In the world we live in, many animals face threat in their survival because of the march of progress from humans that share the planet with them. But thankfully there are conservationists trying to save many species from extinction and you are one of those great individuals. Today we will cover the game that puts you in that role and learn how you can be one of those heroes.
Endangered is designed by Joe Hopkins with design by Josh Cappel and Illustrations from Beth Sobel and Ben Flores. It is published by Grand Gamers Guild. Endangered plays 1-5 players in 60 mins and is for ages 10 to adult.
Overview
Endangered is a modular game system where each module tells a different story offering a challenge that is different each time. In each game you learn how to save the animals and work together to get 4 ambassador votes of yes by the end of the year.
Gameplay
The gameboard and all of the tokens and cubes are set up around the board while the Ambassadors are picked at random and placed face down. The scenario is set up dependent on the module. First decide which animal you want to use and what level of difficulty you want to use. Following the setup rules you pick the board side, animals, destruction tiles and Impact deck.
Each player sets up their role by choosing the specific role they want to be and adding the player board, dice, special role and deck of cards. Once all players have picked their characters the game is ready to begin!
The game is played over a series of rounds that are identified as years. The game lasts based on the Years that the player count calls for. Each person gets one turn per year. Turn order is decided by players as they play the game. The phases are performed on a players turn in order. These are:
- Actions Phase
- Offspring Phase
- Destruction Phase
- Impact Phase
- Upkeep Phase
1-Actions Phase. Here players will take all of their action dice and roll them to start. One at a time action dice are placed on an active Action and then perform the ability described on that action. When selecting actions you cannot pick ones where you already have dice there and the die you place must be higher in number that all other dice there. All Action cards are open to use for all players regardless of who played it. Dice remain until your next turn on the space you place them.
Cards are played as either Action, Continuous or Once cards. You play Action cards into the Action zone for all players to have access to. The Continuous cards are going to give you an ongoing benefit the rest of the game. And finally Once cards provide a one time ability and are then discarded.
Ambassadors may have an influence cube placed on them from an Action as well and this will reveal them, giving you a chance to determine how they will vote at the end of the voting year. This will allow you to all see how to best influence them and affect the votes.
2. Offspring Phase. If there is at least one mating pair on the board, your animals can roll to see if they are able to mate and increase offspring. Count the number of mating pairs and add one. Your roll must be less than or equal to that number. One offspring is produced into a space adjacent to any one mating pair. Each scenario produces a different result with Mating pairs and offspring so make sure to review that as you reach this step.
3. Destruction Phase. Destruction takes place in the environment your animals are in. Each scenario is different but ultimately it leads to slow steady worsening of your environment as the years past. This adds destruction tiles to your board, you can remove them to the supply through some affects as well.
4. Impact Phase. The Impact deck is a variety of events that will affect the game, many are not good in their actions. Each is resolved differently, so you will need to check the cards appropriately.
Some Impacts are instant and others are persistent, each bringing different aspects to the game state.
5. Upkeep Phase. At the end of your turn, draw 1 card from the Action deck and add it to your hand. Then the active player will pick the next player that still had a turn for the round and chose them to go next. ion there are no players with turn markers, the round is over and you move to the end of the Year.
Years End will advance the year marker by one. If it is voting year, check to see if you are able to get a vote from each face up Ambassador to see if you meet their criteria. If you get 4 or more yes votes in a single voting year, the resolution has passed to protect the species and you have won the game as a group!
Impressions
Endangered is one of the more enjoyable co-op games we have played and quite possibly one of my favorites in the genre. If I am going to play a co-op game I really want to be immersed into the theme and the experience. This one does just that, as the destruction and impact of the envoroemnt and the people around your chosen animal really start to crash in on all sides. I felt the pressure of this game trying to make sure we made smart decisions not only individually but as a group as well.
As a team, there is a lot of thoughtful decision making going on in this game not only individually but with the mindset of the group as well. I found we were in constant discussion on what to do and when to do it, especially when it came to turn order. The removal of the right dice at the right time made it so important to determine as you moved forward through each year. I really appreciate that this game does that right for co-op, making it feel much less like a game where one person runs it to a more team-oriented experience.
One of the drawbacks we had was not having any Action cards in a few of our games early that gave you the ability to place influence tokens. You really need those early on so that your team is able to determine which of the Ambassadors to focus on and steer towards your votes.
Another drawback of other Co-ops can be the receptive nature that a lot of them tend to have. Often times I feel like once I get through the game, there isn’t a great reason to go bak and try and beat it again. Endangered adds such a fun twist in that every game has the potential to be different from eh next as you not only change the difficulty but you change out the story completely being modular. I love the flexibility of that aspect of the game.
Finally, the theme for this one is outstanding. You really feel the game aspects of trying to fight for the animals you are trying to protect from not only humans but the environment and the political aspects of conservation. I love how genuine the loss can be and how hard some of the steps are when faced with possible loss of animals or forest space. The game leans hard into that without being silly or underwhelming.
Overall I would have to recommend this one to families or groups of gamers looking to experience the highs and lows of being an environmental champion as you defend the safety and future of some of the world’s most vulnerable creatures. Band together, work side by side and bring hope to the world as you seek to help and understand what it looks like to belike one of the conservationists trying to protect our animal friends.
Currently there is a Kickstarter for an expansion to the game Endangered that you can find and learn more about here: Kickstarter Campaign!
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