TO DO LIST:
– Work out a good number of cards in starting deck (per player)
– Suggest an initial set of cards (including number of species, number of habitats, number of environmental challenges, appropriate terrain/climate stats). This one is especially important, because here we can canvas the web for appropriate images.
– Suggest “special attributes” and their play mechanisms for Species cards. This is what ultimately will appear in the middle text box of the cards.
– Suggest play effects of Environmental Challenge cards.
– Define movement more clearly (i.e. what’s the point? To block opponent moves? To create better linkage? Pollinator for plants?)
– Beta test these general rules and leave feedback.
– In case, there is a move to print cards professionally (so that they do become collectable), is there a way to develop an analogous game where card sets are kept separate?
You are part of a team of biologists. Each biologist chooses a habitat he/she thinks will lead to the most complete scientific survey. Here, you will identify species in the habitat, as well as adjacent habitats to convince the other scientists the next project should be in your area. Will you gather enough data to convince them your area is the most important and interesting area to study, or will one of the other scientists convince you his area is even more interesting?
NOTE the following keywords: Habitat, Species, Climate, Terrain, Food Chain Rank, Diet, Scale.
Pick who will go first. Select any two cards from your deck. One must be a Habitat card, the other can either be another Habitat card or a Species card that can be placed alongside. Moving clockwise around the table, each player places both their cards in a zigzag pattern (see diagram).
Note that during the initial setup you do not follow normal placement rules below.