Designers: Gerard Ascensi, Ferran Renalias

Artist: Amelia Sales (Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Sherlock: Propagacion, Shikoku)

Publisher: Artana (Einstein: His Amazing Life and Incomparable Science, Tesla vs. Edison: Duel, Tesla vs. Edison: War of the Currents)

Genre/Mechanisms: city building, hand management, tile placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, On the Origin of Species is already fully-funded. In fact, pledges currently total more than 9x the initial funding goal with just over 1 day left to go on the campaign!

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About: A tile placement game where players Discover and Research new species while “step[ping] into the adventure of young Charles Darwin on the HMS Beagle’s expedition through the Galapagos Islands.”

How It Works: “Players will join the Beagle’s journey through the Galapagos Islands, performing observations on the island habitats and discovering the natural history of the species they encounter, as Darwin did. The player who makes the most of their time in the islands will be the most distinguished naturalist and will win the game!”

“The game board’s central exploration area contains a grid of squares where species tiles may be placed. Players will research the habitats of species already on the board, adding observation cubes to the tiles to reflect their knowledge of the species traits in the area. They will spend these cubes in order to be able to discover new species, adding them to the board. In doing so, they earn victory points, obtain cards with special abilities and scoring opportunities, and move the Beagle through the Galapagos Islands. Discovering a new species (and some specific cards) will advance the Beagle on its route. The Beagle’s movement will trigger 3 mid-game scoring events, and the game ends when the Beagle reaches the end of its route.”

On their turn, players chose between the following 2 main actions: Habitat Research of a species on the board or Discovering the natural history of a new species. To Research, the active player places 2 observation cubes, 1 cube each on 2 different species tiles in the exploration area. The active player may also play any number of character cards, most of which have effects involving observation cubes. To Discover, the active player selects one of the tiles on the evolution track and a square to place it on, removing observation cubes from tiles adjacent to the selected space and returning them to the cubes’ owners. Each cube returned to its owner immediately scores that player 1 victory point. Tiles can also be placed on a space occupied by a lower level species than the chosen one. In this case, the active player collects the tile being replaced, and will score 1 vp for it at the end of the game. The active player will also receive the rewards on the tile when they place it, move the Beagle forward on its route by the number of spaces indicated on the tile, then refill the evolution track with a new tile. When Discovering, players may also play any number of naturalist luggage cards, which have effects that pay habitat costs or involve discovering species.

When the Beagle passes each of its 3 objectives, players will score them. When the Beagle reaches its 4th objective card, the game ends. The player with the most observation cubes on each species tile in the exploration area collects that tile. Then players score the final objective card, and gain 1 additional victory point for each species tile they’ve collected over the course of the game. The player with the most points wins, with ties broken by the player with the most total book icons on their cards, and then by the player closer to the right of the starting player.

Comparisons:  Interestingly, there’s another Kickstarter currently running for a game called Darwin’s Choice with a similar theme. There was also a Kickstarter for a game called Pangea earlier in 2019 that was more complex but had a similar theme. And continuing with the theming comparisons, Phil Eklund’s Bios: Genesis and Bios: Origins, as well as Chad Jensen’s Dominant Species, share some similar DNA. But the game-play of On the Origin of Species, using mechanics for cube placement and scoring based on area majority, is very similar to some of the simpler war games. One example is Fort Sumter: The Secession Crisis, 1860-1861.

What Should I Pledge?:
$25 Copy of the Game: one copy of On the Origin of Species.

Add-Ons:
None.

KS Exclusives:
None listed.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $25 Copy of the Game and $4 in shipping for a total of $29.

On the Origin of Species completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, December 5th and tentatively ships in May 2020.