Lynx Board Game

In the Lynx Board Game, an economic game with a historical and ecological theme, each player takes on the role of a late 18th century fur trapper in the Hudson’s Bay region of northern Ontario who is exploiting the lynx-hare cycle and trying to outwit other trappers.

Traps are supplied by the Hudson’s Bay Company with the agreement that all pelts be sold exclusively to them. By trapping when the lynx are plentiful and selling pelts at high prices, the trapper who earns the most money pays off their debt and becomes a free trapper.

Players will simultaneously choose Action cards each seasons, along with the appropriate trap, pelt, or venture cards each season. You can trap hare, trap lynx, sell lynx pelts, or go off-season to play Venture cards.

At the end of a season, the hare and lynx repopulate, but the lynx are very dependent on the population of the hares: trap too many hares and you “crash” the lynx population – making it harder and more expensive to trap lynx.

Expect to go into debt in the beginning and then propel yourself to a positive money flow by the end of the 14th season.

There are two modes of play:

• Snowshoe: the beginner mode, where you plan your action for the season at the beginning of the current season.
• Wildcat: the advanced mode, where you not only plan the current season but also the next season’s action (you’ll have two sets of action cards).