Ecosystem – A Family Card Game about Building Habitats | Learn about Animals, Ecology & Biodiversity for Kids, Adults, Families or the classroom! Fun Board Games for Environmental Science Class
$19.99
Price: $19.99
(as of Oct 25, 2025 02:33:21 UTC – Details)
Ecosystem is a card game that tries to replicate the real world ecosystem as closely as possible. Biodiversity is rewarded while monocultures are penalized. Each time you play, you build a one-of-a-kind ecosystem, striving to balance the delicate connections between all living things. Reinforce school ecology lessons with a hands-on and fun game to keep learners engaged.
ECOLOGY BOARD GAME – Learn about ecology from a science game! Players build ecosystems of wild animals such as bears, foxes, and rabbits, in environments such as streams, forests, and meadows and are rewarded for sustainability and diversity! Our 2-6 player games will go great on a board game table in a classroom to teach students about the beauty of biological variety.
STRATEGIC PLAY – Ecosystem is a biologically-derived card drafting game. Players choose, pass, and arrange eleven different card types and earn points by aligning animals with habitats where they most flourish. The game is easy to learn, but difficult to master. It engages adults and teens, yet is intuitive enough for kids to play both at home and in the classroom.
GENIUS GAMES – Our board games teach learners of all ages about the amazing world around them and the beauty of biology. It gives you a way to bond with your young ones without any electronics or screens. Encourage critical thinking skills and learning while having fun!
WHO CAN PLAY – Our captivating learning games are perfect for gamers, a science class, or a family game night. Teachers, scientists, biologists, and students love playing our best-rated board games for adults. Surprise a loved one with a unique board game for their birthday or any other special occasion.
LEARN SCIENCE – In Ecosystem, wildlife and nature aid one another in cycles that are true to our world’s ecological habitats. It will intuitively teach players about the necessary balance of natural order and can be played in 15-20 minutes.
Customers say
Customers find this card game enjoyable for both young and old, with beautiful artwork and quick gameplay. Moreover, they appreciate its educational value, with one customer noting it’s a fun way to teach elementary students about ecosystems. The game is easy to learn and set up, and customers value its ecological themes, with one review highlighting how it subtly teaches balanced ecosystems. However, the scoring system receives mixed feedback, with several customers noting it can take a long time to complete.
13 reviews for Ecosystem – A Family Card Game about Building Habitats | Learn about Animals, Ecology & Biodiversity for Kids, Adults, Families or the classroom! Fun Board Games for Environmental Science Class
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Sally –
Great family game, beautiful artwork!
Love this new version of ecosystems. We have the original and sort of expected this to be exactly the same with new artwork, however there are different rules for these animals in order to score points. I love that the concept remains the same, but with new things to work around. Just like the first game, the artwork on this one is beautiful! It’s easy enough to teach that my 6 year old can play fairly well. Great game for 3 plus players, we’ve played with 5 and everyone enjoyed it!
JIKJAB –
Fast, fun
Fun, quick game better with more than 2 players.
Andrea –
Beautiful Family Game
We received this game as a gift and we were all excited to open it (2 adults and kids ages 5, 8 and 10). The artwork is gorgeous and engaging, and the concept of the game is fairly intuitive (drafting a card and placing it in front of you where the animal/landform would work best in the ecosystem). You eventually make a 4×5 grid as you draft and place the cards until you have your ecosystem complete. You then score points based on favorable ecosystem setups (i.e. trout and dragonflies next to streams, bees next to meadows, etc.) The game plays fairly quickly (about 15 minutes) and allows up to 6 players, which is nice for larger families. Every game feels different because there are so many variations for how to display your grid.This game was reminiscent of Sushi Go in terms of drafting and passing your hand. Some of the point scoring felt similar as well (the scoring of wolves in Ecosystem feels like the way to score puddings in Sushi Go). The similarity helped us understand how to play the game better, but the two games feel very different as you play. For one thing, the theme of animals in an ecosystem is way more appealing and relevant to us than a game about sushi. The pictures on the cards were beautiful to look at, and there was a sense of pride and ownership as you drafted cards and created your own ecosystem. The end grid result is also lovely to look at, and our kids were excited to compete for the longest stream or the biggest wolf pack. This game is definitely a winner and will go into our game play rotation!A few tips we found helpful:- Put the cards in a holder for younger kids. This makes it easier to pass and easier for younger kids to easily pick a card after each pass.- Even though it says 10+, our 5 year old picked up on the game fairly quickly (though we do play board games often as a family). Some ways to modify the game for younger kids might be to take a few types of animals out of the game or donât give negative points for ecosystem gaps at the end of the game.- Scoring can take a long time, and young kids will lose interest during this phase of the game (comes at the end after your grid is made). To keep kids engaged, I had my 8 and 10 year old add up everyoneâs scores (they were motivated to know who won, and we got some bonus math practice in) while the 5 year old helped clean up the cards.- While scoring, you need to know which cards did not score any points. You canât immediately remove them because they may affect scoring for other cards. It can be hard to remember which cards didnât score, so we simply placed some kind of marker on those cards (gems, buttons, etc.) and at the end of the game, it was really easy to see your ecosystem gaps.- If playing with kids, score one animal at a time. Go around and have everyone tally their bears (and mark their ecosystem gaps as suggested above), then their bees, and so on.
