Aquamarine: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Roll and Write, Print and Play
Player Age: 8+ Player Count: 1 - 100 PlayersTime to Play: 20 - 30 Minutes
Game Designer: Matthew Dunstan, Rory Muldoon
Player Age: 8+
Game Designer: Matthew Dunstan, Rory Muldoon
Objective:
Throughout the span of 24 turns, or three dives, players are sea divers exploring the depths that the oceans have to discover. The oceanic wonders include stingrays, coral, fish, air pockets and beacons. Aquamarine is an interesting roll and write that contains a maximum of three different dives where players are trying to encompass these different scoring possibilities both during a day and night phase. These phases allow for different scoring possibilities based on the time of the day.
Game Anatomy:
Round counter and time of day:
During the game players will play through 24 rounds which are separated by 12 day rounds and 12 night rounds. At the start of the game roll one die to determine which phase the game begins in. The resulting number will be indicated on the day/night track.
Air Bubbles:
If a player encompasses an air bubble throughout their journey, they will not lose any air that turn for any reason. Some of the reasons players will lose air during a turn includes being past a certain depth on the map, as indicated on the side by a negative one or negative two, players will also lose air equal to the difference of their two dice but only if they choose the larger dice number to play that turn.
Scoring Possibilities:
Each map has different potential scoring possibilities but for this review we shall focus on the base map. Most of these items score simply by encountering them in on a turn. These are just from the first map other maps include things such as sharks and squids.
Stingrays and Cuttlefish:
Each of these creatures are worth 5 points if encountered, however they only score if they are seen at the right time of day. Stingrays are scored during the day phase and cuttlefish are scored during the night phase.
Beacons:
Beacons will score you 15 points if you enclose one beacon during the day and one at night but you need one of each to score the points.
Shipwrecks:
Shipwrecks will have a bonus scoring possibility of the players choice. As long as the player manages to fully enclose the shipwreck through one or numerous turns.
Jellyfish:
Jellyfish will sting you and lose the player 2 points if enclosed.
Corals:
Corals score two points per enclosed coral. There are two types of coral; if they are enclosed in the same turn then neither of them will score points and they are both crossed off and ignored so only one colour should be enclosed at a time.
Fish:
Fish score based on the amount enclosed on one turn, the larger the school of fish then the larger the points.
Flags:
Flags score based on the amount stated underneath the flag, however, only one flag can be scored each dive.
How to Play:
Each game will span either 24 rounds (equating to 24 hours) or three dives. Each dive starts at one of the four locations underneath any of the ships and each dive cannot touch a previous dive.
On a turn both dice are rolled and players can choose to use either number as the amount of squares their diver will swim this turn. Once a player selects a die, they will draw either a rectangle or square equal to that number of spaces. This drawing has to be exact if there is a blockade then that will make the player fail to draw an enclosure equal to that die and the player cannot use that number. If the larger die is chosen the player will loose air equal to the difference in dice and will then mark this loss at the bottom of their sheet. If a player runs out of air the dive has been completed and you will start at a new dive location at the start of the next turn. If doubles are rolled the divers have caught some luck. The shape will be two spaces larger, can be any shape (examples below) and players will not lose any air for any reason this turn.
On non-double dice players will finish their turn by losing air if their dive is below certain thresholds as shown on the left hand side of the sheet, then mark off a round on the day/night round counter. On a subsequent turn players must orthagonally connect their new shape to the last shape in the current dive, skip their turn (still losing air if they cannot or do not want to draw a shape) or end their current dive and start a new dive.
Once a player has used all three dives or more commonly all 24 rounds are finished, players will score all the scoring possibilities based on the map they were playing on.
Final Thoughts:
Key Points:
- Once you bought the game there are new maps added with different rules both in an official and community capacity.
- Easy to explain but challenging to optimise points.
- Multiple different ways to score points on each map and plenty of replayability.
- As this is a print and play game it doesn't have a box to store it in.
Aquamarine is a great game and furthermore a great system designed by Postmark Games. Postmark Games are creating print and play roll and write games that will constantly be updated through official and community channels. Since its initial release of two maps in August, Postmark Games have added another new map with vastly different mechanisms. These include torches that have to be used to further enhance the day/night mechanic, a research track that unlocks extra turns, air bubbles or ways to increase points and new abilities that you can unlock similar to how bonus points are unlocked with shipwrecks. The community is also actively using these mechanisms to create their own fun and challenging maps that any owner of Aquamarine has access to.
More about the game though; this is a fun roll and write that have players facing tough decisions and ultimately trapping themselves in challenging situations. The day and night mechanism creates different challenges for each map that leads to variability each time you play as well as challenges that players will have to overcome to improve their previous scores. This is an excellent roll and write that has brought my attention to the possibility of print and play games and has earned a Silver Seal of Approval.
Click...feed the addiction:
Comments
Post a Comment