Overview

Dominant Species is a worker-placement area-control game set 90,000 years ago during the onset of an ice age. Each player controls one of six animal classes (mammal, reptile, bird, amphibian, arachnid, or insect) competing for dominance across an ever-changing earth. Players place action pawns on an action display to perform actions like adaptation, migration, speciation, and glaciation. The player whose animal accumulates the most victory points wins.

Components

• 1 game board with hex grid, action display, VP track, and bonus points table
• 6 animal displays (one per animal class)
• 27 cards: 1 Survival card + 26 Dominance cards (including Ice Age)
• 31 large hexagonal terrain tiles + 12 small tundra tiles
• 330 wooden cubes (species) in 6 colors (55 per animal)
• 60 wooden cylinders (action pawns) in 6 colors (10 per animal)
• 60 wooden cones (dominance markers) in 6 colors (10 per animal)
• 120 round element markers (6 types: grass, grub, meat, seed, sun, water)
• 6 square initiative markers
• 1 cloth draw bag

Setup

1. Place the board centrally. Place 7 large terrain tiles (one of each non-tundra type) in the center hex grid positions. Place a tundra tile on top of the sea tile.
2. Stack the 11 remaining tundra tiles face-up on the Glaciation Tiles section.
3. Shuffle 24 remaining large tiles face-down; create 3 stacks of 8. Place on Wanderlust Tiles sections; flip top tile of each face-up.
4. Each player chooses an animal. Place initiative markers in reverse food chain order (insects first, mammals last) on the Initiative track.
5. Players receive action pawns and species cubes based on player count: 6 players = 3 APs + 35 cubes; 5 players = 4 APs + 40 cubes; 4 players = 5 APs + 45 cubes; 3 players = 6 APs + 50 cubes; 2 players = 7 APs + 55 cubes.
6. Place 1 cube per player on VP track at “0”.
7. Place starting species on tiles: Insects (2 savannah, 1 wetland, 1 desert); Arachnids (2 jungle, 1 forest, 1 wetland); Amphibians (2 wetland, 1 jungle, 1 savannah); Birds (2 forest, 1 mountain, 1 jungle); Reptiles (2 desert, 1 savannah, 1 mountain); Mammals (2 mountain, 1 desert, 1 forest).
8. Place 12 starting elements on tile corners as indicated on the board. Place remaining elements in the draw bag.
9. Set aside the Survival card. Remove Ice Age from the Dominance deck, place it face-down, then shuffle remaining 25 Dominance cards on top. Draw 5 face-up to the Available Dominance Cards section.
10. Draw 4 random elements from the bag for each of: Adaptation, Abundance, and Wanderlust sections (12 total).

Turn Structure

Each turn has three phases:

1. Planning Phase

Players take turns in Initiative order (left to right on track), each placing one action pawn on a vacant eyeball space of the action display. Continue in rounds until all players have placed all their APs. Players who run out of APs are skipped.

2. Execution Phase

APs are removed from the action display one at a time in top-to-bottom, left-to-right order. When removed, the owning player performs that action. The 12 actions execute in this fixed order:

1. Initiative – 2. Adaptation – 3. Regression – 4. Abundance – 5. Wasteland – 6. Depletion – 7. Glaciation – 8. Speciation – 9. Wanderlust – 10. Migration – 11. Competition – 12. Domination

3. Reset Phase

• Eliminate all endangered species (Extinction). Mammals may save 1.
• Score Survival card (bonus VPs for tundra tiles occupied by the holder’s species).
• Refill Dominance card display to 5.
• Shift Glaciation APs left. Cascade elements: Adaptation -> Regression Box, Abundance -> Wasteland Box, Wasteland Box -> Depletion Box. Clear Regression, Depletion, and Wanderlust sections.
• Draw 4 new elements each for Adaptation, Abundance, and Wanderlust.
• Flip top tiles of Wanderlust stacks face-up.

Actions

Initiative: Swap your initiative marker one position left. Then place the removed AP into any vacant eyeball space (acts as an extra placement).

Adaptation: Take one element from the Adaptation section and place it on your animal display (max 6 elements per animal, counting defaults).

Regression: For each element type in the Regression Box, every animal loses one matching added element from its display. Each AP here prevents one removal. Reptiles always have a “free” AP here. Default elements are never removed.

Abundance: Take one element from this section and place it on any vacant corner of any tile on earth.

Wasteland: Remove one element from the Wasteland Box (your choice). Then automatically remove all elements from tundra tiles matching remaining element types in the Wasteland Box.

Depletion: Remove one element from earth that matches an element type in the Depletion Box.

