Dominant Species

Dominant Species is a 2010 strategy board game designed by Chad Jensen and published by GMT Games, combining area control with an evolutionary struggle set in 90,000 BC. It supports two to six players, who represent mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, arachnids, and insects competing for ecological dominance as climates change across a modular hexagonal world.

The game’s premise is not a historical narrative with named characters; instead, each player guides one animal group through adaptation, migration, and competition for habitat. At the beginning, players place wooden action pawns on an initiative display and then resolve those pawns in order, choosing when to pursue resources, movement, adaptation, or glaciation. This worker-placement system makes initiative itself a contested resource: early placement can secure a powerful action, but usually leaves fewer pawns available for later opportunities.

The board begins with an ocean tile surrounded by habitat tiles, while tundra tiles gradually spread from the edges and alter the value of neighboring environments. Habitat tiles display element icons, and species survive only where their required elements are present in sufficient quantities. Players can add elements through adaptation, move animals between connected tiles, place new habitat tiles, or trigger glaciation to freeze a selected area.

Glaciation removes animals from the chosen tile, scores it for the player controlling the action, and leaves a tundra tile that changes future survival calculations. The survival phase checks each occupied tile against its local elements, causing poorly adapted species to lose population cubes. Population is represented by wooden cubes, while dominance is tracked by larger cylinders and determines who receives a tile’s control points.

After survival, the domination phase awards points for dominant species, resolves a tile’s special effect, and reveals a dominance card when appropriate. These cards provide unusually strong, temporary interventions, including effects that can change population, remove elements, or manipulate tundra and scoring. The visible dominance markers create tactical pressure because a player may control a tile now yet lose that advantage after migration, regression, or a new environmental condition.

A distinctive feature is regression: at the end of rounds, players compare species counts against the current regression card, and disadvantaged species remove matching adaptation elements. Regression therefore models environmental deterioration without simply subtracting points; it can make a previously comfortable population suddenly vulnerable. The game ends after the final dominance card is resolved, and the highest score wins.