Every card is a real argument.
Each species card carries a Field Assessment compiled by the Institute - four stats derived from documented biological reality, then calibrated for comparative play. Strength. Speed. Defense. Threat.
The stats are not invented for gameplay balance. A child holding a card is holding a real claim about the natural world - one they can look up, verify, and defend.
No rarity tier appears on any card. Some species are genuinely scarce in the collection - perhaps only a handful exist across the entire pilot universe. Children discover this through trading and through the digital app, which shows how many times each species has been activated worldwide.
Three cards. Three arguments.
The W.E.F.I.N.D. archive currently holds 150 species across eight biomes. Here are three that demonstrate why the natural world needs no embellishment.
Rainbow Dung Beetle
Scarabaeus satyrus · Sub-Saharan Africa
The only known insect to navigate by the Milky Way. When it needs to roll dung in a straight line at night, it uses the galaxy as a compass. It also pulls 1,141 times its own body weight - making it the strongest animal on Earth relative to size.
On cloudy nights, it gets lost.
Bombardier Beetle
Brachinus crepitans · Worldwide
Fires a boiling chemical explosion from its abdomen at 100 degrees Celsius, 500 pulses per second. The spray is audible from a distance. Its defense mechanism involves a rapid chemical reaction between hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone that generates enough heat to scald a predator.
Nothing eats a bombardier beetle twice.
Peacock Mantis Shrimp
Odontodactylus scyllarus · Indo-Pacific
Strikes faster than a bullet, generating a cavitation bubble whose collapse reaches the temperature of the surface of the sun. Has shattered aquarium glass. Sees the world through sixteen color receptors - humans have three. Speed 10 and Threat 10 are not exaggerations.
The most argued-over card in the collection.
Every Scholar begins
with 50 cards.
Each W.E.F.I.N.D. starter pack contains 40 species cards drawn from the full 150-Pilot Species Archive, plus 10 gameplay cards featuring the Institute's field specialists. Every pack is unique - no two Scholars receive the same collection.
The pack arrives in a natural wood collection box with a brass latch, cream tissue paper lining, a welcome card, and a flat Field Kit tin nested inside - the portable companion for FOCUS sessions.
Each species card activates digitally at thefinchinstitute.org, where the full species profile and field notes are waiting.
Learn about FOCUS
150 species.
150 arguments.
The full W.E.F.I.N.D. archive is currently in development. Sign up to be first to hear when the collection is available.