I played Dominant Species at a conference on one of those glorious, slightly chaotic days where time disappears Since it wasn’t my copy, and we were far too deep into strategy (and snacks) to pause for posed photos, I couldn’t snap pictures of the actual board mid-game. But I’ve included a couple shots taken afterward to capture the spirit of it all. Sorry that the photos don’t necessarily match the review.

Sometimes, you sit down to a game knowing full well that you’re the underdog. You glance around the board, see the powerful mammals, the regal birds, the sneaky reptiles… and then there’s you. The insect. Tiny, fragile, and laughed at before the first marker is even placed. That was me. And reader, I won.

Dominant Species is a sprawling strategy game of evolution, area control, and adaptation, set on a hex-based map of the prehistoric world. Each player takes on the role of a different class of animals—mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, arachnids, or insects—and fights to thrive in a rapidly changing environment as an ice age looms.

The game’s heart is its worker placement system, where players take turns assigning action pawns to different parts of a planning track—initiating migrations, adapting traits, adding elements to the map, or even wiping out opponents’ food sources. The board itself shifts like tectonic plates, with new terrain tiles added, others glaciating, and entire ecosystems swinging from abundant to barren in the space of a round. You can see examples below.

Early on, I focused on spreading wide. Insects breed easily, after all. While the others were fighting over high-value tiles, I quietly scattered my little cubes across the map like pollen on a spring wind. Then, I started adapting. I didn’t need to dominate every place—I just needed to be present everywhere. And by the time the final rounds came around, my swarm was impossible to ignore.

One particularly glorious turn involved outmaneuvering a mammal player who’d been threatening dominance for half the game. I shifted the elements just enough to knock him out of control of a key tile, and then, in true Meadow fashion, I politely reminded him that it’s not the size of the animal—it’s how you adapt.

Dominant Species is long, crunchy, and deeply strategic. It’s not for the faint of heart or the easily distracted. But if you love big, bold games that reward clever planning, careful timing, and just the right amount of mischief, it’s an unforgettable experience. Every round tells a story of survival and extinction, of bold moves and subtle nudges that change everything. So the next time someone offers you the insects, take them and smile. Because sometimes, the smallest creature leaves the biggest mark.

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