Cascadia
105 questions players ask about Cascadia, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-29.
105 questions players ask about Cascadia, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-29.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Not with the box as sold, but the designer says two copies can be combined with no rule changes, though he does not recommend it because the market works less well at five. Start with one full copy, add 20 wildlife tokens (four of each animal) and 18 habitat tiles from the second copy, for 103 tiles in all.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Use 20 tiles per player plus 3: 43 for two players, 63 for three and 83 for four. Every player takes exactly 20 turns; the three extra tiles keep four tiles available on the last turn and stay in the middle when the game ends. The starter tiles are separate from this stack.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes — all wildlife tokens go into the cloth bag at every player count. Only the number of habitat tiles changes with the number of players; removing tokens would be a house rule.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Nature Tokens only come from placing a wildlife token on a keystone tile, so everyone starts with none, even if a starter tile includes a keystone.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
No. If the supply runs dry, use any substitute. Running out is considered extremely rare.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
The arrow is only a marker that identifies a keystone tile (along with the pinecone). It has no rules effect, so orientation does not matter, and a keystone tile has only one terrain type. Some printings leave it off.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. The starter tile is made up of three habitat tiles, so each of its three sections can take one wildlife token, as with any other tile.
The rulebook's text settles this.
No. Orient the starter tile however you like at the start, but once neighbours are placed it is fixed like any other tile. Tiles never move after placement.
Players agree on this reading, but there is no official ruling.
Probably yes: the counts are not hidden information and nothing in the rules forbids tracking them. Just do not peek at individual tokens while drawing or shuffling.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
No. You take exactly one tile and one token each turn, place them, and your turn ends. Nature Tokens can only be spent in the selection step, so they never add a second set; they only let you pick a tile and token from different pairs.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. You may spend as many as you have before you take your tile and token, mixing the two abilities (pick any tile and any token, or wipe tokens) in any order. Once you have selected your pair and moved on to placement, no more can be spent that turn.
The rulebook's text settles this.
Not on that same turn. You earn the token by placing a wildlife token on a keystone, which happens after the selection step, and spending is only allowed during selection. You can spend it on any later turn, before choosing your pair.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
No, not in multiplayer. Leave the others where they are and refill only the empty spots. Sliding the display is a solo-mode rule used to imitate a second player.
The rulebook's text settles this.
Yes. Four of the same animal are wiped automatically as soon as they appear, before you choose and before you may spend a Nature Token or take the optional three-token wipe. This can chain more than once in a turn.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Wiping three of a kind is optional and allowed once per turn. It is still available after you have spent a Nature Token, even if that spend triggered a four-token wipe, but all three matching tokens must be wiped.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Yes. Replacements drawn after a Nature Token wipe are checked like any others, so four of a kind is wiped again and three of a kind may be wiped if you have not used your once-per-turn option.
The designer ruled on this directly, overriding the rulebook's wording.
Immediately after you draw the replacements. The rulebook says wiped tokens go back once all overpopulations are resolved, but the designer ruled that was not the intent: draw the replacements first, then return the wiped tokens to the bag right away, whether the wipe came from overpopulation or a Nature Token.
Several players agree on this reading; no official ruling.
This should essentially never happen: the bag holds 100 tokens and a four-player game uses at most 83, and wiped tokens go back into the bag right after the replacements are drawn. If it somehow empties, players suggest simply returning the set-aside tokens to the bag and carrying on.
The rulebook's text settles this.
No. Draw the replacements one at a time and pair them with the tiles in order. You cannot look at a drawn token and then choose its tile. The rulebook does not fix which end to start from, so settle that at the table.
The rulebook's text settles this.
No. You always see four pairs on your turn. The three extra tiles in the setup count ensure the stack still has tiles for the last turns, and the game ends when the tile you took cannot be replaced.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. A tile may be placed in any orientation as long as it touches at least one side of a tile already in your environment. Once placed, it cannot be moved or rotated.
The rulebook's text settles this.
No. Matching terrain is not a placement rule; it only matters for corridor scoring at the end. Gaps and irregular layouts are also fine, since a tile only has to touch one side of an existing tile.
The rulebook's text settles this.
Yes, on any tile that shows that animal and has no token yet, not only the tile you just took. A wildlife token never needs to be surrounded by tiles to be scored, so tokens on the edge of your layout are fine.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Placing the token is optional: put it back in the cloth bag and your turn ends. This also covers the case where no open tile shows that animal. The habitat tile, however, must always be placed. Declining is the only way to avoid a token that would wreck a scoring group.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
No. A token that is placed is always counted, so a misplaced bear or hawk can stop its neighbours from scoring. The one mitigation is to put the token back in the bag instead of placing it. Salmon are the only exception: a salmon touching three or more others simply drops out of runs.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Yes. Scoring cards never restrict placement, so you may play any animal on any legal tile, even if it costs you points. If that would hurt, return the token to the bag instead.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
At the end of a turn in which the tile that was taken cannot be replaced because the face-down stacks are empty. Scoring then starts at once. Each player will have taken exactly 20 turns, and three tiles remain in the display.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
The largest connected group. A corridor is every tile of one habitat linked through shared edges, including branches and irregular shapes, not just the longest straight run.
