Phylomon

Phylomon is an open source food-web building card game. These cards are examples from deck expansions I am developing to extend game play to other ecological relationships and exceptional organisms. The Pollination Syndrome Deck introduces pollinator/angiosperm patterns as a gameplay concept. The Holobiont Deck includes organisms with remarkable symbiotic associations. The Mount Desert Island Deck is a place-based set that features organisms from Acadia National Park.

These decks are under development now – to get involved with art production or card concepts, contact me!

Pollination Syndrome

Concept

This deck adds flower and pollinator cards that either increase in point value when played together or must be played together to stay on the board. Large night blooming flowers can be pollinated by bats and/or moths, red tubular flowers by hummingbirds, foul smelling flowers by most flies, etc. I've also added some fun specific cases like Syrphid flies, Wasp-orchids, and open-eye fig trees.

Game Play Changes

• Flowers that do not self pollinate must be played within flight distance of a pollinator.
• Flowers without a pollinator for one turn must be removed
• Added a nocturnal/diurnal designation
• General pollination patterns can be integrated with other existing cards.
  • Large white fragrant night blooming flowers: fruit bats
  • Small-medium white night blooming flowers: moths
  • Large red funnel shaped flowers: hummingbirds
  • Small-Large red tubular flowers: butterflies and some moths/skippers
  • Yellow non-papillionid flowers: almost everything except birds and bats
  • Papillionid flowers: bees only (not just honeybees, and bumblebees are usually not dexterous enough to deal with them)
  • Bad smelling flowers like arums: Flies
  • Purple, orange flowers: everything, especially butterflies. Maybe a point value difference?

Holobiont

Concept

A deck of species which are exceptions to typical trophic cascades! Future goals include adding a new terrain type: hydrothermal vents, with more specialized species cards. This deck also introduces parasitic, commensal, and beneficial type interactions between species.

Game Play Changes

• Some species can act as parasites to existing cards and a few new extra host cards. The parasites can optionally be printed on half size cards so that more than one can be played on a host card.
• Many parasites decrease the point value of their hosts and are affected by any event card played on the host.
• Those parasites with a commensurate designation do not decrease point value of their hosts, and mutualists increase the value of the host.
• Mimicry
  • Batesian: A batesian mimic can only be succesfully played if the species it’s mimicing is already in play
  • Mullerian: Can always be played, worth slightly more when there are more mimics in its group in play.
• Cuckoos
  • Parasites of large organisms, but equal or larger in size to their hosts.
  • Reduce point value of their hosts and do not need a food source.