- BGG rank
- BGG #3,507
- BGG rating
- 6.9
Greenland
- 1–3 players
- 60–120 min
- Complexity 3.3/5
- 2014
- BGG rank
- BGG #2,086
- BGG rating
- 7.2
Neanderthal
2015
Rules assistance for Neanderthal
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 1–3 players
- 60–120 min
- 14+
- Complexity 3.8/5
For 1 player
Rules assistant for Neanderthal
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Neanderthal is a board game released in 2015 for 1–3 players, 60–120 minutes per game, and ages 14 and up. It was designed by Phil Eklund and its main mechanics are Auction / Bidding, Dice Rolling, and Simulation.
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About the game
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.
Categories
Designers
Publishers
- Banana Games
- Sierra Madre Games
- Ion Game Design
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- 500 Nuances de Geek
Questions and answers
Neanderthal supports 1–3 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Neanderthal is 60–120 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Neanderthal for ages 14 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Neanderthal has a complexity rating of 3.8 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a heavy game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Neanderthal belongs to these categories: Card Game, Economic, and Prehistoric. Its main mechanics are Auction / Bidding, Dice Rolling, and Simulation. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Neanderthal are: Phil Eklund. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Neanderthal as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.