If you thought Africa was all desert, grassland, and safari animals, think again! The Serengeti-Mara ecosystem is one of the most diverse on the planet with over 15,000 square miles of land that is home to grassland, woodland, wetland, and dryland species of plants and animals, and many of them need a combination of these habitats to thrive. SavannaScapes is a fantastic educational strategy board game for 2-5 players, ages 7+ that will familiarize players with this amazing ecosystem and its wild and plant life in a fun and engaging way that is sure to fuel curiosity and feed hungry minds with interesting facts and information about unfamiliar plants and animals in both a collaborative and competitive way!
The game includes a whopping 80 different species tiles with 17 animal types for each different habitat type. Use the included Fun Facts Booklet to learn more about this unique ecosystem and each individual plant and animal.
SavannaScapes is a quick game to learn and so much fun! Here’s how to play:
Lay out a 5×5 grid of species tiles, replacing certain tiles (check the instruction book) with individual player pawns. Each player gets a start tile. On each turn, players will complete three steps:
- Choose a species tile in the same row or column as your animal print pawn to add to your ecosystem.
- Connect this new tile adjacently to your existing ecosystem.
- Randomly select a new tile from the bag to refill the playing grid.
There are three different kinds of tiles:
Animal Tiles: These have icons/colors to indicate which habitat type it provides to other tiles/species AND which habitat type it needs from other tiles. The goal is to place each tile next to the one or two NEEDED habitat types to satisfy that species and earn its points. Once the needs have been met, flip the tile over and immediately score the points.
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- Some species are KEYSTONE species, which means they are foundational to the ecosystem and are worth 3 points instead of 1 or 2.
Flower Tiles: These score points immediately when placed in your ecosystem and can also be used to meet another animal’s needs based on the background color of the tile.
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- Pollinator tiles (butterfly, bees, bat, etc.) require a flower tile for their needs to be met and score points in the ecosystem.
Event Tiles : These tiles affect all players and give points for each matching colored tile each person’s ecosystem. Each Event Tile has two separate events. The player who selects an Event Tile chooses which event to activate and scores points for that color and then places the Event Tile in their ecosystem, where it can meet habitat needs (two different habitats, based on how the tile is rotated) for other species.
The game is played through a series of rounds.
- 2 player game = 18 rounds
- 3 player game = 15 rounds
- 4 player game = 12 rounds
- 5 player game – 10 rounds
Once the rounds have all been played, players add point tokens and the player with the highest score and the most diverse, healthy, and thriving ecosystem WINS!
Simply Fun is the source of many of our favorite play & learn resources. Their games are educational, fun, good quality, and target a wide variety of skills and knowledge areas. In this game, kids will learn dozens of different animal species by name and some interesting information about each in a fun, play-based way. Players will also get to practice strategic thinking and arithmetic. SavannaScapes provides some super exposure to the incredibly diverse selection of plants and animals on Earth and is an excellent gameschooling science resource for curious kids!
Thanks to Simply Fun for sharing with us!
