turn.  (The rules permit that player to conduct an extra action, in the 3-player version.)
       The actions from which the Ichto players get to select are simple – move an Ichto from the ocean to a land area, breed, move from one water area to an adjacent water area, or remove Ichtos from the board to the player’s “reserve”, in front of him.  Each player may only select two actions, normally.  Twice during the game, they may use one of their Extra Move tokens, to take 2 more actions.  Three points are awarded to the player who has the most Ichtos on the island secretly selected by the Environment player (2 each, in case of a tie), so moving Ichtos onto land is paramount.  Breeding, however, gets the user a large number of Ichtos to work with, but has a drawback.  Breeding can only occur in an ocean area, and all players in that ocean area get to Breed, whenever one player selects that area for Breeding.  (Breeding does require a minimum of 3 Ichtos, and 6 or more Ichtos will get you 2 offspring instead of one, so one can mitigate how much other players gain from a Breeding action, with judicious area selection.)  When Water Movement is selected as an action, the Player is permitted to move as many of his Ichtos as he chooses from one ocean area to an adjacent ocean area, so this is a good way to set up some serious Breeding.
       So, the game progresses in much the way you would expect - with the Ichto players trying to guess which area will be scored during the turn, and the players most recently being the Dummy and Environment player having the slight advantage of knowing a couple of the tokens eligible for scoring.  Of course, this advantage rotates around the board, along with the token selection process.  Ichto players jockey for “land superiority” on the various islands while looking for advantageous breeding opportunities and the right time to play their Extra Move tokens.  If this was all there was to URLAND, it would make for a light, abstract game that – while adequate in its own right – would be considered by most to lack something.  But for those who have played URSUPPE, you just know that Doris and Frank wouldn’t touch a game on evolution without adding some pizzazz…
     …and that pizzazz comes in the form of “Mutations,”  “Legs,” “Warm Blood,” “Teeth,” “Ears,” and 7 other genes. These confer various advantages on those Ichto players having them.  Having Warm Blooded Ichtos, for instance, grants them an extra action every turn – very helpful.  “Muscles” serve as a tie-breaker when counting Ichtos for control of an island.  “Flying” permits that player’s Ichtos to move from one land area to another, increasing the options for scoring opportunities.  Most of the genes will feel familiar to fans of URSUPPE, and – again – blank cards are thoughtfully provided in case you want to try out some of your own ideas.  Doris’ delightful drawings are in color this time, too.
       At 3 points during the game (when the lead player has reached an indicated space on the scoring track), Mutation occurs.  This is a bidding process, handled by having each player secretly select a number of Ichtos from his reserve, and all players revealing their bids simultaneously.  High bidder gets first crack at the currently available genes, and ties for high bid go to the player lower in current score.  The highest bidder must purchase a gene; the remaining players (in decreasing size of bid) have the option to purchase a gene.  Why wouldn’t you want to purchase one, you ask?  Because while you bid with the Icthos you have in reserve, you pay with Ichtos you have on the board.  This is why Breeding is important, and this is also why “Over-breeding” must be avoided. If you breed to the point where you have no remaining Icthos in reserve, then you can’t bid. If you don’t breed enough, then you’re potentially ruining your chances of winning when paying for your bids. And pity the poor soul who bids too much, and finds himself with insufficient Ichtos on the board with which to continue breeding. This is also where the “Retreat” action begins to make sense, as a means to get Icthos off the board and into your reserve, prior to bidding.
      While it is possible to put up a jolly good fight without buying a gene every chance you get, you probably can’t afford to miss two chances to buy one. Having no genes while everyone else has 2 is going to leave you seriously “out-gunned”.
      The other kicker in the game is the Panic token. When this token is drawn by the new Environment player, the island having the most Ichtos is affected, and all Ichtos on that island scurry back into the ocean, presumably frightened out of their wits by thunder, fire, rumbling volcano, or some such. The holder of the Ears gene may choose to keep his Icthos on land (although it seems they would have more cause for panic than deaf Ichtos).

      At some point, there will be no third token for the new Environment player to take. This represents the end of an “Epoch”. When this occurs, one of the two tokens he is holding is randomly selected for scoring, then the islands representing both tokens get Volcano pieces, causing them to merge with the nearest islands, and reducing the number of islands in play for the next Epoch. All Ichtos in excess of 1 per player are removed from these islands and placed in the players’ reserves.
      The game ends when the first player reaches 30 points in scoring. At this time, the player with the most Ichtos on the board gets 3 additional points, and (if this isn’t the same player) the one who has the most Ichtos on land gets 2 additional points – bonuses for those most intent on prolific procreation.
URLAND is a delightful game. It will never be confused with sterner, more sobering German fare, and it isn’t meant to be. It fits its niche in a pleasant, comfortable way, without any pretense towards a loftier plane of cogitation. While the box and rules claim a recommended minimum age of 12, I can see a lot of 10 year-olds loving its graphics, pieces, and game play, as was the case with URSUPPE. URLAND, too, makes for a good family game, while having enough tough decisions to satisfy the older crowd. While a lot of the European games in my collection would give me pause, I wouldn’t hesitate to whip out URLAND in order to woo a newcomer to the hobby. Unless, of course, that newcomer would want to toss URLAND on the Harry Potter book bonfire, in which case he can take NASCAR Monopoly with him, instead.
Thumbs up, Doris and Frank, and keep them coming.

  

Darrell Hanning resides in Jacksonville, Florida, and hasn’t played MONOPOLY of any flavor in a very long time.

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