Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
As a budding marine biologist, you’ve traveled across the globe exploring the hidden wonders of the underwater world. It’s been your lifelong dream to study the vibrant ecosystems of the coral reef, and now you are about to start 3 days of uninterrupted underwater exploration!
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
As a budding marine biologist, you’ve traveled across the globe exploring the hidden wonders of the underwater world. It’s been your lifelong dream to study the vibrant ecosystems of the coral reef, and now you are about to start 3 days of uninterrupted underwater exploration! There’s only one problem, the day before you arrived, a typhoon hit the reef. All you can see now is one tiny coral, but hey…at least it’s a start! Most of the reef’s residents seem to have sought safety from the crashing waves out in the Open Ocean. They are just waiting for the waters to calm before returning home. Can you coax them back, and rebuild the reef into the vibrant ecosystem it once was? Open Ocean is a card drafting and placement game for 1-5 players. The goal is to create the highest scoring combination of colorful creatures in your Reef! Each turn Players: PICK a card from their current hand PLAY the card they picked into their Reef PASS the remaining cards clockwise to the next player Players are competing to collect creatures as they are passed around the table, and to attract additional creatures from the Ocean (as shared pool of cards in the center of the table)before their opponents do. Players can use special cards to snag specific fish from the Ocean or an opponent’s reef and turn the tides in their favor. At the end of three rounds players score points and earn bonuses for the type and placement of creatures they collected over the course of the game. The player with the highest scoring reef wins! -description from designer