Lisa Weybright –
Great learning game
Great learning game; however, it took time for students to get the hang of the rules.
Dave Womach –
Such a fun game!
Absolutely loving this game with our 12 year old daughter! Itâs great to have a new style of game that is GOOD! New games usually try too hard and fall short. This one is nice and quick to learn, and gets better and better as you get good at it.
Picard78 –
Great Game
Like the card version of Cascadia basically, which is awesome! Another review said it’s like Arboretum, it’s not. So glad because I can’t stand that game.It’s easy to learn, easy to set up….just deal 10 cards, 2 rounds. Game time probably about 15 to 20 minutes. So a great filler or after dinner game. Good 2 player game. Haven’t tried more yet.You definitely have to look at the reminder card a lot to know where to place stuff but once you’ve played a few times you know generally what’s gonna work. Beautiful cards, enjoyable to look at.Bought for my nature loving, future ecologist teenage daughter and she loves it. Just for reference our favorite games are Wingspan, Parks, Bohnanza. We love Atlas Enchanted Lands, it’s not too much like that game but it’s similar in having to really think about your moves. . Like Bohnanza and Cascadia, it has cards that are more rare.The replay value is great, definitely one I’ll grab over and over. So yeah, go ahead and add it to the shelf. It’s a keeper.
wickie74 –
Most boring game ever
The set is beautifully made and good quality, but this must be the most boring game we ever played. It makes a good educational tool. I wouldnât buy it again though.
Karen –
Great game
We’re reading about Biomes in my class. I purchased this to use with my higher functioning students. It is a little hard to get the hang of at first. I’ve modified the rules a little for my students.The pictures are gorgeous. It is a nice looking game.
Barry Stephenson. –
I played this the other day as a group of five and it was a great experience and all five of us loved it and want to play again. Because you are drafting cards and all choosing the next card to out in your ecosystem at the same time, there is no downtime and you are engaged all of the time with a fantastic puzzle as you work out how best to score points. Highly recommended.
LazarusCRY –
Purtroppo pur non essendo dipendente dalla lingua manca il manuale in italiano.l’ho tradotto e postato su BGG nell’area dedicata al gioco.Divertente, rapido ed abbastanza tattico per il sistema di punteggio
L.Catt –
Bought for my 10yr old. She loves all things animals & ecosystems. You can play it quickly by luck, or take your time with strategy. 2-player needs a neutral pile, so we get a Teddy bear to play with us as the 3rd pile. It takes a while to add the scores at the end, but you’d get faster with practice. The cards are small and the pictures are beautiful.
Meloni –
I have Ecosystem, Ecosystem Savannah and this Coral Reef. Love them all. All have great art. Little cards allow the game to fit easily onto our coffee table. Neat drafting (we only play 2 player) and then you have to build your ecosystem optimising as nest you can. Lovely card placement puzzle. Easy to grasp rules. Placing you animals and habitats to optimize scoring, that’s the thinking bit. Looks good and makes sense ecologically. All box, tons of cards in box. Big like here
Bruce –
Easy to follow instructions and a simple, inexpensive, card game. The graphics are beautiful and it is a great family game. All ages like it.