Experience the beauty and serenity of the Ocean, discover and visit its breathtaking locations, receive assistance from characters that you meet in Aquatica to steer your actions, reap rewards and score the most points to win the game! Trained and wild Manta are common creatures in the ocean which bring players resources and assist them in performing special effects.
Accumulating game points is the goal of Aquatica and there are three ways to gain them.
- Goals – There are four public goals available in each game. As a player reaches each of them, they place one of their Manta tokens on the goal track of the main board. More points are available to the first player to reach each goal than those reaching them afterwards.
- Prosperity Points on Scored Location Cards – As players buy or conquer locations, they are placed on their boards and incrementally raised inside of a slot – using rewards as they move up until they reach the bottom of the card. At that point, the cards are put on the scoring pile and earn game-end points.
- Character Cards in Hand at the End of the Game – There is a character card in each player’s deck that allows all cards used and discarded to be recovered to their hand. Timing this as close to the end of the game as possible results in optimization of this scoring opportunity.
There are three possible triggers to initiate the game end – after which each player receives one additional turn.
- A player meets all four scoring goals.
- The Ocean Character Deck runs out.
- The Location Card deck runs out.
The player with the most points wins the game!
This game uses deck building, hand management and action planning strategies to pull together the experience of buying or conquering various ocean locations using the best character card for each turn depending on what opportunities and choices arise each turn. Players start with a basic character card deck and obtain additional cards during the game to better maximize each turn. Choosing from a wide variety of Ocean location cards, players strategize by gaining cards with the most prosperity points as well as other actions and resources that mesh with the existing location cards on their player boards or best help to meet specific game-end goals.
With its 30 to 60-minute play time and mid-difficulty level, this game fits a nice niche for family game night or when gathering with friends. Although the game identifies itself at a 14+ age level, I believe it can be played at ages 12+. ~Marsha.