Over multiple generations, players draft male and female foxes and then roll handfuls of dice based on their observable traits. Instead, it focuses on tackling the technical matter at hand - the job of selectively breeding the friendliest foxes. Hargrave’s design, however, is not at all concerned with the political, historical, and moral ramifications of that project. The Fox Experiment is based on a controversial project funded by the Soviet Union in 1958, with scientists using selective breeding in the hopes of transforming a wild species into a domesticated partner.

How deep? Well, her latest game is focused on an obscure Soviet effort to domesticate wild foxes… and it’s not half bad. Now the acclaimed designer has leveraged that creative capital to delve ever deeper down a scientific rabbit hole.

Its success, buoyed by dozens of industry awards and all manner of mainstream media attention, has opened the door to dozens of similar games, from Meadow to Forest Shuffle. With the creation of Wingspan, the delightful ornithology-themed board game released in 2019, designer Elizabeth Hargrave helped give birth to the modern-day genre of nature-themed board games.

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