“Recruit heroes and conquer locations in a race to expand your kingdom under the sea.”
Link: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/283393/aquatica
Playing Time: 30-60 minutes
Weight: Light-to-Mid
Genre: Tableau Builder
Designer: Ivan Tuzovsky
Players: 1-4
Aquatica is, at it’s core, simple. Players play as aquatic lords, and acquire and play character cards which will allow them to conquer or purchase territories. The territories they conquer will need to be ‘raised’ which is a multistep process. A territory only scores them points if the territory is fully raised from the bottom of the ocean.
The trick is that there are often resources or actions you get from raising a territory one step, which often can result in raising another territory a step. This means means that it’s quite possible – and a hell of a lot of fun – to set up ridiculous turns that never seem to end, as free actions cascade into each other in a wonderful ballet of free stuff.
As much as I’d like to wax more philosophically about the combos – which absolutely ROCKS – I do have to give props to the Manta Ray bonus chits. These cute little plastic things are adorable – and also each has a different bonus on it’s underside, which activates when you flip them over. Which means they aren’t just cute, they’re also the cornerstone of your engine.
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