Existence is full of difficult decisions. It’s often said that every moment of the day is filled with choices that make for forked paths in the journey of your life (woah, bit deep for this time of day). Some days you’re in the mood for something fish-based. Other times you feel like a bird (you’ll only fly awaaay). And then there’s those special occasions when only a dinosaur will do. Sadly there’s no possible way to placate all of these disparate desires. Is there?
The original Aqua Garden was released in 2021, a well-received game about collecting fish in your own unique aquarium. What we’ve got here is that game in a significantly updated and upgraded edition, alongside a pair of brand new additions to the garden family.
In Aqua Garden, you’re the owner of an aquarium and want to stock its six tanks with a variety of sea life, but you have a limited amount of funds and only one employee on hand to place the fish in the tanks. Do your best to outshine the other aquariums in town! During a round, the player farthest back on the shared board takes the next turn. If you stop on an advertising space, you receive funds based on what’s currently in your tanks. If you stop on a sea creature space, you take them all. You then take a move on the aquarium and choose a tank for your new pals.
Over to Sky Garden, where each player takes on the role of a bird sanctuary owner, tasked with creating a comfortable and welcoming environment for birds, and building a unique and attractive sanctuary of their own. Players bring wooden bird tokens from the main board or the forest into their personal boards. Choose where to place each bird, considering limited space in each area, as well as trees, lakes, and objective tiles. Birds can form pairs and, when given a pleasant environment, will lay eggs. Collecting these eggs is a key factor in winning the game.
Dino Garden allows each player a chance to become the owner of a thrilling dinosaur park, aiming to create a dinosaur park that is uniquely their own. This time the lovely wooden tokens are all your favourite dinos. You need to decide where to place each dinosaur, considering limited space in each area, the food chain among species, and environmental features such as volcanoes and lakes. Within the park, a unique ecosystem unfolds. Herbivorous dinosaurs produce meat as generations pass. Zookeepers rush around the park, delivering this meat to carnivorous dinosaurs. Feeding the carnivores efficiently is the key to victory.
These games have got serious table presence – you need to see these meeples, and then tell me you ain’t droolin’. A fair heads up – given that this Kickstarter covers three games, you’re looking at a proposition that could seriously threaten your purse/wallet/box of dosh hidden under the bedroom floorboards. If you’re ready to make your choice (and change your life’s journey once more, dear friend…) then head over to this crowdfunding page and start fiddling your finances.
About the author:
Steve is currently a freelance board game blogger, but often dreams of life as a pirate, or as a ghost herder in the Lake District, or as an evil estate agent who sells haunted houses for his own dark pleasure. Instead of figuring out how to do these jobs in real life like a normal lunatic, he tries to write about them instead, and releases the resultant books upon the unsuspecting world via famous digital bookstores. More books are bound to follow. Find this peculiar entity here.
