Cascadia

We picked up Cascadia just the other week, and already it’s been on our table 6 times, which is definitely one that my wife enjoys. The art initially drew us to the game, but the great replayability keeps us coming back and the satisfaction that a well-played game offers.

I only found out that Cascadia is a place whilst writing this review; I guess that isn’t too bad, given I’m a Brit. Cascadia is an area in the Pacific North West of North America and is such a beautiful place, the perfect backdrop for this beautiful game.

It was great to get Cascadia out of the box, there aren’t too many components, and it’s speedy to get set-up a game, making it easy for a weeknight game. Cascadia is relatively easy to learn as a tile-laying game that offers fun to both beginners and experienced board gamers.

On your go, you select a pair of one habitat and one wildlife token and find where to place them in your new ecosystem; the challenge, however, is that they often won’t match up. The wildlife token can only go on a tile with the corresponding image. The trick is optimising your tile layout to accommodate habitats and wildlife patterns; you want to lay to ensure an optimal wildlife pattern. The animals are fussy about where they live and will only grant you points for specific patterns that match the relevant scoring cards. This really is a game of balance.

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The only area to also mention is that there is limited player interaction which has been a talking point of Cascadia. Still, I believe it is pretty interactive compared to other popular games. If you want a game that will generate a lot of banter and competitiveness, I don’t think this is the game to reach for. It’s aiming for a more relaxed vibe.

Overall, Cascadia is a fun, gorgeous and accessible tile-laying game that’s perfect for when you want a relaxing, low-key vibe and just leaves you feeling satisfied. Plenty of variation on offer keeps this game fresh and exciting for a long time. The game is straightforward to learn. Cascadia has great replayability due to the various play modes and decks of scoring cards that can be varied between games, meaning you can mix up each game by putting new goals out. But even if there were only one card for each animal, this game would still be immensely replayable, both because of the way the cards and tiles come out, the starting tiles, and the way you try to bend yourself in different ways as you endeavour to make a new strategy work.