How to Play Cascadia: Rolling Hills
A practical walkthrough from the starting display to the twentieth round, with solo and family rules.
A Rolling Hills round has three stages: roll the shared and personal dice, collect wildlife, then optionally spend animals to complete a habitat card. Players make their choices simultaneously. After everyone finishes, the habitat display advances. Repeat for exactly 20 rounds, then score the selected environment.
Official rulebook PDF · Map-specific marking and scoring reference
Set up the first game
- Give each player one of each Personal Die, a Tally Sheet, a player aid, a matching Environment Sheet and a writing tool. The standard Tally Sheet starts with one of each animal and two Nature Tokens; family Abundance is an optional increase.
- Choose the same environment for everyone. Sheet A is a straightforward place to learn the shared system before adding spatial or wildlife-letter requirements.
- Place the three Central Dice and the Central Special Die where everyone can read them.
- Separate Habitat Cards by tier. From each tier remove one card of each of the five habitat types. Shuffle the remaining ten cards in each tier separately, then put Tier 1 above Tier 2 to form a 20-card draw pile.
- Reveal one Habitat Card in the first display space. Choose four Completion Cards and assign one to each display position. Use the four Beginner cards for an introductory game. A discount sits above its position and a bonus below.
The display starts with one habitat card, not four. More cards enter as rounds end, up to a maximum of four. Completion Cards stay assigned to their positions throughout the game.
1. Roll and read the special die first
One player rolls the Central Dice for everyone; each player rolls their own pair of Personal Dice. Read the Central Special Die before deciding what to collect. It can add an animal of the selected type, reduce a Dice Action’s cost, allow personal rerolls, offer an alternative selection from three dice, or provide one of two printed animal options.
A wild animal normally increases the quantity of a type you are already taking. It does not by itself let you collect a second species. Split faces let you choose one of their printed animals. Your personal choices never change what another player can collect.
2. Collect wildlife and optionally use a Dice Action
Normally choose one wildlife type and gain one animal for every matching face among the relevant shared dice and your own dice. Update its total on the Tally Sheet. You may take one standard Dice Action per round by paying Nature Tokens:
| Action | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Down-convert | 1 | Treat one animal type’s faces as the next type below it. |
| Up-convert | 2 | Treat one animal type’s faces as the next type above it. |
| Take two types | 3 | Collect two species instead of the normal single species. |
The conversion order from top to bottom is bear → elk → fox → hawk → salmon. Conversion moves one step. Resolve any special-die discount before paying. Leave the physical dice as rolled; conversion changes your collection, not the shared result.
Example: Suppose the faces you can use give two foxes and two hawks. With one Nature Token, down-convert the fox faces into hawks and collect four hawks. Without the action, choosing hawks would collect two. This example isolates conversion; additional special-die effects must be resolved according to the rolled face.
3. Complete a Habitat Card, if you wish
- Choose a visible Habitat Card and resolve the optional discount attached to its current position.
- Subtract its animal costs from your Tally Sheet.
- Resolve the card’s Nature Token reward and any optional Completion Card bonus.
- Mark the appropriate habitat progress on your Environment Sheet.
- Collect newly reached sheet bonuses and resolve any extra marking they trigger.
Normally complete only one card in a round. Completion Card 7 is a specific exception: it can permit a second, different Habitat Card, provided you can pay for both. The second card can use its own position’s modifier. Keep this exception separate from the normal limit.
Completing a card does not claim or discard it. Several players may complete the same visible card, and you can complete a card again in a later round. Your selected sheet can still restrict where progress fits; for example, Sheet A has only four spaces per habitat.
Advance the display and finish after round 20
Once everyone has finished, shift habitat cards one position to the right. Discard a card that goes beyond the fourth position and reveal the next card at the left. The Completion Cards do not move. When the draw pile cannot supply another card at round end, the twentieth round has finished. Score the environment, including its leftover-resource category. Most points wins; tied players compare remaining Nature Tokens, then share victory if still tied.
Solo: the same system, with optional goals
Use the ordinary setup and turn sequence. There is no automated opponent and no need to clear cards because another player completed them. Play for a score, or use the scenario table on rulebook pages 21–23. A listed point threshold and an additional objective both matter. Scenarios 13–20 use Rolling Rivers content, so the Hills box alone does not provide all crossover scenarios.
Family mode: the exact changes
Remove the Central Special Die, use Beginner Completion Cards and the simplified side of the player aid. Replace the three normal Dice Actions: after selecting your main wildlife type, spend any number of Nature Tokens to collect that many additional animals from dice showing other types. A token buys an additional animal from an available face; it does not create an arbitrary animal.
Example: Collect three salmon, then spend two Nature Tokens to also take one available bear and one available elk from other dice. Add those animals separately to the tally. The optional Abundance variant increases the starting stock to three of each animal and four Nature Tokens. It is optional, not the default standard setup.
Two card effects worth checking carefully
With Completion Card 11, a risky discount roll can leave you unable to afford the selected card. If it fails, you cannot switch to a different habitat card that round. With Card 12, flexible payment adds three animals to the total cost; it is not a free substitution. These effects reward planning, but their printed restrictions remain important.
Sources and editorial scope
- AEG English Rolling Hills rulebook (PDF) — shared rules, sheets A–D, Completion Cards, family mode and combining boxes.
- AEG product page — player count, age and duration.
- Flatout Games product page — the two Rolling boxes and their distinct content.
Checked October 4, 2026. This is a researched guide. Decision examples and tactical recommendations are editorial analysis of the rules, not firsthand playtest results. The cards and sheet in your copy remain the reference for individual effects. Editorial policy and corrections.