 nature tokens (Douglas fir cones)
1 scorepad

Setup

Place all wildlife tokens in the cloth bag and shake well.
Determine habitat tile count by player count: 2 players = 43 tiles, 3 players = 63 tiles, 4 players = 83 tiles. Randomly select tiles without looking; return extras to the box.
Shuffle selected tiles and stack them face down within reach.
Randomly select 1 wildlife scoring card for each of the 5 species. Place them in view. (First game: use the “A” cards.) Return unused scoring cards to the box.
Randomly give each player 1 starter habitat tile, face up. Return unused starters to the box.
Reveal 4 habitat tiles from the face-down stacks.
Draw 4 wildlife tokens from the bag and pair each (in order) with a revealed tile, forming 4 tile+token combinations.
Place nature tokens within reach.
First player: whoever most recently saw one of the wildlife species in real life.

Turn Structure

Starting with the first player, turns proceed clockwise. Each turn:

1. Check for Overpopulation:

If all 4 wildlife tokens are the same: automatically wipe (discard all 4 to the side, draw 4 new tokens, pair with tiles). This can repeat.
If 3 of 4 are the same: the active player may choose to wipe those 3 (set aside, draw 3 replacements).

2. Optionally Spend Nature Tokens: Before selecting, the active player may spend nature tokens (no limit per turn) to either:

Take ANY tile and ANY token (not limited to paired combinations), OR
Wipe any number of wildlife tokens and replace them.

3. Select a Tile + Token Combination: Without spending a nature token, you must take one of the 4 existing paired combinations. With a nature token, you can mix and match.

4. Place the Tile:

Must be placed adjacent to at least one existing tile in your environment (touching one side).
Cannot be placed on top of another tile.
Matching terrain is not required but scores points at end of game.

5. Place the Wildlife Token:

Must go on a habitat tile with no existing token.
The tile must show the matching wildlife species (tiles display 1-3 wildlife options).
Can be placed on the tile you just selected or any other eligible tile.
If you cannot or choose not to place the token, return it to the bag.
If placed on a keystone tile, gain a nature token.

6. Refill: Replace the taken tile (from face-down stacks) and token (from bag) in the center display.

Actions

On each turn you perform exactly one selection and placement as described above. The key strategic decision is which tile+token combination to take, and where to place each in your growing environment.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The game ends when there are no face-down tiles left to replace a selected tile (each player plays exactly 20 turns).

Scoring categories:

Wildlife Scoring Cards: Score each wildlife species according to its scoring card. Conditions vary by card (groups, runs, adjacencies, lines of sight, etc.).
Habitat Tile Corridors: For each of the 5 habitat types, score 1 point per tile in your largest contiguous corridor of that habitat type. Tiles connect through matching edges.
Habitat Corridor Majorities:
- 2 players: 2-point bonus for having the largest corridor in each habitat. If tied, 1 point each. No bonus for second.
- 3-4 players: 3-point bonus for largest corridor per habitat, 1 point for second largest. Ties: 2 points each if tied for largest (no second-place bonus); 1 point each if 3+ tied for largest; 0 for tied second.
Nature Tokens: 1 point per unused nature token.

Total all points. Most points wins. Tiebreaker: most nature tokens. Further tie: shared victory.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

Keystone tiles: Single-habitat tiles showing exactly one wildlife option. Placing the matching wildlife token on a keystone tile earns a nature token.
Wildlife scoring card specifics:
- Bears: Score for groups of specific sizes. Bear groups may NOT be placed adjacent to other bear groups.
- Salmon: Score for runs (chains where each salmon is adjacent to at most 2 others). No other salmon may be adjacent to a run.
- Elk: Most cards require specific geometric formations (lines, shapes). Elk groups MAY be adjacent. Each elk scores for only one group.
- Hawks: Score for spreading out. Conditions may involve isolation, lines of sight, or pairs at distance.
- Foxes: Score for adjacencies to other wildlife types. Increasing points based on number of unique adjacent animal types.
Family Variant: Use only the Family Variant scoring card (group-size-based scoring for all wildlife). Optionally skip habitat corridor majorities.
Intermediate Variant: Same as Family but with different group-size point values.
Solo Mode: Use 2-player tile count. After selecting, discard the tile+token furthest from draw stacks, slide remaining, refill two new pairs. Score using solo chart (60+ good start, 110+ ascended).

Player Reference

Step	Action
1	Check overpopulation (4 same = auto-wipe; 3 same = optional wipe)
2	Optionally spend nature tokens for flexible selection or token wipe
3	Select 1 tile + 1 token combination
4	Place tile adjacent to existing tiles
5	Place token on eligible tile (or return to bag)
6	Refill tile and token in display