Earth review

Inside Up Games | 1 to 5 players | 13+ | 45 to 90 minutes

In Earth you build a thriving ecosystem full of plants, habitats and terrain cards inspired by real nature. This tableau-building game from Inside Up Games is all about creating strong combinations. By forging handy connections and lovely synergies, you collect as many points as possible before the game ends. Over the course of the game, your tableau grows into a unique landscape, full of ecological interactions and chances to score. With hundreds of beautifully illustrated cards, Earth is packed with fun you will want to experience again and again.

Can you put together the most beautiful and highest-scoring landscape at the table?

The game

To set up, place the fauna board in the middle of the table and fill it with the fauna and ecosystem cards in the right spots. Each player gets their own player board, an island card, a climate card and an ecosystem card. For each card you choose which side to use, then place it in the matching spot on your board. Next, take your coloured leaf tokens, decide who goes first and together set out the general supply of sprouts, soil tokens, trunks and canopies.

On your turn you choose one of four actions. If you choose planting, you may place up to two cards from your hand into your tableau. You pay their soil cost and then draw new cards. The other players may plant one card and draw one card. After that, everyone activates the green effects on the cards in their tableau and on their player board.

If you choose composting, you gain five soil and compost two cards from the draw pile. The other players may either take two soil or compost two cards. Once everyone has made their choice, everyone activates the red effects.

If you go for watering, you receive six sprouts, which you immediately place on cards in your tableau, plus two soil. The other players choose between two sprouts or two soil. Then it is the turn of the blue effects.

With growing, you draw four cards and place up to two growth pieces, trunks or canopies, on cards in your tableau. The other players may either draw two cards or place up to two growth pieces. Then everyone activates the yellow effects. Turn after turn, you build an ever stronger engine of cards.

As soon as one player has filled their tableau of sixteen cards, you play on until everyone has had the same number of turns. Then you add up your points: the points from the cards on your player board and in your tableau, plus one point for each card in your compost pile and each sprout on your cards. You also score extra points for trunks and canopies, for the end-of-game bonuses, for completed ecosystem objectives and for the leaf tokens on the fauna board. The player with the most points wins.

Impressions

The first thing you notice is the gorgeous illustration on the box. It suits the theme of the game perfectly. When you open the box, that feeling only gets stronger. You can see straight away how much work the illustrators have put into the game. Every card has a lovely drawing that reinforces the nature theme, and the components are simple but pleasant to look at and wonderfully calming.

As a tableau-building game, Earth offers a set of clear, easy-to-follow actions, and at the same time plenty of strategic depth. There are many different paths to victory. One player focuses on collecting compost or covering cards with sprouts, while another expands their tableau with trunks and canopies instead. Experienced players get even more out of it by planning ahead around the end-of-game bonuses.

Where Earth really shines is in the interaction between players and the almost complete absence of waiting time. Every action by the active player also gives the others at the table a small benefit. That keeps everyone involved, and you are not sitting around waiting for your next turn. As a result, the game feels surprisingly lively and sociable from start to finish.

All in all, I think Earth is a wonderful game that combines a strong theme, a beautiful look and enjoyable gameplay. At first glance it may seem like a lot, but I actually found it very accessible and suitable for beginners. Even if you lose, building a thriving ecosystem feels like a reward and makes for a nicely relaxed evening at the table.