Board Game Review: DEEP SEA ADVENTURE

Happy Friday, everyone!  

For this week's Board Game Friday post I have another review headed your way.  Today's review is for a tiny game called Deep Sea Adventure designed by Jun Sasaki and Goro Sasaki and published by Oink Games.

Oink Games is a Japanese publishing company best known for their small box games.  They have released tons of small box games though I only own three of them (Deep Sea Adventures, A Fake Artist Goes to New York, and Startups).  I've enjoyed both Deep Sea Adventures and Fake Artist quite a bit but I haven't yet played Startups (though I have heard good things about that one as well).  Finally, it's worth noting that these games truly are tiny (and look great on a shelf with their clean aesthetic design)!

Game Summary:

In Deep Sea Adventure, each player plays as an explorer diving down to the depths of the sea.  The goal for each player is to accumulate as much loot as possible and return to the surface before running out of air.  The catch is that the air supply is shared by all players - and only those players that successfully return to the surface will score points that round!  Each game consists of a total of three rounds, after which points are added up and a winner declared!  The game combines dice rolling, push your luck, and pick-up and deliver mechanics in a small package for 2-6 players that takes about 30 minutes to play in total.

Game Set-up:

You start with all player meeples on the submarine at the surface along with the air marker over the "25" on the submarine board.  The ruins chips are how you score points and they are arranged in a long continuous chain starting with the level 1 chips, then level 2, and so on up through the level 4 chips.  The rules state that the player who has most recently been in the ocean gets to go first - I always enjoy silly (but thematic) ways to pick the first player!

How to Play:

Players do four steps on each of their turns with turn order progressing clockwise around the board.  A round ends when all players have returned to the submarine, or if the air runs out at the beginning of someone's turn.

1. Reduce air:  Reduce air from the submarine board equal to eh number of ruins chips you hold.  If the air level falls below zero, the active player may still finish his or her turn.  Players who have already returned to the submarine do not reduce the air supply in future turns.
2. Declare if you will turn back or not:  You must decide if you will continue forward (down) the path or else turn around and begin heading back to the submarine.  Once you turn back to the submarine, you may not turn around again that round.
3. Roll the dice and advance:  Roll the two dice together and move your explorer piece forward on the ruins chips that come up.  When advancing over a ruins chip with another player's explorer piece on it, jump over that ruins chip without counting it.  The catch here is that you must subtract the number of ruins chips that you are currently holding from the dice roll total!  
4. Search:  Once you stop moving, you may do one of three things:
1. Do nothing
2. Pick up ruins chip:  Take the ruins chip (without flipping it over) then fill in the location with a blank chip.  
3. Place a ruins chip:  If you are stopped on a blank chip, you may place 1 ruins chip of your choice on that spot.  

Once a player has completed all four steps, the next player in turn order takes their turn.  Once all players have returned to the sub (or if the air runs out), the round is over.  In the case of air running out, any player who has not made it back to the sub drops all of their treasure (their treasure gets stacked in piles of three at the bottom of the line farthest from the submarine...as if their entire treasure "sunk" to the bottom of the ocean).  For players that did make it back to the submarine, they get to flip their ruin tiles face up and now they have treasure tiles worth the printed points on them for end of game scoring.

After a round is over, the path gets reset with all blank tiles removed and then the rest of the path condensed to "fill in" the holes.  In this way, it gets easier and easier to get the higher point tiles in later rounds!  

Winning the Game:

After three rounds, players add up their total treasure points and the player with the highest total is the winner.  In the case of a tie, the player with the most high-level ruins chips is the winner.  If that total is also tied then victory is split between those players.

My Thoughts:

Deep Sea Adventure is a wonderful little game that you can pull out and have a good time with in under 5 minutes of rules explanation and set-up.  Once done, the entire thing packs up equally quickly and can be put away easily.  There's something awe-inspiring and eye-catching about big box games but it's the little box games that often pack a lot more joy-per-square-inch of box space and they are also much, much easier to get to the table consistently!  

For me, Deep Sea Adventure is a great family game.  The game is simple-to-learn but there is a level of "mean" in the game in which you may realize you can't get back to the sub in time and so you try to use up as much air as possible so that no one else makes it back as well.  It's a fun sort of "mean" where you aren't actively targeting a specific person but rather taking a scorched earth policy of "if I can't score, neither can any of you" attitude.  It's kind of funny when it works...and for those that do make it back to the sub, it can be funny to see someone's treasure sink to the bottom of the ocean since they got a little bit too cocky in their diving adventures.

The Bottom Line:

Pros:

• Easy to learn
• Easy to set-up
• Easy to tear down and put away
• Small box
• Lots of fun in 30 minutes
• People will often want to "run it back" after a first play to see if they can do better

Cons:

• Not a ton of strategic depth
• To some extent, you are at the mercy of the dice rolls
• Plays best with at least 3 players, ideally 4+ players

Overall Score (out of 10):

7.5:  It's a good game that I'd usually be willing to play and may even recommend playing at times where we need to fill 30 minutes.  

Note:  I am using Board Game Geek's rating scale to come up with my score.   

Board Game Geek's Rating Scale:

10:  Outstanding - will always enjoy playing

9:  Excellent - very much enjoy playing

8:  Very good - enjoy playing and would suggest it

7:  Good - usually willing to play

6:  Ok - will play if in the mood

5:  Mediocre - take it or leave it

4:  Not so good - but could play again

3:  Bad - likely won't play this again

2:  Very bad - won't play ever again

1:  Awful - defies game description