The rulebook's text settles this.
No. Tiles connect only when they share at least one full edge showing the same habitat, so corner contact or different terrains meeting do not link them. Rotating a tile can therefore connect or break a corridor.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. There is no minimum size, so a largest corridor of one tile scores 1 point for that habitat.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. A tile counts as the terrain shown in its art. A tile showing a salmon on a prairie background is a prairie tile, not a river.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Per the rulebook. Two players: 2 points to the largest, 1 point each if tied, nothing for second. Three or four players: 3 for largest and 1 for second; a two-way tie for largest gives 2 each with nothing for second; a tie for second gives 0 each. A tie for first leaves no separate second-place bonus.
The rulebook's text settles this.
No. Only each player's single largest corridor per habitat is compared, so a second corridor of yours never earns the second-place bonus.
The rulebook's text settles this.
Yes. A corridor is a contiguous group of one habitat, so tiles that do not touch are separate corridors, each counted individually.
The rulebook's text settles this.
Bear groups may not touch another bear group, so touching bears simply form one larger group scored at its larger size. Empty spaces or other animals around a group are fine; the only requirement is no neighbouring bear outside the group.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Card A scores only exact pairs, so a group of three (or a single bear) scores nothing. A fifth pair does not cost points: the 4+ entry still gives 27, and an app showing 0 for it was a bug.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Yes. Each complete set of one group of one, two and three bears earns the bonus, so two sets would earn it twice, though that takes twelve bears and is very rare.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. The "any shape" note on the bear cards means only the group size matters, so a line, triangle or blob of bears scores the same. This applies to Bear cards B and D too.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Each elk scores for one group, line or ring only, so when groups overlap you choose the split that earns the most. Elk groups may touch each other, unlike bears.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Lines must run flat side to flat side, and each elk joins only one line, so you take the best split. Seven elk can score as a line of four plus a line of three, and five in a row scores as a four plus a single elk (15 points). Single elk each score as lines of one.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Shapes score in any rotation or reflection, but the elk must match a pictured shape exactly: 2 for one elk, 5 for two, 9 for a triangle of three and 13 for a diamond of four. Elk that fit no shape fall back to smaller pieces, and a straight line of three does not count as a triangle.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. The designer says to score a herd of ten as an eight-group plus a two-group (32 points), because the general rule of maximizing points beats treating "8+" as a single bucket. Groups may be any shape, including triangles.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Yes. Rings score by the number of elk in them (from 2 up to 21 for a full six), and a partial ring need only fit into a possible ring, so it may have gaps. Each elk belongs to one ring, and neighbouring rings may touch.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
It is treated as not being in any run, and the remaining salmon are scored as runs without it, which can split a big group into smaller runs. Only salmon get this treatment, and placement order does not matter. Flipping the offending tokens face down is a handy way to score. This is the designer's clarification of how to score a broken run; the rulebook text does not spell it out, and playing it stricter at your table is a house choice.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Yes. They only drop out of salmon runs; they still count as adjacent animals for foxes and other conditions. Flipping them over is just a scoring aid, not removal.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
A run is a group where each salmon touches no more than two others, and no other salmon may touch the run. Any shape fits, including a line, a ring of six or a triangle of three, which then scores as a run of 3 with nothing else attachable.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Card A tops out at a run of 7 (25 points) and card B at 5; longer runs just score the top value, so it can pay to split long runs. The web demo's 26 maximum was outdated; the physical card says 25.
The rulebook's text settles this.
It is the run total on the escalating scale, not a per-salmon multiplier; for example a run of four on card B scores 11. Isolated single salmon each score as a run of one on cards that print a value for it.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes, they are intentional; the card rewards keeping runs small, so a short run can score more per salmon than a longer one. Runs of one or two score nothing, and the card tops out at five.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
They differ in their scoring ramps and in minimum and maximum run length (A up to 7, B up to 5, C only between 3 and 5), not in the shapes allowed. The run rules and placement are the same on all of them.
The designer confirmed the minimum of three from the printed card text; the rulebook's description of card D omits it.
Yes. The card prints a minimum of three salmon, so runs of one or two score nothing, not even the per-salmon point. The rulebook's description of card D leaves the minimum out; the printed card is correct.
The rulebook's text settles this.
