Tikal co-creators team-up once again for wildlife board game Caldera Park

The co-creators behind two-player board game Tikal, Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer, have teamed up once again for a new title.

Caldera Park is a spiritual successor to another board game that was co-designed by Kiesling and Kramer, Savannah Park. (Thanks BoardGameGeek.) Themed around the wildlife and ecosystems found across North America, Caldera Park is an upcoming board game that challenges players to gather various animals together in their native habitats.

The environments of the North American continent are varied and vibrant, populated by all sorts of creatures from the intimidating bison and moose to the tiny groundhogs and majestic eagles. Players in Caldera Park will be looking to attract and collect herds of these animals, with the aim of gathering the largest possible collection of each animal. However, collecting as many creatures as possible is only one part of players’ mission, as they must also be able to provide them with access to drinking water and be prepared for potentially bad weather.

In the family board game, players take turns to choose combinations of species and environments, before placing their chosen species on their chosen environment. Once players have decided on an animal, they put it onto their player board on a space matching the environment they’ve picked. As players begin running out of spaces, they’ll have to start making difficult decisions as to where to place subsequent species.

On top of that, players will also need to be prepared for their opponents to potentially meddle in their plans, as well as the possible arrival of weather tokens that put a damper on things. Once five rounds have been completed, players score points based on their most valuable herd only, as well as placing animal tokens on certain landscapes – whichever player has the most points by the end is the winner.

Apart from co-creating Caldera Park, Savannah Park and Tikal, Kiesling and Kramer have also worked together on the abstract-building game Torres, as well as individually designing titles such as Kramer’s quick card game 6 nimmt! and Kiesling’s tile-laying board game Azul.

Caldera Park is set to be published by Pegasus Spiele and Deep Print Games, one of the studios responsible for releasing Savannah Park as well as another Kiesling and Kramer board game about ecosystems called Renature.

The release date for Caldera Park is set for some time this year, with a retail price yet to be confirmed.