Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Easier to teach
High replayability
Low interaction
Scales well
Light strategy
More strategic control
How it plays
How does it play?
Draft coral tiles, grow colorful formations around a hotspot, create habitats, attract sea life, and build the most biodiverse reef.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Open Drafting
Select cards or items from a shared face-up display.
Pattern Building
Place elements to create arrangements that satisfy scoring or action patterns.
Tile Placement
Place tiles to build a shared or personal spatial arrangement.
End Game Bonuses
Earn additional points for meeting conditions evaluated when the game ends.
Variable Set-up
Starting conditions, resources, or layouts change between plays.
Read the full game description
Aqua: Biodiversity in the Oceans is a calm but competitive tile-placement puzzle played across seventeen rounds. Each player begins with a hotspot and expands a personal reef by drafting one coral tile from the shared market and fitting it into the growing formation. Matching patterns create habitats for small sea animals; sufficiently biodiverse clusters then attract the large animals that dominate final scoring. Placement is constrained enough to reward foresight, yet every open draft offers a tactical choice between the tile that perfectly extends your own reef and one an opponent clearly needs. End-game bonuses, variable setup, and different animal combinations shift which colors and shapes matter most. Solo and optional variants extend the family-weight core without changing its clean rhythm. Vincent Dutrait’s vivid marine art makes the completed table look like a living ecosystem while the scoring system rewards reefs that are both connected and varied.
