Primordial Soup

Known as Ursuppe, this Doris and Frank game (Frank's Zoo) took second place in 1998's Deutscher Spielepreis and rates highly on boardgamegeek.com.

You control a tribe of amoebas living in Earth's past trying to survive in the Primordial Soup. At first, your amoebas drift along, eating the nutrients that are available, but soon you'll have to figure out how to get to the rapidly depleting supply of nutrients before your opponent's amoebas beat you to it. You will purchase rule-breaking Gene cards to give your amoeba capabilities to be the top dog in the Soup. Some of these capabilities include more coordinated movement, longevity, aggression, etc. The player who keeps his amoebas alive and balances the use of his or her Gene cards will reign in the Soup.