Designer: Corne van Moorsel (Factory Fun, Habitats, Powerboats)

Artist: Steven Tu (Factory Funner, Habitats, Roll to the Top!)

Publisher: Cwali (Factory Fun, Habitats, Powerboats)

Genre/Mechanisms: tableau-building, tile placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Habitats XL is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total almost 4x the initial funding goal.

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

What It’s About:  Habitats is a medium-light tile laying game themed around building fence-free and cage-free natural animal habitats. The new XL expansion adds 16 tiles and 3 player turns to the game.

How It Works:  At the start of the game, 3 public goal cards are selected at random to give each play additional variability. From there, players take turns moving their animal market around a market of available tiles. Players can move forward or to either side (but never backwards), and can even jump over another player’s marker if it’s directly adjacent to claim the tile on the other side. The player then places their newly acquired tile in their personal tableau, and replaces the tile they took in the market grid. If all of the required habitats on the tile are fulfilled by the surrounding tiles, the tile can be places facing the player, and will be scored at the end of the game. If it can not yet be fulfilled, the tile is placed in the player’s tableau upside down, and is only turned (and scored at the end of the game) once its surrounding habitat requirements have been met. The game is divided into three years, with a number of turns each year dependent on player count. At the end of each year, the corresponding goal card is scored. At the end of the third year, all of the player’s qualifying animal tiles are scored as well.

Comparisons: Although the scoring mechanics are different, Carcassonne is a pretty good comparison both in complexity and as a similar light, casual, and gateway-level tile placement game.

What Should I Pledge?:
$9 Habitats XL Expansion: just the new stuff.
$25 Habitats XL Expansion & Roll to the Top! + Specials: the Habitats XL Expansion pledge level, plus the game Roll to the Top! and its Special Challenges Pack.
$34 Habitats Complete Game & XL Expansion: the Habitats XL Expansion pledge level, plus a copy of the 3rd edition of the base game.
$45 Habitats XL Expansion & Factory Funner & Bigger: the Habitats XL Expansion pledge level, plus the game Factory Funner and its two expansions.
$54 Habitats + XL Expansion & Roll to the Top! + Specials: the Habitats XL Expansion & Roll to the Top! + Specials pledge level, plus a copy of the 3rd edition of the Habitats base game.
$65 Habitats XL Expansion & Roll to the Top! + Specials & Factory Funner & Bigger: the Habitats XL Expansions pledge level, plus the game Roll to the Top! and its Special Challenges Pack, and the game Factory Funner and its two expansions.
$73 Habitats + XL Expansion & Factory Funner & Bigger: the Habitats XL Expansion & Factory Funner & Bigger pledge level, plus a copy of the 3rd editions of the Habitats base game.
$94 Habitats + XL Expansion & Roll to the Top! + Specials & Factory Funner & Bigger: includes a copy of the 3rd edition of the Habitats base game, the new XL Expnasion, Roll to the Top! and its Special Challenges Pack, and the game Factory Funner and its two expansions.

Add-Ons:
$30 Habitats 3rd Edition: only available as an add-on to pledges already including a copy of Habitats 3rd Edition (this is the way to add an additional copy)
$21 Roll to the Top! with Specials pack: only available as an add-on to pledges already including a copy of Roll to the Top! (this is the way to add an additional copy)
$43 Factory Funner & Bigger: only available as an add-on to pledges already including a copy of Factory Funner & Bigger (this is the way to add an additional copy)
$3 Factory Funner & Bigger Expansion 1
$3 Factory Funner & Bigger Expansion 2
$25 Gipsy King game
$26 BasketBoss game
$27 Meltdown 2020 game
$28 Champions 2020 game
$29 Sun, Sea & Sand game
$12 Mondriaan 2020 game
$13 Mayday! Mayday! game
$3 Mayday! Mayday! 9th & 10th player expansion
$20 Street Soccer game
$3 Power Boats expansion tiles

KS Exclusives:
None.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $34 for Habitats Complete Game & XL Expansion (assuming you’re not interested in any of the Roll to the Top! or Factory Funner products) plus $18 in shipping for a total of $52.

Habitats XL completes its Kickstarter on Monday, July 8th and tentatively ships in September 2019.