For each valid run (three or more salmon), score 1 point per salmon, including the first three, plus 1 point per adjacent animal token of any type. An animal touching several salmon of the same run counts once for that run.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
No to adjacent runs: runs may not touch, so another salmon never counts as an adjacent animal. The crossed-out salmon on the card picture is not a placement ban, and a run can be any length from three up.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Follow the printed card text, since the rulebook only explains it. The web version once showed outdated salmon values, so check against the physical card.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
A straight line running from a flat side of one hex through flat sides to the other hawk's hex, in one of the six directions. Lines through corners do not count, and the two hawks may be any distance apart.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Only another hawk. Empty spaces, missing tiles and other animals do not interrupt it, and Landmarks does not change this. A line cannot pass through a middle hawk, so the hawks on either side of it do not see each other.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
No. A hawk scores simply if no other hawk is adjacent to it; it does not matter whether the neighbouring spaces hold tiles or are empty table space.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Per hawk. Every hawk that has no adjacent hawk and sees at least one other hawk counts once, and the card value for that count is used: 12 points for four, 16 for five, 9 for three. Number of lines per hawk is irrelevant.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Only the scoring hawk must be non-adjacent to other hawks. Its partner just needs to be a hawk with a clear line of sight, even if that partner touches a third hawk and does not score itself. A hawk with no partner in sight scores nothing.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Both use line of sight. Card B scores each qualifying hawk (non-adjacent with at least one sight line), while card C scores 3 points for each line of sight between two hawks.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Count every unblocked straight line between two non-adjacent hawks, 3 points each; one hawk can be in several lines. Adjacent hawks do not form a line with each other, but can still sight others. Lines must run flat side to flat side.
The rulebook's text settles this.
Each hawk can belong to only one pair, and a pair needs a clear line of sight (not necessarily adjacent hawks). Score by the number of different animal types between the two hawks (hawks excluded), and pick the pairing that scores most. Empty spaces between are fine and one animal type is enough.
The rulebook's text settles this.
No. A hawk in between blocks the line of sight, so only a clear pair can form, and each hawk is in at most one pair. In a hawk-animal-hawk-animal-hawk line only one adjacent pair scores.
The rulebook's text settles this.
Fox cards A, B and C score each fox on its own; only card D scores pairs of adjacent foxes. Each fox or pair is scored independently, and the same adjacent animal can count for more than one fox.
The rulebook's text settles this.
Each fox scores for the number of different adjacent animal types, with other foxes counting as one type but the scoring fox itself not. A type appearing twice counts once. At most five types exist, so a fox scores at most 5.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Each fox scores for unique adjacent animal pairs, one per species; a second pair of the same species adds nothing, so four salmon around a fox are one pair. A pair that sits next to two foxes can count for both. Pairs do not need to touch each other, and extra animals of the same kind do not cancel the pair.
The rulebook's text settles this.
Each fox scores only for its single most abundant adjacent animal type (three elk and two bears score for the elk), not counting other foxes. The animals need not touch each other, and neighbouring foxes each still score.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Each fox belongs to only one pair, so you choose the non-overlapping pairs that score most; a row or triangle of three gives one pair plus a leftover fox, and four in a row gives two pairs. A fox adjacent to a pair does not stop the pair from scoring.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Both animals of a scoring pair must touch the fox pair, though they need not touch each other. A group of three or more of one animal still counts as one pair for that species, and the same animal pair may score for two different fox pairs.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Only 42 are needed: you play 20, discard 19 from the display, and 3 remain. The designer says the simplest instruction is to set up as a two-player game; the extra tile makes no difference to a 20-turn game.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. Overpopulation and Nature Tokens work in solo the same way as in multiplayer; the only differences are the display discard and slide at the end of each turn.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek, and it matches the rulebook.
Only the winner, and at most one achievement shape per game. The designer confirms this reading of the rulebook; the follow-up game Verdant changed it so every player can mark one.
The rulebook's text settles this.
Fill in your shape for the scenario you passed, and mark the next shape on your trail. You do not also mark a normal-game achievement from the same game; one mark per game won.
The rulebook's text settles this.
No. Only the scenario achievements can be earned solo; the normal and rule-restriction lists are written for multiplayer games, where the winner marks them.
Several players agree on this reading; no official ruling.
It means a wildlife card reaching its maximum value, the stated number of times in one game. For the fox achievement, each of three foxes must earn the top value on the fox card, and the same animal pair may border several foxes and count for each.
Players agree on this reading, but there is no official ruling.
Yes. Majority bonus points count toward the habitat total, so 13 tiles plus a 2-point bonus reaches 15. The "12+ for" and "15+ from" wordings mean the same thing with different thresholds.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
No. The designer's intent is that forest and river never touch, so a tile showing both is not legal to draft; avoid it until it cycles out. Some players read it as only restricting adjacency between tiles, but the designer's reading is the official one. If every tile in the display is illegal, that scenario cannot be completed that game.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
That attempt fails the scenario, which the designer says is an intended risk. You can still play on for your score, you just cannot earn the scenario achievement.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
No. Any tile showing forest counts as a forest tile, so no elk may be placed on it even if the other half is another terrain.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Every hawk must touch at least one elk, but elk do not have to touch hawks. It is checked at the end of the game like other adjacency rules, not when tokens are placed.
