Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Easier to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Light strategy
More strategic control
How it plays
How does it play?
Draft pond cards whose value depends on your own ecosystem and the neighbors growing beside it.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Set Collection
Gather related items that become more valuable when scored together.
Open Drafting
Select cards or items from a shared face-up display.
Neighbor Scope
Effects apply only to adjacent players, regions, or positions.
Square Grid
Use an orthogonal grid where position and adjacent spaces shape movement or placement.
Read the full game description
Symbiosis is a compact drafting game in which every pond develops beside two others. On each turn, players select an available card and place it into a growing grid, trying to satisfy habitats and scoring conditions. The elegant twist is positional: cards on one side can score from the left neighbor, cards on the other side from the right neighbor, and central cards depend on your own pond. A choice that improves one ecosystem can therefore create an opportunity for somebody else, so even this tiny game produces constant table reading. Sets of matching or varied habitats create additional goals, while animal traits and disruptive human cards change which combinations are possible. Fast turns and a small deck make Symbiosis easy to repeat and surprisingly interactive.
