Dominant Species reference sheet

Overview

• 2–6 players; ~2–3 hours; theme: ice age survival 90,000 B.C. [p.1 — Introduction]
• Each player controls one animal class: Mammal, Reptile, Bird, Amphibian, Arachnid, or Insect [p.1 — Introduction]
• Core loop: place Action Pawns (APs) during Planning, resolve actions in fixed order during Execution [p.9 — Sequence of Play]
• Goal: accumulate the most Victory Points (VPs) before the Ice Age card ends the game [p.20 — Endgame]
• VPs earned by dominating tiles, scoring Domination actions, and holding the Survival Card [p.2 — Game Overview]
• Species removed from earth (except via Glaciation) go to the box permanently — not back to gene pool [p.6 — Earth]

Setup

• Place board center-table; each player picks an animal display [p.4 — The Animals]
• Place initiative markers in reverse food chain order (Insects first → Mammals last) [p.4 — The Animals]
• Place 7 large terrain tiles in center hex grid; tundra atop the sea tile; 11 tundra tiles in Glaciation stack [p.4 — The Tiles]
• Shuffle remaining 24 large tiles into 3 face-down stacks of 8 on Wanderlust sections; flip top tile of each [p.4 — The Tiles]
• Seed elements: 2 of each type on starting tiles; draw 4 random elements each into Adaptation, Abundance, and Wanderlust sections [p.4 — The Elements]
• AP counts per player count: 6P=3, 5P=4, 4P=5, 3P=6, 2P=7 cylinders; cubes: 6P=35, 5P=40, 4P=45, 3P=50, 2P=55 [p.4 — The Species]
• Starting species placement per animal: Insects (2 savannah, 1 wetland, 1 desert), Arachnids (2 jungle, 1 forest, 1 wetland), Amphibians (2 wetland, 1 jungle, 1 savannah), Birds (2 forest, 1 mountain, 1 jungle), Reptiles (2 desert, 1 savannah, 1 mountain), Mammals (2 mountain, 1 desert, 1 forest) [p.4 — The Species]
• Remove Ice Age card; shuffle 25 Dominance Cards on top of it face-down; reveal top 5 face-up [p.4 — The Cards]

Turn structure

PLANNING PHASE

1. In left-to-right Initiative order, each player places 1 AP into any vacant eyeball space on the action display [p.9 — Planning Phase]
2. Repeat rounds until all players have placed all APs [p.9 — Planning Phase]

EXECUTION PHASE (remove APs top-to-bottom, left-to-right)

3. Initiative → Adaptation → Regression → Abundance → Wasteland → Depletion → Glaciation → Speciation → Wanderlust → Migration → Competition → Domination [p.9 — Execution Phase]

RESET PHASE

4. Extinction: eliminate all endangered species [p.20 — Extinction]
5. Survival: check Survival Card holder; score bonus VPs for tundra tiles occupied [p.20 — Survival]
6. Reseed: refill Dominance Cards, slide elements down action display, draw 4 new elements each into Adaptation/Abundance/Wanderlust [p.20 — Reseed]

Actions

Scoring

• Domination action — 1st place: VPs = left-most value on Tile Scoring table for that terrain [p.16 — Domination]
• Domination action — 2nd place: VPs = second value (all terrain except tundra); requires a second animal present [p.16 — Domination]
• Domination action — 3rd place: VPs = third value (sea, wetland, savannah, jungle, forest only) [p.16 — Domination]
• Domination action — 4th place: 2 VPs (sea) or 1 VP (wetland) only; requires 4th distinct animal [p.16 — Domination]
• Ties in species count broken by food chain order (Mammal best → Insect worst) [p.16 — Domination]
• Glaciation bonus: VPs from Bonus Points Track based on number of existing tundra tiles adjacent to new tile [p.13 — Glaciation]
• Wanderlust bonus: VPs from Bonus Points Track based on number of existing tiles adjacent to new tile [p.14 — Wanderlust]
• Survival Card: bonus VPs each Reset Phase = Bonus Points Track value for number of tundra tiles occupied by your species [p.20 — Survival]
• Final scoring: all tiles scored once more at game end; dominance ignored (VPs only, no Dominance Cards) [p.20 — Endgame]

End of game

• Game ends when the Ice Age Dominance Card is selected during a Domination action [p.16 — Domination]
• Finish remaining Domination actions for that turn, then perform Extinction and score Survival Card [p.20 — Endgame]
• Skip the Reseed step on the final turn [p.19 — Ice Age]
• Remove all dominance markers; score every tile on earth one final time (no Dominance Cards awarded) [p.20 — Endgame]
• Player with highest VP total wins; tie broken by food chain order (highest = winner) [p.20 — Endgame]
• 2–3 player variant: each player's final score = their lowest-scoring animal's VP total [p.17 — Final Scoring]

Glossary

• Action Pawn (AP): wooden cylinder placed on action display to claim and execute actions [p.3 — Glossary]
• Dominant / Dominance: animal matches more elements on a tile than any other animal with species there; ties = no dominance [p.3 — Glossary]
• Matching: for each element type on your animal display, multiply count on display × count on tile; sum all types [p.3 — Glossary]
• Endangered: species on a tile where their animal matches zero elements (or tile has no elements); cannot claim dominance [p.3 — Glossary]
• Gene Pool: species cubes held by a player before placement; species removed from earth (non-Glaciation) go to the box, NOT the gene pool [p.8 — Gene Pool]
• Food Chain: Mammal > Reptile > Bird > Amphibian > Arachnid > Insect; used to break ties [p.3 — Glossary]
• Terrain types: Tundra, Mountain, Desert, Forest, Jungle, Savannah, Wetland, Sea [p.3 — Glossary]
• Element: round disk representing a resource (grass, grub, meat, seed, sun, water); on animal display = need; on earth = supply [p.3 — Glossary]
• Bonus Points Track: converts a count (e.g. tundra tiles occupied) into VPs; located bottom-left of board [p.3 — Bonus VPs]
• Survival Card: held by player with sole most species on tundra; scores bonus VPs each Reset Phase [p.18 — Survival Card]

FAQ

• Q: Can species removed from earth go back to the gene pool? — A: Only if removed by Glaciation; all other removals go to the box permanently [p.6 — Earth]
• Q: Is dominance automatic? — A: No — players must verbally and physically claim or remove dominance markers; it is not automatic [p.7 — Dominance]
• Q: Can an animal's default (printed) elements be removed by Regression or Disease? — A: Never; default elements are always protected [p.11 — Regression]
• Q: What happens if Glaciation has APs in the 2nd–4th spaces? — A: Only the left-most AP acts; the rest shift left one space during Reset Phase [p.13 — Glaciation]
• Q: Do Insects and Arachnids always get their free action even if no AP is placed in their section? — A: Yes — Insects always place 1 free species after Speciation; Arachnids always compete on 1 tile during Competition [p.9 — Skipping Sections]
• Q: In 2–3 player games, what is each player's final score? — A: The lowest VP total among that player's controlled animals [p.17 — Final Scoring]