Days of Wonder Deep Blue, Game (DO8901)

Have you ever wanted to own your own salvage boat and go diving for Treasures and Antiquities? If so, then this is your game. Each player (up to 5) has 2 boats under their control, and as the game progresses, they will hire crew members, move their ships to dive sites, rest their crew members and DIVE for treasure.As you hire the crew of your ship, you will have more and more options. Every time you use a crew member whether in a dive/moving your ship/or for money to hire more crew members, they will have to go to their bunks and rest. You can skip a turn and rest them, but this only brings back 3 random crew members from their racks.All of that is fun, but what everyone wants to do is dive for the sunken treasure. When you dive, if you explore the tile before the dive begins, you will have the option of placing your boat on spots that will give you protection from sea monsters, more oxygen, or bonuses to the gems that you will bring back up to the surface.One of the unique things in this game is that most times you will not be diving alone. Any other player who is on the tile with you before the dive or just 1 move away can rush to the dive site to join your dive. They will share in the profits of the dive, but cannot control anything about the dive. When you dive, you draw gems one at a time from a black bag. The gems can be Silver, Gold, Ruby, Antiquity, Artifact, Oxygen or Sea Monster. Each gem is worth different amounts with the Antiquities and Artifacts being worthless unless you have a specialist in your crew. If you draw one oxygen or sea monster you are fine, but if you draw a second one (of the same type) the dive will fail unless you have protection from either a scouting spot or a crew member. The dive leader will have the option to continue diving or stop at any time.One of the things I really loved about this game is the styling and theme. You really get drawn into the game from the intricate boats you use as pieces to the treasure chests you have to put your victory points in. The end of the game happens after the 4th Sunken City Dive site is explored and dove on with the winner simply having the most points.We have played this game 3 times this past week, and it is quick to learn and there are always choices you have to make. It is not heavy on strategy, but one of the nice things is that you have lots of interactions with the other players as they take their turns as you have to pay attention to what is happening to play your crew members to get more points.Conclusion: Highly recommended Family game night or for those nights you don't want to get deep into a game of Scythe.

I think what makes Deep Blue so accessible is the fact that almost everyone can get in on the action if they have have ships close enough to where treasure dives are happening. This is much more interesting than watching one player score a huge haul, and then waiting for your turn to try. Of course, that's a valid strategy here: get your ships to where the others ain't, so you alone get the loot, assuming you avoided a wreck-tile dysfunction. If you read that twice and choose to keep reading, you're a champion.One of my favorite aspects of Deep Blue is the multi-use cards. I am not a big fan of "play your entire hand every turn" deckbuilding. Here you build your crew from cards in a limited market, but you choose when to play them. The ability to strategically save cards for when you can best make use of them is much more fun for me than games like Clank! where luck-o-the-draw can force you to waste your best cards when they do you little good, and then sit in your discard pile when you actually need them.The bag-building aspect is simple. As new crew members appear at the market, some will cause various types of gems to be added to those already in the bag, thus increasing the probability of pulling loot, rather than a creature attack or an apparatus malfunction. Play your cards right, and the last couple of dives can make for a big comeback or expand a narrow lead.Deep Blue is better with high player counts. Two players basically spend their time carving out their own sections of the board and trying to get lucky on their own. With 4 or 5, the board is way too crowded for that, and everyone is rooting for the dive leader to pull the type of gem that will pay out biggest for them. The board is huge, the components are excellent as usual from Days of Wonder, and even with 5 players you'll be done in about an hour.

Reading all the Rules is helpful and you definately need to set down and go over them with everyone 30 minutes before your going to play, If you are not a regular gamer. Once you start to play the game it will all begin to make more since. Your cash to be able to buy crew members are in the cards. Once you play cards, they have to rest for one turn (a rest is your turn) then you can pull 3 cards out of rest as one of your turns. When u purchase a crew member, u can only purchase 1 at a time (that is your turn) doing a dive (is a turn) buying oxygen and "creatures or danger" can also be useful when u are diving! There are many other things to learn and strategize about in the game. Lots of fun and could be played in teams of two!

This game is great! It's well designed and really fun to play. It has a balance of deck crafting, strategy and press your luck elements. With a some ways to mess with other players but without the big "take that" moments that can turn off some people.The game does improve with a player count of 3 or more which is the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars. After a few games there are ways to get away from your opponent in 2 player mode. Without the competition during a dive, the game loses one of the most fun factors.

This game is stunning! The artwork is spectacular. I enjoy the theme and the gameplay. I played it with my group of fellow wreck divers and we all had a blast. Everyone wanted to play again.My only issue with the game is that the cards, albeit beautiful artwork, are very cheaply made. After one play through, the card were showing wear around the edges. I immediately shelved it and ordered sleeves. Now I play it often and everything looks great. If you buy this game, make sure you buy a set of card sleeves with it.Another minor issue is that the gold and silver tokens look very similar and it is hard for some to tell the difference, but I can always tell after close inspection.Beautiful Game. Add card sleeves to your cart with purchase.

Kinda fun but complicated the first few times you play.

I bought this for a friend for Christmas 2019, and was thinking that the game was a little bit oriented towards younger children, but when my friend opened the box and we started playing we discovered it was not just for kids. For our first play through we botched some of the mechanics but discovered it was actually good fun. Definitely one for the collection (if you're a collector).

We play alot of games. This is currently our new favourite!Super easy so have been able to play it with lots of our friends that dont play many games and find others hard to understand!Would definitely recommend it!

Great game that is not too long and engages everyone!

Sicuramente più si è più il gioco ha tempi lunghi. diciamo in 2/3 gira bene. In più giocatori non l'ho provato ma cmq è un gioco divertente!!! consigliato

Juego entretenido y de excelente calidad! Pero es muy sencillo y no tiene mucha jugabilidad en cuanto a variantes de juego, creo que se pudo hace un mejor juego!