Into the depths we go
It’s time to hop aboard your submarine and plunge into the depths, searching for treasure in Deep Sea Adventure!
Designed by Oink Games, this small but mighty game combines deep sea diving and push-your-luck tactics to see who wins the most treasure.
So will this game leave you diving for more? Or will you watch it sink without a trace?
Let’s dive down into the game
This game comes in one of Oink Games’ distinctive tiny boxes, proving just how much game you can fit inside a very small box.
Points tokens are placed face down in a line from the bottom of the submarine token, where all the divers begin. There are three different value categories of tokens and they are placed with lowest value tokens closest to the edge of the submarine, and highest furthest away.
On your turn, you roll the two dice (each numbered 1-3) and move the corresponding number of spaces down the line of tokens. The player then decides whether to pick up that piece of treasure, or carry on. After choosing whether to collect treasure (adding a blank piece in its place), you may then choose to either turn around back to safety or keep going down the line.
However, it’s not that simple. When you start to collect up treasure, you start taking oxygen from your collective oxygen store at the start of each go. Your dice rolls will also receive a minus penalty for every piece of treasure you are carrying (e.g. if you roll a 4 and have 1 piece of treasure, you move 3 spaces). So, the further you dive, the bigger points you can get, but the less chance of getting back in one piece!
If you arrive back to the submarine with oxygen to spare, great! Bank your tokens beside you to save until the end of the game.
If the oxygen runs out and you’re still diving, you are cut adrift and your treasure for the round is lost.
The game is played over 3 rounds. Any treasure that was lost is added in piles at the end of the treasure run, and blank tokens removed, meaning that that towards the end of the game, the higher points are closer to the submarine, so the loser can become the winner in one round.
After 3 rounds, turn over your tokens to add up your score. The player with the highest total wins!
Buried Treasure
This game is an absolute family favourite. Deep Sea Adventure is a perfect break up from larger games or to squeeze in an extra game when you only have about 20 minutes.
The pieces are all really high quality, and I adore the little wooden diver meeples. The size of the box also makes it great for travel as it slips easily inside a bag.
There is something incredibly satisfying about finally rolling the right number to just squeak into the submarine with all your treasure, and the exact same amount of frustration when you roll awfully and all the treasure you’ve collected. There is also no time to switch off, because you are constantly watching what the other players are doing so you know how far to push your own luck.
While finding out that some of your lower value treasures are worth 0 can be a kick in the teeth, it’s all part of the luck of the game. Whether your tactic is to risk deeper dives for larger treasures, or collecting up larger amounts of small tokens and nicking all the oxygen, every game is different. Regardless of how many times you’ve played and you think you can gauge how far you can push your luck, all it takes is one greedy player to take tons of treasure and the oxygen is depleted quicker than you think!
This game isn’t often spoken about in top lists of games, but deserves way more praise than it gets.
If you’ve not tried it yet, it’s time to take the plunge.
3 Things You Might Like
- Easy to pick up for gamers and non-gamers alike
- Quick fast-paced gameplay where you are constantly involved
- Huge amounts of player interaction
3 Things You Might Not Like
- You will get screwed over by the other players: if you don’t like that, this is not a game for you!
- Slightly luck-based points system
- The luck of the dice can really impact who wins and loses
