It’s always good to find a game that plays well for adults, but can be played by younger players as well.
Biome Builder is one of those games, and it comes with an added feature in that there is an educational aspect for younger players.
“In Biome Builder, you are an ecologist studying four different environments – the Amazon Rainforest, the Sahara Desert, the Pacific Ocean, and the American Prairie,” details the rules. “A biome is a community of plants and animals unique to a habitat. Everyone in the habitat has a job that helps make their environment a great home for everyone in the biome.
“Your goal is to create food chains stacking cards from plants to herbivores and omnivores to predators and apex predators. An ideal food chain stacks 1-2-3-4-5 and earns you a bonus token worth 10 points to be added to your score.”
Young people can learn a lot about varying ecosystems, and their food chains playing the game, if the adults take a bit of extra time to use the game as a teaching tool
“It is not necessary to stack 1-2-3-4-5, but you must stack cards in ascending order. Each stack must start with a 1 or plant card,” continues the rules. “After that you must stack an herbivore (2) or omnivore (3) card. After that you must stack higher number predator cards.”
In terms of the stacking aspect of the game I was reminded a bit of the card game Spite & Malice, one of the fun ‘ladder-style” games out there.
In Biome Builder the game is over when the draw pile is empty and no one has any more moves. Banked cards are added up at the end of the game to get your score. Add the number on the top of all your cards and your 10 point bonus tokens. The player with the most points wins.
The artwork is great here, the cards featuring actual photos of the different animals, which is another great feature in terms of being a teaching tool for youth.
Check it out at www.killersnails.com
Thanks to fellow gamers Jeff Chasse, Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.
