The board game Endangered shows just how hard conservation can be
The survival of (small, wooden) tigers and otters is in your hands
Saving endangered species isn’t easy. Doing so requires the cooperation of many people — from scientists and conservation organizations to governments and local residents — as well as a bit of luck. That’s as true in real life as it is in Endangered, a new board game from Grand Gamers Guild.
Endangered is a cooperative game for one to five players. Each person takes on a role — zoologist, philanthropist, lobbyist, environmental lawyer or TV wildlife show host — and players work together to convince at least four ambassadors to save a species. (In a one-player game, two roles are played simultaneously.) If you get too few “yes” votes, or let habitat destruction spread too much, or if your animal population dies out, everyone loses.
The game starts with a set of animals in their habitat, either tigers or sea otters, depending on which of the game’s two story lines you play. Each player’s turn consists of a series of phases. In the first, a player takes actions, such as moving animals to let them mate or obtaining money.
In the offspring phase, animal reproduction is controlled by the role of a die. The die also controls where habitation destruction — either deforestation or pollution — spreads. A card draw then brings on other events, from clear-cutting of forests to a shark attack to an animal rescue.