It can sometimes be a rarity to find a board game that you can enjoy with your family and also your gaming group. Many times those two circles don’t overlap and you are left playing one game with the first group, and another with the second. Which is usually fine, but when you love a game, you want to play it (and share it) as much as possible.

So on those occasions where I discover a game that can straddle the line, I tend to hold on to those games, as they are almost always worth owning. Our newest Game of the Week is one such game.

Evolution: Climate

From publisher North Star Games comes Evolution: Climate. Evolution is about trying evolve, adapt, and survive. Not you mind you, but creatures your create. That’s right, the world is your little petri dish and you’ll be creating new species from scratch. And, of course, constantly modifying them with new traits and characteristics, because they will need help if they hope to survive. Perhaps your animal will have heavy fur to help it last the cold winter. Or maybe it needs defensive horns to fight of predators. Speaking of, those herbivores might just look too tasty to you and you’ll want your creature to be a carnivore, eating other player’s animals. Your creatures in Evolution are what you make them, and that’s half the fun.

While it may sound complicated to have to figure out all the traits your creatures need, it’s actually not. Evolution is very easy to learn and has minimal rules that need to explained. Everything in Evolution: Climate just makes sense in the context of the game. While it’s probably not easy enough for you to play with really young children, it’s definitely easy enough to be a family game. Yet Evolution also has plenty of meat to keep your gaming group entertained, especially if they are the viscous sort that would make lots of predators.

While Evolution: Climate is not the only game in the series (Evolution: The Beginning makes a great 2 player game), it’s easily my favorite. I really enjoy the game play, and the artwork is nothing short of fantastic. This one will be staying in my gaming collection for a long time.

2-6 PLAYERS • AGES 12+ • 60 MINUTES • $50