- BGG rating
- 8.6
Prehistories: Shield
- 2–5 players
- 30 min
- 2020
- BGG rank
- BGG #4,099
- BGG rating
- 6.9
Prehistories
2020
Rules assistance for Prehistories
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2–5 players
- 30 min
- 8+
- Complexity 1.9/5
For 2 players
Rules assistant for Prehistories
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Prehistories is a board game released in 2020 for 2–5 players, 30 minutes per game, and ages 8 and up. It was designed by Benoit Turpin and Alexandre Emerit and its main mechanics are Hand Management, Tile Placement, and Square Grid.
Expansions
- BGG rating
- 7.6
Prehistories: Evolutions
- 2–5 players
- 35 min
- Complexity 2.0/5
- 2022
Similar games
- BGG rank
- BGG #2,023
- BGG rating
- 7.3
Tramways
- 1–5 players
- 120 min
- Complexity 3.8/5
- 2016
- BGG rank
- BGG #242
- BGG rating
- 7.5
A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition)
- 3–6 players
- 120–240 min
- Complexity 3.7/5
- 2011
- BGG rank
- BGG #3,619
- BGG rating
- 6.4
Beowulf: The Legend
- 2–5 players
- 60 min
- Complexity 2.3/5
- 2005
- BGG rank
- BGG #5,812
- BGG rating
- 6.9
Apothebakery: The Culinary Alchemists
- 1–4 players
- 60–90 min
- Complexity 2.2/5
- 2025
- BGG rank
- BGG #699
- BGG rating
- 7.1
Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers
- 2–5 players
- 35–40 min
- Complexity 1.9/5
- 2002
- BGG rank
- BGG #370
- BGG rating
- 7.4
Acquire
- 2–6 players
- 90 min
- Complexity 2.5/5
- 1963
- BGG rank
- BGG #1,100
- BGG rating
- 6.8
Qwirkle
- 2–4 players
- 45 min
- Complexity 1.6/5
- 2006
- BGG rank
- BGG #1,575
- BGG rating
- 6.9
Copenhagen
- 2–4 players
- 20–40 min
- Complexity 1.7/5
- 2019
- BGG rank
- BGG #1,830
- BGG rating
- 6.8
The Rose King
- 2 players
- 30 min
- Complexity 1.9/5
- 1992
- BGG rank
- BGG #4,598
- BGG rating
- 6.8
Heartland
- 2–5 players
- 45–60 min
- Complexity 2.1/5
- 2009
- BGG rank
- BGG #5,019
- BGG rating
- 6.5
City Tycoon
- 2–5 players
- 60–120 min
- Complexity 2.8/5
- 2011
- BGG rank
- BGG #5,707
- BGG rating
- 6.7
Town 77
- 1–5 players
- 15 min
- Complexity 1.8/5
- 2023
About the game
You are the leader of a prehistoric tribe, deciding which members of your tribe go hunting and what prey they want to catch. To guide you, the Elders have created challenges that you can complete by painting on the wall of your cave. Each round in Prehistories, you and your fellow tribe leaders bid simultaneously (and secretly) to decide who hunts where. The more hunters you have, the bigger the game you can catch, but the slower you are. The fastest player — that is, the one with the smallest sum of hunters — goes first, but they have few hunters with which to hunt. To hunt, you assign your hunters to one or more locations to catch the prey waiting there. Prey is represented by polyomino tiles, and the larger the tile, the higher the sum required. If you have just enough hunters to catch your prey, they might be wounded in the process, which means you'll draw fewer hunter cards at the end of the round to refill your hand. (They distrust your leadership when you get them injured!) In the second phase of a round, you paint your cave with the animal tiles collected during the hunting phase. Your cave is represented by a 7x7 grid that starts with a few tiles already in place. The first tile you place goes in the left-hand column, and all subsequent tiles must touch tiles already placed, with all tiles being oriented so that the animals are viewed with their legs (or fins) down. (Cavemen have simple tastes and want everything to be representational.) When you fulfill the wishes of the Elders by painting your cave in certain ways — such as completing a horizontal line or connecting opposing corners or surrounding a legendary animal on all sides — you place one or more totem tokens on that challenge. Whoever first discards their eight totem tokens wins.
Categories
Mechanics
Designers
Publishers
- Maldito Games
- Ігромаг
- 25th Century Games
- TLAMA games
- Blackrock Games
- Playagame Edizioni
- The Flying Games
Questions and answers
Prehistories supports 2–5 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 Prehistories is 30 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 Prehistories for ages 8 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.
Prehistories has a complexity rating of 1.9 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light 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.
Prehistories belongs to these categories: Card Game and Prehistoric. Its main mechanics are Hand Management, Tile Placement, and Square Grid. 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 Prehistories are: Benoit Turpin and Alexandre Emerit. 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 Prehistories 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.