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Dominant Species

Dominant Species

Regular price $142.95 AUD
Regular price $169.95 AUD Sale price $142.95 AUD
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Domestic Shipping Only with Australia Post

All Australian locations

Fee Summary

$10 flat fee - Australia
Calculated at checkout for International Orders.
Express post services by Enquiry.

Postage within Australia

Australia Post Shipping

We use Australia Post as our primary shipping services in Australia. We discount the shipping for you to provide a $10 flat fee to anywhere in Australia!

All shipments will be provided with a tracking number.

Local Pickup

We offer local pickup / curb side pickup via prior arrangement only - North Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Please chat to us for this option.

International Orders

All our upgrades ship Internationally to most locations (Europe, US, Canada, South America, Singapore, Oceania). We have shipped to over 28 countries. If your country is not listed as an available destination, or you are unable to check out, please reach out to us.

Due to high prices on shipping of board games we typically do not ship these internationally. We use Australia Post for our international postage which typically have a 9 to 26 day delivery timeframe. For international orders, shipping costs are calculated at checkout. All shipments will be provided with a tracking number and insured with the carrier up to $100

Unfortunately there are certain countries we cannot ship to due to customs regulations. If your country is not available at checkout, please contact us and we can confirm.

Taxes, Duties and Customs

Please note that customs tariffs, taxes or import duties on arrival at the destination country are the sole responsibility of the customer (with exception to US, see US Tariff section below).

All our products are zero-rated for tax for non-US international orders. For those in the European union, and in Brazil you may be contacted by customs for processing of your item.

US Tariffs

Parcels destined to the United States will have import Tariffs calculated, collected and paid at checkout. This means your order will be posted with Import Tariffs pre-paid. This is exclusive to US orders.

GST

All our prices include GST for Australian Orders and will be labelled on your invoice.

International orders do not include GST of any kind, and are the sole responsibility of the customer.

Processing Timeframes

All our items that state are in stock, are physically in stock in our warehouse in Brisbane. We do not drop ship, or indicate we have items that we don't have physical stock of.

Processing time frames are as follows:

  • Board Games and accessories are Next Business Day.
  • 3DLevelup branded items are typically posted 1-3 Business Days.

For 3DLevelup branded items, whilst we have the items in stock, we need to often assemble, sort, quality check and pack your items which can take time. Sometimes our quality check prior to shipment will require us to re-print a small part.

If you have purchased a Pre-Order item (stated in the item name), our processing time is typically 5-10 business days as we need to print your order.

Business Hours

Our business operates Monday to Friday but we try and answer questions from the online chat outside business hours if able to do so. We understand many of our customers are in a very different time zone to us. Shipping drop offs and pickups are also Monday to Saturday. 

Delivery Timeframes

For domestic shipping Australia Post typically delivers within 5 business days. We often see deliveries in Brisbane locations take 2 business days.

For international orders it is typically 9-26 days but we have seen this extend out to 35 days to some countries.

Shipment Tracking

Shipment will always have a tracking number for you to be able to check status. You will receive an email with a link to our website where you can view tracking information once your order has been placed. We recommend you also provide your mobile for SMS or an reliable email account for shipping update notifications when you place your order.

If you lose your tracking number or do not see it, please contact us and we can provide. We are with you on the journey and more than happy to assist with shipping enquiries.

Shipping Insurance

All items are automatically insured up to $100 AUD on all orders. If you would like to increase this insurance let us know. We may at our own discretion increase this insurance cover without additional cost.

If you have an issue with shipment, or items damaged in transit, please reach out to us. 

3DLevelup upgrades

Under Consideration Our Upgrades

Playtime, player count and age

140 -120 MINUTES

2-6 PLAYERS

14+ AGE

Style:

Action Drafting
Worker Placement
Action Queue
Area Majority / Influence
End Game Bonuses
Grid Movement
Take That
Tile Placement
Variable Player Powers
Conflict

Rank

Community Rank for this game: 8.0 / 10

Visit Board Game Geek Board Game Geek to see latest community rank

Reviews and How to Play

Sleeve Qty and Size Requirements

62 x 88mm QTY 27 Sleeves required (Gamegenic Standard Sleeves)

Additional Product Details

Year Released: 2021
Publisher: GMT
Designer: Chad Jensen

Barcode: 817054010554

6th Edition

With an ice age approaching, which animals will best propagate, migrate, and adapt? 

