You are a team of researchers working for the Institute for Wildlife Conservation (IWC), and you are ready to go to the ends of the earth to halt the extinction of various species. As representatives of the IWC, you will go on missions to research and protect endangered fauna. Each mission revolves around a specific animal, including the collection of data on related animals, in order to gain a better understanding of the behavior, habitat, and other important features of the animal being studied.
Animalia: Preventing Extinction is a co-operative card game in which you will attempt, on behalf of the IWC, to conduct research on endangered animals. As you do so, you will also raise funds that the IWC can use to protect animals and create global awareness of the animals’ plight. These goals can only be achieved if you communicate well and work together as a team.
Each round consists of a series of 8 turns for each player, called tricks. The first Animal card played in a trick determines that trick’s color. The other players must follow suit by playing an Animal card of the same color, if possible. Whoever plays the highest-valued card in a trick’s color wins that trick. That player moves the trick’s cards to their personal trick pile, which is kept facedown beside them. When all tricks are played, each player with one or more Mission cards must fulfill their mission(s) by collecting (in their trick pile) all of the Animal cards listed on their Mission card(s). If even one of the missions has not been successfully completed, the players immediately lose the game. However, if all players’ Mission cards have been successfully completed, those Mission cards are set aside and the players continue on to the next round.
Animalia: Preventing Extinction also offers a campaign mode. The campaign game can be played in solo, two-player, and three-player mode. For setup, select how many and which continents you will play in a row. Any money earned will continue to the next continent. If you fail at any moment during the campaign, you have not succeeded in completing the campaign.
Andrew Lynch struggles to review Animalia: Preventing Extinction, a new trick taking game from Quined Games.
