Primordial Soup

About this board game

Primordial Soup is a board game for 3–4 players that takes about 90 minutes, in which each player guides a species of primitive “amoeboid” organisms through a shared ecosystem.

Every species depends on the others: each feeds on the excreta produced by its fellow organisms. To win, you must increase your population while developing the sophistication of your species’ genes.

Each round follows a sequence of changing challenges. Organisms first move, either by drifting or under their own power, and then feed. The environment then undergoes a random change that alters the direction of drift and may force organisms to give up genes.

After the environmental shift, species can buy new genes and may reproduce. Some organisms die before the round concludes with scoring for each species. This cycle continues until one species reaches at least 42 points or the environment cards run out.

• Movement: Organisms drift or use their own power to navigate the ecosystem.
• Feeding: Species survive within an ecosystem where organisms feed on one another’s excreta.
• Evolution: Buy genes that improve movement, metabolism, reproduction, attack, or defence.
• Scoring: Build population and genetic sophistication while pursuing the victory condition.

The available genes let each species develop in different ways, from more efficient metabolism and reproduction to enhanced movement control, attack, and defence. These upgrades shape how your organisms operate as the environment changes.

Released in 1997, Primordial Soup combines movement, feeding, environmental change, evolution, reproduction, and survival in one evolving system. The game is expanded by Primordial Soup: Freshly Spiced.