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Survival of the Fittest

Game ID: GID0310524
Game Info
Year
2009
Players
4-12
Age
12+
Playtime
45 min
Complexity
2/5
Collection
Your Tier
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Mechanic profile
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Vibe profile
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Description

A fanboy retelling of the Battle Royale saga where international students compete on a deserted island in a game mixing hand-management bluffing and strategic negotiation for up to twelve players.

Description

A fanboy retelling of the Battle Royale saga where international students compete on a deserted island in a game mixing hand-management bluffing and strategic negotiation for up to twelve players.

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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 4
This page: 4
Sentiment: pos 4 · mix 0 · neu 0 · neg 0
Mentions per page
Showing 1–4 of 4
Video 5Lw7BUyw1OA Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play Unboxing at 1:04 sentiment: positive
video_pk 87030 · mention_pk 226804
Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play - Survival of the Fittest video thumbnail
Click to watch at 1:04 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • Beautiful artwork on the character components
  • Strong solo component support with minis
  • Deluxe Kickstarter edition provides extra content
  • Clear rules and step-based play flow
Cons
  • Board appears to have a peeling fold issue requiring reinforcement
Thematic elements
  • Array
  • Woodland/forest during winter
  • Character-driven woodland critters trying to forage and survive the season
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • Deck Interaction / Card Deck Building — Critter decks and recipe/forage decks form the player's toolkit and can be customized through gameplay
  • Hand Management — Players manage their hand size, drawing, discarding, and revealing cards to perform actions
  • Resource Management — Players gather foraged food cards to fuel crafting and scoring through recipes
  • Resource/Forage Card Utilization — Players gather foraged food cards to fuel crafting and scoring through recipes
  • Seasonal/Turn Structure — Gameplay cycles through seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn) with resets and seasonal effects
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • Survival of the fattest this is the deluxe Kickstarter Edition so there's going to be some stuff in here that is not in the regular edition
  • nice artwork let's get inside the box here and see what's inside
  • oh I would love to see Miniatures of these
  • I'm excited about that
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video VO9yek6ELU8 Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play Discussion at 0:33 sentiment: positive
video_pk 86654 · mention_pk 224994
Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play - Survival of the Fittest video thumbnail
Click to watch at 0:33 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • Beautiful artwork and adorable animal miniatures
  • Clear and accessible instruction manual with good examples
  • Fast setup for deluxe edition and scalable with expansions
  • Multiple critter abilities promoting varied strategies
  • Supports solo play with three modes and three levels
  • Polished production values, especially deluxe edition components
Cons
  • Steep initial learning curve for first plays
  • Box is large/heavy which may be intimidating
  • Endgame/refresher references could use an additional player aid for the reset phase
Thematic elements
  • Foraging hierarchy and survival among woodland animals; the biggest animal tends to dominate.
  • Woodland creatures forage for food over three seasons to prepare for winter.
  • Story-like flavor with critter lore, including a background tale of Old Grizz.
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • Deck Building — Each player uses a Critter deck consisting of tricks and forage cards to perform actions and earn resources.
  • deck-building / hand management — Each player uses a Critter deck consisting of tricks and forage cards to perform actions and earn resources.
  • Drafting / card reveal — During foraging, players reveal and compare cards to determine order and options to forge.
  • End-of-round resets and scoring — Every four rounds a reset occurs: deck, stash, and market are refreshed; scoring happens for completed recipes and bonuses.
  • Resource Management — Food/resource cards can be stashed for future crafting and endgame scoring.
  • Resource management and stash — Food/resource cards can be stashed for future crafting and endgame scoring.
  • Score-and-Reset — Every four rounds a reset occurs: deck, stash, and market are refreshed; scoring happens for completed recipes and bonuses.
  • Set collection / crafting of recipes — Collect cards to fulfill recipes for scoring and to stash resources.
  • Worker Placement — Players take actions at specific locations (Trading Post, Market, Foraging areas) using their limited action phases.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • I really like this game.
  • This one's a keeper.
  • Two thumbs up for me, I really enjoy this one.
  • I could see kind of the beauty in this game.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video cLZx2IUedso Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play Playthrough at 0:43 sentiment: positive
video_pk 86640 · mention_pk 224882
Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play - Survival of the Fittest video thumbnail
Click to watch at 0:43 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • engaging stash mechanic
  • beautiful standies/artwork
  • accessible yet strategic for light-to-mid weight
  • great theme and components
  • enjoyable for livestreams and teaching
Cons
  • rule clarifications sometimes needed
  • deck size/management can be overwhelming
  • setup can be bulky and components heavy
Thematic elements
  • foraging, recipe crafting, resource management within a seasonal cycle
  • woodland creatures navigating Spring, Summer, and Autumn to prepare for Winter
  • seasonal progression with emergent scoring through foraging and crafting
Comparison games
  • Creature Comforts
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • Compound Scoring — traps typically give negative points unless stashed; Rascal's ability can flip ends by endgame scoring.
  • Deck Building — each Critter has Forge and Trick cards drawn from a shared Critter deck; cards can be shuffled back from discard.
  • deck-building — each Critter has Forge and Trick cards drawn from a shared Critter deck; cards can be shuffled back from discard.
  • feeding and survival — Critters must be fed; failure to feed ends the creature and affects final scoring.
  • foraging phase — during forage, players reveal and play Forge cards from hand to collect food; order determined by forage values.
  • hand/resource management — manage hand size, draw and discard rules, and stash to optimize recipes.
  • market and trading post interactions — complete face-up recipes from market to gain market bonuses; trading post effects enable card transfers.
  • Resource Management — manage hand size, draw and discard rules, and stash to optimize recipes.
  • scoring modifiers — traps typically give negative points unless stashed; Rascal's ability can flip ends by endgame scoring.
  • Season progression — rounds proceed through Spring, Summer, and Autumn with resets and end-of-season scoring.
  • stash mechanism — revealed cards can be stashed in a personal stash to be used for recipes; stashed traps may become points.
  • Worker Placement — use locations (Trading Post, Market, Foraging locations) to take actions and gather resources.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • the artwork in this game is right up our alley
  • this is a hit for us
  • we love the stash mechanic
  • we saw it on three Dice Tower top 10 and had to get it to the table
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video C9m3Wz_cH0M Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play Top 15 List at 28:31 sentiment: positive
video_pk 86239 · mention_pk 222549
Where There's A Wilz, There's a Play - Survival of the Fittest video thumbnail
Click to watch at 28:31 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • adorable art and approachable theme
  • memory and path planning add depth
Cons
  • can feel light for some players after longer play sessions
Thematic elements
  • foraging, feeding, and seasonal tasks
  • woodland animals surviving through seasons
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • resource gathering and memory — gather foods and remember recipes, with endgame scoring
  • seasonal rounds — three seasons to complete tasks and feed your critter
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • the box cover is awesome
  • I love the bumping mechanism
  • this game is going to last you a long time
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
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