Pocket-sized games are all the rage right now, and this one is no exception. But don’t be fooled by it’s tiny form - Deep Sea Adventure is packed full of strategy and depth (both ocean and otherwise) waiting to be explored.
The game is played over three rounds, and in each, you will dive down with your opponents, picking up treasure as you go. At some point, you must elect to turn around and try to make it back to the submarine before it’s too late, but beware - each treasure chip you pick up causes the oxygen to trickle further down on your turn… The player with the most valuable haul at the end of the third round is victorious.
Setup
Sort the treasure chips by the number of pips on their backs (from one to four). Place the submarine in a central location, then place the chips one by one trailing beneath it in a sensible arrangement. First place all the chips with one chip on the back, then all with two… and so on until all have been placed face-down. Finally, stack the circular blank chips near the submarine, get each player to choose a colour and take the corresponding explorer, and place the red disk on the top space (’25’) of the submarine. Place all explorers on the submarine, facing the first treasure chip in front of them, and you’re good to go!
Playing Deep Sea Adventure
Choose someone to go first, and take turns clockwise around the table. On your turn, start by reducing the oxygen level on the submarine. To do this, count the number of treasure chips you have collected this round (chips collected in previous rounds don’t count), and decrease the oxygen from that many spaces. Note that you are counting the number of CHIPS you have, not the number of pips on the back of them. Obviously, if this is the beginning of the round, or you’re yet to collect any treasure, you won’t have any chips, so the oxygen does not decrease at all.
Now, choose whether you wish to continue further into the depths of the ocean, or turn back and move towards the submarine. You must make this decision before doing anything else (apart from decreasing the oxygen as mentioned before). If you choose to turn back, announce this by turning your piece around to face the first piece behind them. Bare in mind that this decision is final, once you turn back, you may not choose to turn around again this turn. Similarly, if you forget to turn around before rolling the dice (see below) you must continue to move forward this turn.
Once, you have made your decision, you may roll the dice and move your explorer. To do this, roll the two dice and count the value you receive. Then, subtract from this value the number of treasure chips you have obtained this round (this will be the same number which you reduced the oxygen level by at the beginning of your turn), and move the resulting number of spaces in whichever direction you chose earlier.
When moving, move one chip for each space you need to move. You must move the exact number of spaces, unless you reach the end of the trail of treasure chips, in which case you stay where you are, or you reach the submarine, in which case you have successfully returned and can bank the treasure you have collected. If you move onto a chip with another explorer on it, jump over that chip without counting it.
Once you have finished moving, you may choose what to do on your space. Note that you can always choose to do nothing. If you are on a treasure chip, you may take it, replacing it with a blank chip which you place your explorer back onto. Keep any chips you take face-down to remind you that you took them this round. If you have landed on a blank chip, you may replace it with one of the chips you gained this round (thus reducing the oxygen you lose each turn and increasing the number of spaces you can move), placing the chip face-down in its place and putting the blank chip back on the stack. Obviously, if you have landed on the submarine, you take no action and sit out for the rest of the round.
When you reach the submarine, you take no more turns for the rest of the round. This means that you don’t reduce the oxygen level each time it would be your turn.
End of the round
The round ends either when all explorers make it back to the submarine, or when the oxygen level drops to zero. If the oxygen level drops to or below zero on your turn, finish your turn before carrying out the following.
If you made it back to the submarine, turn all your collected treasure face up. On the back of each you’ll find a number from 0 to 15 - this is the value of the chip. The total of all these numbers is the value of your haul. Place these chips to one side of you, keeping them face up to remind you that you collected them on a previous round.
If you didn’t make it back, all the treasure chips you collected this round are lost. Keeping them face down, pool them with any chips lost by other players, then stack them randomly into sets of three. If there are one or two chips left over after doing this, just stack them together in the same way.
Remove all the blank chips from the trail, then shift all the chips upwards to fill the gaps. This creates a shorter trail, making it easier for explorers to access more valuable chips. Then, add any stacks you made earlier to the very end of the trail. These stacks can be collected like normal treasure chips, but when you take them during a round, keep them in a stack of three as they act like a single chip when you reduce oxygen or calculate the number of spaces you need to move.
Finally, unless this is the end of the third and final round, decide which player will go first next round (the person furthest away from the submarine, or if everyone made it back, the last player to make it to the submarine). Place all explorers back upon the submarine, and put the oxygen marker back on space ’25’. Now you are ready to play the next round!
The End
After finishing the third round, count up the values of all treasure chips you successfully obtained during the game. The player with the most valuable haul is the winner. In the case of a tie, the player with most ‘4-pip’ chips is the winner.
Tips
Although Deep Sea Adventure is firmly rooted in luck and chance, there are still things that every good player should consider. You will never get as deep as you think you can and still return (especially in the first round). Don’t forget you can still claim chips when heading back towards the submarine. And always check the oxygen level before deciding whether to take another treasure chip!
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