EXTINCTION: THE GAME

These is a description of the Extinction game board and pieces.

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Game Board

The game board, pictured above, is dominated by an image of the island "Darwinia" where this game takes place. There are six different habitat types on the island. They are:

• Brushland - brown hexagons
• Woodland - green hexagons
• Meadow - yellow hexagons
• Swamp - purple hexagons
• Marsh - orange hexagons
• Lake - light blue hexagons

There are 84 total hexagons, 14 of each color scattered around the island. Darwinia is surrounded by a dark blue sea that is not inhabited by any of the species in the game.

Spinner

You start each turn by twirling the spinner which you can see on the left side of the board pictured above. There are 12 different sections on the spinner. Each section includes two activities. Activities followed by an asterisk are optional. The options are:

• Environmental Change and Place Barrier
• Reproduce and Compete - Prey*
• Place Barrier and Change 1 to 4 Genes* (x2)
• Compete - Prey* and Place Barrier
• Environmental Change and Change 1 to 4 Genes* (x2)
• Migrate* and Reproduce (x2)
• Compete - Prey* and Change 1 to 4 Genes*
• Reproduce and Migrate*
• Migrate* and Compete - Prey*

Barriers

There are five types of barriers (two of each type for a total of 10) that will be added to the island as the game progresses. The barriers are small squares of cardboard that can be seen in the lower left of the photo above.

• Mountains
• Deserts
• Rivers
• Cities
• "Jetports" (most of us would call them airports)

Gene Cards

You always have six gene cards that describe some of your species' characteristics. In our version of the game these cards are all red.

• Environmental Tolerance
• Problems such as air or water pollution bother some species but you may be able to live through them
• Barrier Crossing
• You may be able to cross one or two of the barriers
• Predator Type
• You will get to prey on other species on the island. This card tells you about your predatory characteristics. You might even get stuck with "Not a Predator".
• Prey Defense
• You will have one or two characteristics that help defend you from some predators
• Habitat & Mobility
• This card tells you in which habitats you can reproduce. You will be able to reproduce in 1, 2 or 3 different habitats.
• It also tells you how much you can move when you have the chance to migrate around the island.
• There is a trade-off in these two characteristics: species that can breed in 3 different habitats cannot move when they get the chance and species that have the ability to move far can only breed in one type of habitat.
• Reproduction
• This card indicates how many offspring you have when you reproduce. It is given as a decimal number 0.6 - 1.6. How this works will be explained in class.

Environmental Change

Environmental changes occur from time to time. These cards are white with a red starburst on them. Natural changes, such as a drought or cold wave, may kill nontolerant species and humans may cause air pollution or drain a marsh.

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Go back to the introduction to this lab.

Go back to the short rules.

Go back to the detailed instructions.

Take the pre-lab quiz on Blackboard.

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