Journey Into the Pacific Northwest – An Overview of Cascadia

Cascadia Digital is coming soon to Steam Early Access!

The hit tabletop board game Cascadia by Flatout Games invites players to take a journey through the scenic Pacific Northwest, building a gorgeous spatial puzzle that evokes the peaceful serenity of the region it’s named after. Winner of the prestigious Spiel des Jahres award in 2022 and designed by Randy Flynn, Cascadia has made waves for the elegant, zen-like nature of its design, and we’re excited for the opportunity to bring it to digital platforms, starting with an early access release on Steam.

Welcome to the Pacific Northwest

Cascadia challenges players to build a North American habitat and populate it with animals, an experience that’s governed by a simple ruleset, while still providing for strategy as deep as the lakes of the Pacific Northwest itself (looking at you Crater Lake!). 

Cascadia is all about building a harmonious ecosystem, and this is done in two ways: placing Habitat Tiles, and populating those tiles with Animal Tokens, which both earn you points depending on how and where you place them. 

Building a Harmonious Habitat

The basics are straightforward – every turn, you take an available Habitat Tile and orient and place it adjacent to another tile on the board. Then you take an Animal Token and place it on a tile that has an available space for that animal. Habitat Tiles contain five different types of biomes: Rivers, Wetlands, Forests, Prairies, and Mountains, and your largest connected habitat of each type will score points, so it’s prudent to join them together as best you can!

Your largest habitat of each type earns points, so even though this player has three tiles on the board that contain forests, only the two that are connected will score! On the other hand, this player will score big for their mountains.

Creating an Ecosystem

While Habitat Tiles always score points in the same manner, Animal Tokens score points differently from game to game. Wildlife Scoring Cards determine how each animal in a particular game earns points, and these cards are different every time you play!

Each animal has its own unique rules for scoring, dictated by Wildlife Scoring Cards, shown here.

According to these cards, you would want to place your Animal Tokens in following ways:

• Bears: In trios
• Elk: Any shape as long as they’re all connected
• Salmon: Runs of 3-5
• Hawks: Directly across from, but not adjacent to other hawks
• Foxes: Surrounded by a singular type of animal

It’s important to place Animal Tokens according to these conditions to maximize your score!

While it’s still early in the game, this player is off to a good start. The Bears are placed in a trio, and the Foxes gain points by being next to them. 

That being said, Wildlife Scoring Cards change with every match! In a different game, you might want to avoid placing Bears in trios, and Foxes might not want to be next to matching animals. With each animal having four unique Wildlife Scoring Cards to choose from, every game of Cascadia feels like a fresh new challenge.

Each animal has four different Wildlife Scoring Cards with unique rules. The game shown above is using the “B” card, which is why the player played bears in trios.

Solving the Puzzle

Variable scoring isn’t the only thing that makes Cascadia a satisfying and replayable spatial puzzle. Placing your Habitat Tiles and Animal Tokens is never as straightforward as it seems, due to a drafting mechanic that turns every round into a tactical decision.

We told you that you must choose a Habitat Tile and Animal Token from a selection of four. What we didn’t tell you is that the tiles and tokens are paired together randomly and must be chosen as a pair! This means that you might not always get the animal you want for a specific Habitat Tile, or vice versa.

You might really need that Elk tile for your board, but it comes with a Fox token! While you can place the Fox somewhere else on your board that has a Fox icon, you’ll have to plan on not always being able to get exactly what you want with each pick.

The good news is that you don’t have to play your Animal Token on the Habitat Tile that you drafted – you can place it anywhere on the board as long as it’s on a Habitat Tile that has a corresponding animal icon.

Changing the Scenery with Nature Tokens

Although Habitat Tiles and Animal Tokens come in randomized pairs, there is a way for players to get a little change of scenery, and that’s through Nature Tokens!

Occasionally, you’ll see single-habitat tiles with only one animal icon – these are Keystone Tiles, and if you place a matching Animal Token onto them, you’ll get a Nature Token. These pinecone-shaped Nature Tokens allow you to do one of two things:

• Randomly swap out Animal Tokens on the row with new ones 
• Pick ANY Habitat Tile with ANY Wildlife Token

By using a Nature Token, you don’t have to choose Habitat Tiles and Animal Token in pairs. Instead of grabbing that Elk, this player could use a Nature Token to grab a Salmon or a Fox instead.

Cascadia’s drafting mechanic ensures that you’re always on your toes. Building the best habitat requires a balance of tactically choosing your tiles, planning your animal formations in advance, and matching your habitats.

Join Us on the Hiking Trail

In the weeks leading up to the Early Access release on Steam, we’ll be posting more about Cascadia Digital and what awaits you in the digital version. 

Join us on the hiking trail next week for a preview of Cascadia Digital’s Special Modes, as we talk about Challenges and Solo Scenarios. In the meantime, be sure to wishlist on Steam if you want to be one of the first players to jump in!