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In Habitats, each player builds a big wildlife park without cages or fences. The animals in your park need their natural habitats: grassland, bush, rocks or lakes. The zebra needs a big area of grass and some water adjacent, for example, while a bat needs rocks and bush and water, a hart needs bush and grass, and a crocodile needs mainly water. There is a snake, baboon, bee, elephant, otter, lizard, turtle, eagle, meerkat, scorpio, hog, catfish, rhino, etc., each with its own landscape requirements — 68 different animals in total.
Each player starts their individual park with an entrance tile, and they are each represented in the marketplace of animal tiles by a ceramic figure (or a wooden ranger meeple in some editions). On a turn, a player takes the tile to their left, right or front; moves their figure to the space just vacated; then draws a tile to place where their figure started the turn.
When adding an animal tile in your park, you add its main landscape — the base space for the animal — to your park, too. While placing this new animal, its own piece of landscape can help to fulfill the requirements of your other animals' requirements, e.g., the water on a hippo tile fulfilling the adjacent otter's need for water. Thus, fulfilling every animal's desire for land becomes a more and more difficult task with each tile you add.
Aside from expanding your park with different landscape types, flora and animals, you can improve its profitability by building extra entrance roads, trek spots, and watchtowers.
Habitats lasts three seasons, with each season giving each player 6-9 new tiles for their parks. Whoever has best met the goal of the season receives bonus points, with a smaller number of points for second and third place. At the end of the game, each player scores for each tile in their park based on whether that tile's requirements are satisfied. Whoever scores the most points wins!
NOTE: BoardGameTables edition contains both XL Expansion and Double Expansion and is entirely replacing the previous editions.
A Review of Habitats
- engaging tile drafting and placement that create tense decision moments
- accessible rules with quick setup and playtime
- lovely component aesthetics and charming animal-themed elements
- good replayability driven by varied round goals and tile layouts
- clear table presence and satisfying growth of the park over the game
- premium components require locating pieces from a visually busy pile, which can be mildly distracting
- some players may crave deeper or longer strategic options beyond the base game
- Wildlife conservation and habitat optimization with a light, whimsical animal motif.
- A wildlife park construction setting where players assemble habitats and park features on a grid to attract animals and score points.
- Abstract-but-thematic framing that emphasizes visual storytelling through colorful components and thematic cues.
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Compound Scoring — Each round has a distinct scoring objective that shapes risk assessment and timing across the game.
- end-game scoring by adjacency — Score is driven by animals and features that are adjacent in specific ways, tying layout to final results.
- Pattern Building — Placement patterns contribute to scoring patterns, encouraging players to think in sequences and combos.
- premium component variants — Optional upgraded components (wooden animal meeples and markers) enhance visual appeal and score-tracking clarity.
- round-goal scoring — Each round has a distinct scoring objective that shapes risk assessment and timing across the game.
- tile drafting — Players select tiles from a shared line, revealing their plans while trying not to telegraph their full strategy to opponents.
- tile placement — Tiles are placed on a personal grid to create habitats, with placements influencing future scoring opportunities.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Habitats is a great little tile placement game
- it's fast-paced and satisfying to watch your park grow and combo off itself
- the upgraded components look fantastic on the table
- if you love evolving puzzles and animals, habitats would be a fantastic addition
- the round goals add tension and variability, making every play feel unique
- the tile drafting system really drives interaction without heavy downtime
- the game scales well for two players or a small group, keeping decisions meaningful
- the theme is charming and the components contribute to a strong table presence
References (from this video)
- Accessible, quick to learn
- Visually appealing components
- Solo mode could offer more depth and objective variety
- Conservation, ecosystem design
- Managing animal habitats across different maps
- Tile-laying with objective-based scoring
- Cascadia
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Compound Scoring — End-of-game scoring based on habitat objectives
- map/board setup — Multiple maps with solo-mode implications
- score tracks — End-of-game scoring based on habitat objectives
- tile placement — Lay habitat tiles to build ecosystems
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- The look of this game is absolutely stunning
- I love the look of these green tokens
- it's very satisfying to place the chips onto your itinerary
- I am really excited to play this
- the components are absolutely fantastic
- I loved drawing in all of the rooms on this little like vellum sheet
- I did not do well at all in blueprints of Mad King Ludwig
- I ended up with a score of 226 which is not amazing
References (from this video)
- Nature/eco-habitat stewardship
- Tile-grid based habitat building
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- set collection — collect tile sets to score
- tile placement — place tiles to form habitats
- worker placement — move workers on a grid to select tiles
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I have made the decision to stop making my reviews now.
- I do not enjoy making reviews honestly my worst emotional moments with John gates games in general happens when I am staring at the camera trying to do these reviews.
- I started making these videos because I was bored and I have a lot to say about board games.
- I want this to continue to be a part time sort of endeavor like you know a significant portion of my hours going into it but not like 40 hours a week.
- I would definitely recommend giving that one a listen.
- Watching playthroughs is a better way in my opinion to show people how the game works.