Glaciation: Select a non-tundra tile adjacent to at least one tundra tile. Remove all species, place a tundra tile on it, remove elements surrounded by exactly 3 tundra tiles, earn bonus VPs based on adjacent tundra count. Return 1 species per animal to the tile; remainder go to gene pools. APs in later spaces shift forward during Reset.

Speciation: Choose an element on earth matching the AP’s element type. Place new species from gene pool onto adjacent tiles (up to 4 on sea/wetland, 3 on savannah/jungle/forest, 2 on desert/mountain, 1 on tundra). Insects always place 1 free species on any tile after all Speciation actions.

Wanderlust: Take a face-up tile from a Wanderlust stack. Place it on a vacant hex adjacent to earth. Optionally place an element from the Wanderlust section onto the new tile. Earn bonus VPs for adjacent tiles. Then, in food chain order, every player may move species from adjacent tiles onto the new tile.

Migration: Move up to X of your species to adjacent tiles (X = number on the AP’s space). Birds may move up to 2 tiles away instead of 1.

Competition: Choose up to 1 tile of each of the 3 terrain types shown on the AP’s space. On each chosen tile, eliminate 1 opposing species (must have your own species present). Arachnids always get a free competition on any single tile.

Domination: Choose a tile not yet scored this turn. Score it: animals with the most species earn VPs based on the Tile Scoring table (1st through 4th place depending on terrain). Ties broken by food chain. The dominant animal’s player must select and execute one face-up Dominance card.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

VPs are earned throughout the game from:

• Domination scoring: Tile scoring during Domination actions (VPs vary by terrain: sea is richest, tundra is poorest)
• Bonus VPs: From Glaciation, Wanderlust, and the Survival card (use the Bonus Points Table on the board)
• Dominance cards: Various one-time VP effects
• Survival card: Held by the player with the sole most species on tundra tiles; scores bonus VPs each Reset Phase

Endgame: When the Ice Age Dominance card is selected, finish the current turn’s Domination actions, perform Extinction and Survival scoring, then perform final scoring: remove all dominance markers and score every tile on earth one last time (no Dominance cards during final scoring). Highest VP total wins. Ties broken by food chain position (mammals highest).

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Food chain order (highest to lowest): Mammal, Reptile, Bird, Amphibian, Arachnid, Insect. Used for tie-breaking and some card effects.
• Dominance: An animal is dominant on a tile if it has species there and matches more elements than any other animal with species there. Ties mean no animal is dominant. Endangered species cannot claim dominance. Dominance must be verbally claimed and physically marked.
• Endangered species: Species on a tile where their animal matches zero elements. Eliminated during Extinction each turn.
• Matching elements: Multiply each element type on your animal display by the count of that type on the tile’s corners. Sum all types.
• Species removed from earth (except by Glaciation) are placed in the box permanently, NOT back to gene pools. Species removed by Glaciation return to gene pools.
• Actions are never mandatory: A player may forfeit any action when their AP is removed.
• Some actions trigger even without APs: Regression, Wasteland, Speciation (insect free species), Competition (arachnid free competition).
• Animals cannot be eliminated: A player with no species on earth and none in gene pool still plays (still has AP placement and VP total).
• Max 6 elements per animal display (including defaults).
• 2-3 player variant: Each player controls multiple animals (2 or 3 each). All 6 animals are used. Final score = your lowest-scoring animal’s VP total.

Player Reference

Animal	Default Elements	Special Ability
Mammal	Meat	Save 1 endangered species from Extinction each turn
Reptile	Sun, Sun	Free AP in Regression section
Bird	Seed	Migration up to 2 tiles away
Amphibian	Water	(No inherent special ability)
Arachnid	Grub	Free Competition on any single tile each turn
Insect	Grass, Grass	Free Speciation of 1 species on any tile each turn

Terrain	Speciation Limit	Scoring (1st/2nd/3rd/4th)
Sea	4	9/5/3/2
Wetland	4	8/4/2/1
Savannah	3	7/4/2
Jungle	3	6/3/2
Forest	3	5/3/2
Desert	2	4/2
Mountain	2	3/2
Tundra	1	2

APs by Player Count	6p: 3, 5p: 4, 4p: 5, 3p: 6, 2p: 7
Species by Player Count	6p: 35, 5p: 40, 4p: 45, 3p: 50, 2p: 55
Phase Order	Planning > Execution > Reset
Execution Order	Initiative > Adaptation > Regression > Abundance > Wasteland > Depletion > Glaciation > Speciation > Wanderlust > Migration > Competition > Domination