A Stunning Tile-Laying Adventure in the Pacific Northwest
If you enjoy board games that strike the perfect balance between strategy and relaxation, Cascadia is an absolute gem. It’s one of those games that’s easy to pick up but offers plenty of depth for those who enjoy fine-tuning their strategies. Whether you’re a seasoned gamer or just getting into modern board games, Cascadia has something special to offer. Cascadia looks fab and i’m definitely a sucker for a nice looking game.
Quick Facts About Cascadia
- Designer: Randy Flynn
- Publisher: Flatout Games / AEG
- Players: 1–4
- Playtime: 30–45 minutes
- Game Type: Tile-laying, pattern-building
- Theme: Pacific Northwest wildlife and landscapes
How to Play Cascadia
At its core, Cascadia is a tile-laying and token-drafting game where players create their own habitats while placing wildlife tokens in optimal patterns. The goal? Score the most points by satisfying different wildlife scoring conditions and creating large contiguous habitat areas.
Each turn, you draft a pair consisting of a hexagonal terrain tile and a wildlife token. You place the tile in your expanding landscape and then assign the wildlife token to a valid spot. The catch? Each wildlife species (bears, salmon, elk, foxes, and hawks) has its own scoring rules, and balancing them all is where the real challenge lies.
There’s also a clever way to mitigate bad luck—if you don’t like the available wildlife tokens, you can use nature tokens (earned by creating large, matching terrain areas) to swap out choices or break the usual placement rules.
The Components – Beautiful, Simple, and Satisfying
One of Cascadia’s biggest strengths is its production quality. The game comes with:
- 85 hexagonal habitat tiles – Each representing one of five terrain types: forest, river, wetland, prairie, and mountains.
- 100 wildlife tokens – Wooden tokens featuring beautifully illustrated bears, elk, salmon, foxes, and hawks.
- 25 nature tokens – Used to manipulate wildlife placement.
- 21 wildlife scoring cards – These offer different ways to score for each animal, keeping replayability high.
- Solo mode achievement sheet – If you enjoy playing alone, there’s a solid solo mode with increasing difficulty levels.
The artwork, illustrated by Beth Sobel, is absolutely stunning. The tiles have a soft, earthy colour palette that makes the board feel alive as you build it. The wooden wildlife tokens add a tactile charm that makes playing feel satisfying.
Playing at Different Player Counts
Cascadia plays well at all player counts, but the experience shifts slightly depending on the number of players:
- Solo: The solo mode is one of the best in modern board gaming. It provides a series of progressively difficult challenges and gives you clear scoring benchmarks to aim for.
- Two Players: This feels the most strategic, as fewer players mean you have a better chance of planning ahead based on available choices.
- Three to Four Players: With more players, the game becomes more unpredictable since the available tiles and wildlife tokens change rapidly between turns. It’s still very balanced, but you’ll need to be more flexible with your strategy.
Expansions and Variants
While Cascadia is already highly replayable, expansions can add even more depth.
- Cascadia: Landmarks Expansion (2023) – Introduces landmark tokens that add unique scoring opportunities and increase strategic variety.
- Promo Packs – There have been a few minor promo packs released with alternative wildlife scoring cards, adding slight variations to gameplay.
Playing Cascadia Digitally
For those who prefer playing online, Cascadia is available on Board Game Arena (BGA). The implementation is slick, automating the scoring and making it easy to play with friends remotely. It’s a great way to get in a quick game without needing to set everything up manually.
Final Thoughts – Is Cascadia Worth It?
Absolutely. It’s easy to teach, satisfying to play, and has a brilliant mix of luck and strategy. Whether you’re playing solo, with a partner, or with a full table, Cascadia offers a consistently rewarding experience.
If you enjoy games like Calico, Kingdomino, or Sagrada, you’ll likely love Cascadia. And if you’re new to modern board games, this is a fantastic entry point—accessible yet full of interesting decisions.