Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
It's 43,000 BC in Ice Age Europe, the dawn of modern man. In Neanderthal, you are one of three human species: Archaic, Neanderthal, or Cro-Magnon.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Auction/Bidding
Bid against other players to determine who receives an item, action, or priority.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Negotiation
Make proposals, promises, or deals directly with other players.
Worker Placement
Commit limited workers to action spaces before opponents occupy them.
Events
Triggered events alter the shared state, rules, or available choices.
Simulation
Model a real or imagined system through detailed cause-and-effect rules.
Read the full game description
It's 43,000 BC in Ice Age Europe, the dawn of modern man. In Neanderthal, you are one of three human species: Archaic, Neanderthal, or Cro-Magnon. Assign your males to hunt Pleistocene megafauna, but try to avoid being eaten by predators. Assign your women for teaching your children vocabulary, leading to cognitive fluidity in the next generation and to a tribalistic culture. Specialize your elders for fire, war, big game, inventions, or animal domestications. Choose between three mating strategies: promiscuous, harems, or pair bonding. Victory depends on which strategy you choose, and may include your hunters, elders, women, vocabulary, trophies, inventions, or domesticated animals. At this point, the players have developed to the point where the companion game Greenland begins, so you can flow one game into another seamlessly.