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?
Small Islands is a tile-placement game in which you are daring explorers discovering a magnificent archipelago. Its islands are brimming with natural resources but also temples from an ancient and mysterious civilization.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
Small Islands is a tile-placement game in which you are daring explorers discovering a magnificent archipelago. Its islands are brimming with natural resources but also temples from an ancient and mysterious civilization. Brave adventurers, bring back to your clan wealth & prestige! A game is played in maximum 4 Rounds. At the beginning of each Round, each player secretly picks an Objective Card out of three cards. And in turn, players draw and place a Landscape Tile out of the 5 available (2 in hand, and 3 on the table). At a certain point, another option becomes available: placing a Ship Tile. When this tile is placed, in turn, all players place Houses on the islands and earn Prestige Points according to their Objective. Then players start a new Round. When the game ends, players receive additional points for their Ship Tiles. In Advanced Mode, Objectives are split in 2 types of cards which allows you to create your own objectives amongst many combinations. There is also a Solo Mode, innovative for its mechanics as well as for the very concept of a solo mode in a tile-placement game. We gave it an AI with a personality and different behaviors. Small Islands offers you even more surprises, hidden at its heart.