Stats:
No. of players: 1-4
Amount of time to play: 45-60 min
Age requirements: 10+
Set-up time: 5 min

Beasts of Balance is a cooperative stacking game that uses an app and encourages you to try creating new combinations of animals.

Beasts of Balance Rules Description:

In Beasts of Balance you stack animals to add them to your digital world in order to score points. When an animal is added to the stack it appears in the app and is worth a certain number of points. Anytime a new animal is added and its points are assessed the animals with less points then the most lose one point. So most every turn some animals (and therefore you) are losing points.

An animal that is reduced to zero points dies. But you can do a few things to bolster your animals. First you can add artefacts to your stack. Artefacts give points to animals based on their environment. You can also cross animals with each other to create new species that are often worth a lot more than their parts. Lastly you can migrate animals to a different environment. This too forms a new, high-point species.

If you topple the structure, you have a few seconds to rebuild it. Failure to do so ends the game and you are shown your final score. Can you beat the high score?

Quick Review of Beasts of Balance:

Beasts of Balance is almost more of an activity than a game. It is just as exciting trying to create all the different species available as trying to score a lot of points. Families with kids will especially enjoy this game.

The components for this game are excellent. The app looks great and has a good tutorial. And the physical pieces look cool.

Beasts of Balance is not aimed at hardcore gamers. But if you have kids, they might really enjoy this game. At first they will try to score as much as possible. And soon will just want to create all the different combinations of animals. The app tracks your high score and which species you have discovered.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 2 out of 6
Player Interaction 1 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 3 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6