Designed by: Jun Sasaki
Deep Sea Adventure is a clever game that comes in a tiny box. Made in Japan, it is an elegant game that combines independent pursuits – each player is a diver after the most under-sea treasure – with a collective element: everyone shares the same air, and the more treasure everyone carries, the more air they use up!
The ‘board’ is simply a submarine showing the air supply, and a track of tiles showing the treasure, which gets more valuable the further away you get from the submarine. Players start with their ‘divers’ at the submarine – on your turn you’ll roll the dice (there are two, numerically valued from 1 to 3) and move along the track, between 2 and 6 spaces. All the spaces represent treasure (though some can be value 0) and if you choose to pick up two things happen on subsequent turns: first, the air supply dwindles by one for every treasure tile you’ve collected. Secondly every treasure tile you collect is also minus one to your movement roll, so encumbering yourself with three or four treasure tiles can mean you move very little, if at all.
Additionally, everyone needs to try and get back to the sub before the air runs out! And as players collect more treasure that can happen very quickly indeed!
At the end of each round players who didn’t make it back to the sub in time – which could easily be everyone! – discard all their treasure. Anyone who made it back keeps theirs. All the spaces where treasure was collected that round (marked with X markers) are removed and as a result the treasure track condenses. Collected treasure accrues on the markers furthest from the sub (now a little nearer, remember) and these piles of treasure only cost you the same as one treasure marker in terms of how much air they use up – that is, if you manage to get to them and pick them up, they only cost you one air per pile.
It’s a game that plays very fast and blends luck and tactics with aplomb.
This is a deeply (-sorry!) neat little gem of a game. Perfect for after-dinner - you wouldn't need to clear away the plates, just let the treasure snake around the crumbs and wine glasses. If only it were more readily available; I'm sure it will be picked up by a western publisher, but I hope they don't change the aesthetics too much - it has a very cool minimalist style in it's original form.
Nothing direct (dice plays a big part) but clever players will spot opportunities to make it hard for their opponents - turning back to the submarine early, for instance, and picking up treasure on their return to use up air.
Very low.
Very low. The only decision, really, is when to turn and head back to the sub.
Simple rules, fast play, randomness in tiles and dice but still with player-led decisions.
3-6
Players
8+
Years
30-60
Mins
Sam says
What a fabulous game from an unassuming - if pretty - container. It's not easy to get hold of because (at time of writing) it's only available in Japan, but the blend of individual actions with group resource - air! - along with the push-your-luck aspect of the dice makes this a winner for me.