The rulebook's text settles this.
Yes. A habitat-scoring restriction completely replaces the normal rule for that game. Under Restriction 3, every corridor of exactly three tiles scores 3 points, not only the largest of each type.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
It scores per hawk that has line of sight to a non-adjacent fox; a fox may qualify several hawks, but each hawk counts once. Another hawk blocks the sight line, and an adjacent fox does not let the hawk see a fox beyond it.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Yes. Landmarks is designed to be modular: its extra habitat tiles and wildlife scoring cards can be used without the landmark tiles, and the landmarks themselves can be added at any player count.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Each player gets one extra keystone tile. Flip over tiles from the supply you are using until you reveal as many keystones as there are players, then draft them starting with the last player, and add yours to your environment in any legal spot. Reshuffle the other revealed tiles back into the supply. There are enough keystones in a normal supply that this essentially never runs short.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Only one landmark, placed on the tile you just played, and its habitat must match a corridor that reached five or more. Another habitat's landmark can be claimed on a later turn. Skipped landmarks can be taken later when a placement again reaches the threshold.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Yes. A tile holds only one token of any type, so once a landmark is on it no wildlife token can be placed there. Placing a wildlife token is always optional, so you may skip it, for example to keep more tile choices open.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
No. Affinity only describes which tiles carry each animal: every animal's icon appears on tiles with at least one of its three affiliated habitats. The designer calls that the only real rule for the icons; placement is unchanged, meaning an empty tile showing that animal's icon.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
The same as the three-four player game, with the same points and tie rules.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Each fox scores 4 points if it touches exactly two different kinds of wildlife, and nothing for one, three or more kinds. Other foxes count as a kind of neighbour, and each fox is scored on its own. The designer says the card's 4 points is correct, so ignore the 3 printed in the Landmarks rulebook.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Hawks may touch other hawks as long as the two hawks of a scoring pair are not adjacent to each other, but a hawk that sees more than one other hawk cannot be in a pair. The example image was wrong in early printings; the final card moves one hawk to fix it.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Three different habitat types between two non-adjacent hawks. A tile showing two or three habitats counts toward that, empty spaces are fine, and a pair with only two types does not score.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
At least one animal of the pair must be on a tile showing the required habitat (forest for Bear G, prairie for Elk G); the other may be on any tile. A tile counts if any part of it is that habitat.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
No. Unoccupied means there is no tile at all, so a tile without a token still counts as present.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
A larger group scores as one group, as long as no other bears touch it and it borders all four other wildlife types. It cannot be split into two groups of three to score twice.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Each semicircle of three elk is judged on its own shape, and elk groups may touch, unlike bears. The designer says to ignore the rest of the circle and consider the semicircle by itself, so a full ring of six scores as two semicircles. Single elk and pairs score nothing.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Wildlife patterns on habitat scoring cards can be rotated or flipped. A six-salmon zigzag counts as one run scoring 21, since the runs may not touch and so the three pairs cannot score separately.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Six points minus one per wetland corridor, with a maximum of 5 because the starter tile always contains a wetland, and never below zero. A corridor is one contiguous wetland area, so each separate group, even a single tile, counts.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
They do not need to be adjacent or hold the same animal; they only need to be occupied. A landmark token on a keystone tile counts as occupying it, according to the designer.
Players agree on this reading, but there is no official ruling.
No. It scores any corridor of that habitat in your tableau, 1 point each, regardless of where the landmark token is.
Players agree on this reading, but there is no official ruling.
Only the cards the scenario names (two of each landmark). Unlike the normal game, players may use the same landmark cards.
Yes. Each Landmark card is a separate bonus scored on its own condition, so with two such cards both earn their points.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
Yes. Choose one orientation when scoring and only pairs in that orientation score. Adjacent pairs may touch and each scores, but each elk is in only one pair across all elk scoring, so two touching pairs score 12 and a line of four elk counts as two pairs.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
It counts the empty spaces (positions with no habitat tile) adjacent to any hawk, each space once even if it touches several hawks, on a rising scale. Count spaces, not hex sides.
Yes, as printed: each fox scores per quantity of adjacent animals (1, 2 or 3 of a species), and each quantity can score only once, so the most is 5 per fox. A group of three scores 2 points, and species with more than three adjacent animals score nothing.
The designer answered this directly on BoardGameGeek.
The run must have at least three salmon to score at all. The salmon themselves earn nothing; instead each adjacent group of other animals scores by its size (the example scores 12). A large group counts once, at the top bracket.