2-6 Players  |  120-240 Mins  |  Ages 14+

Features: Action Queue, Area Majority / Influence, End Game Bonuses, Grid Movement, Hexagon Grid

Theme: Animals, Environmental, Prehistoric

Description:

90,000 B.C. — A great ice age is fast approaching. Another titanic struggle for global supremacy has unwittingly commenced between the varying animal species. 
Dominant Species is a game that abstractly recreates a tiny portion of ancient history: the ponderous encroachment of an ice age and what that entails for the living creatures trying to adapt to the slowly-changing earth. 
Each player will assume the role of one of six major animal classes—mammal, reptile, bird, amphibian, arachnid, or insect. Each begins the game more or less in a state of natural balance in relation to one another. But that won’t last: It is indeed "survival of the fittest".
Through wily action pawn placement, players will strive to become dominant on as many different terrain tiles as possible in order to claim powerful card effects. Players will also want to propagate their individual species in order to earn victory points for their particular animal. Players will be aided in these endeavors via speciation, migration, and adaptation actions, among others. 
All of this eventually leads to the end game—the final ascent of the ice age—where the player having accumulated the most victory points will have his animal crowned the Dominant Species. 
But somebody better become dominant quickly, because it’s getting mighty cold...

Game Play


The large hexagonal tiles are used throughout the game to create an ever-expanding interpretation of earth as it might have appeared a thousand centuries ago. The smaller tundra tiles will be placed atop the larger tiles—converting them into tundra in the process—as the ice age encroaches.
The cylindrical action pawns (or "AP"s) drive the game. Each AP will allow a player to perform the various actions that can be taken, such as speciation, environmental change, migration, or glaciation. After being placed on the action display during the Planning Phase, an AP will trigger that particular action for the owning player during the Execution Phase.
Generally, players will be trying to enhance their own animal’s survivability while simultaneously trying to hinder that of their opponents’—hopefully collecting valuable victory points (or "VP"s) along the way. The various cards will aid in these efforts, giving players useful one-time abilities or an opportunity for recurring VP gains.
Throughout the game, species cubes will be added to, moved about in, and removed from the tiles in play (the "earth"). Element disks will be added to and removed from both animals and earth. 
When the game ends, players will conduct a final scoring of each tile—after which the player controlling the animal with the highest VP total wins the game.

Contents:

  • a 20-page full-color rulebook
  • one 22” x 34” mounted game board
  • six Animal Displays
  • 27 cards
  • 31 large and 12 small hexagonal tiles used to create “Earth”
  • 330 wooden cubes in six colors representing the Species belonging to the six Animal groups
  • 60 wooden cylinders used for the Animals’ Action Pawns
  • 60 wooden cones used as the Animals’ Domination markers
  • 120 round markers representing the Earth’s resources, called “Elements”
  • 6 square markers used to show each Animal’s “Initiative” (turn order)
  • one cloth bag

Review and Recommendation

Brutal! If you like brutal take that and survival games you will love this game. One of the best heavy euro games designed in a conflict heavy package. Intensity 10/10. You'll be trying to make the best out of not being a target, and profiting from others loss yet staying under the radar of your opponents. Try to expand and migrate to new terrain, take over others terrain, and freeze over your opponents, whilst they attempt to return the favour. The design of the worker placement and action selection with sequencing of events is very cleverly thought out. This game really shows that it's designer is a master of mechanics making for a thoroughly enjoying game as you see repercussions of every decision made by each player unfold. Instantly this game went to my top 20 list, strongly recommend at 4 to 6 player counts. Despite its cover, this is not a dinosaur game.

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Note: Board Games do not ship internationally

Due to high postage costs we do not ship our board games internationally. Our upgrades do ship internationally to most countries. Check them out below.