Bios Origins

How did we become human? Ignoring the uplift hypothesis and focusing on evolutionary processes, one might hypothesize ‘unlocking’ of the brain to access so-called higher functions. Unbelievably, there’s a boardgame to simulate this. Back in 2007, Phil Eklund of Sierra Madre games published Origins: How We Became Human. The game is a brutal slog – evolution isn’t easy! Sometimes you get stuck and have difficulty making any advances. I played 15 complete games between 2008 and 2017; and it took me several incomplete games to climb the steep learning curve. Once you’ve got the hang of it, a full game takes 4-5 hours. (Here’s a review I wrote on the BoardGameGeek a decade ago.)

Bios Origins, published in 2019 in collaboration with Ion Games, is the reboot of the original Origins. The game has been retooled to fit the Bios trilogy; I’ve previously written about the two earlier games: Bios Genesis and Bios Megafauna. While Bios Origins retains the flavor of the original, it feels less science-y, and plays more like a boardgame than a simulation. This is also true of the second edition of the retooled Bios Megafauna. The new Bios Origins is less brutal, much more forgiving, and there’s always something to do so you don’t get stuck due to some bad luck. But for fans of the original, you will miss the challenge of unlocking your brain.

There are several scenarios for Bios Origins. You can use the present world map, a custom map, or the cratons from a campaign game following Bios Megafauna. You could be terrestrial or aquatic (mer-folk!). There are solo rules too. Below is a three-player game with homo habilis (Player Black), homo floriensis (Player Green), and homo heidelbergensis (Player White). Cuboids represent cities (or metropoli) and meeples represent migrants. There are circular ‘climate chits’ that can be flipped due to climate change events. Printed on the board are also resources that can be accessed: mining, animal domestication, horticulture cultivation.

Bios Origins proceeds through four epochs. Players score points in three areas: Culture, Politics, Industry. There are six tech-levels for advancement: Footprint, Energy, Metallurgy, Immunology, Maritime, Information. The pictures below show a game in the final epoch. The players have made advances in multiple areas. All of them are in the industrial era, Footprint-wise. Energy-wise, one player has made it to Nuclear. They’ve maxed out Metallurgy but are somewhat behind in Immunology. All can access Outer Space, but they aren’t as far along Information-wise. Unlike its predecessors, Bios Origins has more of a tech-tree advancement feel, and less of an evolution feel to gameplay.

Each player still has a brain map, but it’s easy to advance your brain power. The heart of the game comes from the Foundation cards (horizontal) and Idea cards (vertical) as shown in the picture below. Each of these cards provides actions the player may take during their turn. With more cards, there are more actions. Iconography is heavy, but once you gain familiarity, the action phase proceeds quite rapidly. Each player has a Ruling Class favoring Culture, Politics, or Industry. These may shift due to revolutions (chaotically or through an ordered election) as governments favor different advancement policies.

On the left, the sapiens player (Black) currently has a Politics ruling class, indicated by cards with a pink strip on top. Figures on the cards represent dissidents. In the center, the hobbit player (Green) also has a Politics ruling class and on the brain map you can see pawns waiting to be deployed as specialists to pursue new Idea cards. On the right, the neanderthal player has an Industry ruling class (red strip on top) and no dissidents. The Foundation and Idea cards, besides providing actions, also provide the means for advancements along the tech tree. This aspect of the game is markedly different from the older Origins, and makes the gameplay more open by providing multiple options so a player doesn’t get stuck.

Of the trilogy, Bios Origins is likely the most interesting of the three, but it has the highest complexity and longest playing time. The sweet spot, in my opinion, is Bios Megafauna. It plays in less than half the time, is easier to pick up and understand, and evolving new biological structures is interesting in gameplay conversation. (In Bios Origins, too much is going on to appreciate the details in the cards, or maybe I just haven’t played enough games – only five to completion thus far.) While I have a soft spot for Bios Genesis, having served as the chemistry consultant on origin-of-life matter (and it’s also the game I’ve played the most), the gameplay is much more brutal and can be much less ‘fun’ for struggling players. Evolving new biochemistry, less familiar to most players, simply isn’t as interesting as evolving wings, armor, opposable thumbs, or mimicry.

The science nerd in me thoroughly enjoys the Bios series, but it simply won’t get as much play time due to length and complexity. That’s okay, I enjoy my varied game diet; sometimes I want something simple, at other times I enjoy being immersed in a more complex puzzle. I suppose I’m unlocking my brain in different ways!