Nimalia

Draft and layer cards into the tidiest animal sanctuary, within a six by six grid.

Designer: William Liévin
Published by: La Boîte de Jeu
Editions by: Lucky Duck Games, Pegasus Spiele, Maldito Games, White Goblin Games, Evrikus, Happy Baobab, Blackrock Games, Across the Board

In Nimalia you design the best animal sanctuary you can across five rounds. Each round you draw three cards, place one in your sanctuary and pass the rest on. Every card is a square of four biomes, each home to an animal, and a new card must cover at least one biome of what is already there. The whole sanctuary may never grow past six by six squares. A random pool of scoring objectives changes every game, and each round only some of them count, so you keep reshaping your layout to match what is being scored. After five rounds the most points wins. Two to four players, about 30 minutes, from age 10. Released in 2023.

Draft three cards, place one, pass the restCover biomes without exceeding six by sixScoring goals change each game and each round

Who it's for

You like a tidy puzzle where you keep rearranging your own layout to meet shifting goals.

Not for you if…

You want direct conflict. Everyone builds their sanctuary alongside the others, with no attacking.

Vibe's take

Calm and clever, with everyone building quietly side by side. The fun lies in covering cards to chase the objectives that count this round, then fixing the sanctuary again for the next.