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In AQUA, your starting point is a hot spot that gradually becomes surrounded by expanding coral formations. These corals serve as habitats for small marine animals. By fostering biodiverse habitats, you can then create ideal conditions for attracting the largest marine animals.
AQUA plays over 17 rounds. On your turn, you must take a new coral tile from the market and add it to your reef, then you may also attract animals to your ecosystem if you create the correct patterns of coral.
At the end of the game, the player who grew the best coral formations and attracted the most large and small sea animals will score the most points and win.
AQUA invites you to dive into the beauty and wonder of the ocean, delivering an incredible variety of gameplay experiences for the whole family.
-description from publisher
- Replayability through family, advanced, and solo variants
- Clear tile-laying and scoring concepts tied to habitats, reefs, and biodiversity
- Flexible play options via scenarios and rule-book variants
- Biodiversity interactions can be conceptually intricate and potentially confusing at first
- Biodiversity, habitat creation, ecosystem balance
- Ocean ecosystems with coral formations and habitats expanding around starting hotspots
- educational
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- art_side_selection — Each tile (animal/art) has different art on the front and back; players may choose which side to place on top.
- biodiversity — Large animals must rest on top of small animals; biodiversity requires diverse small-animal placements beneath large animals to maximize points.
- Compound Scoring — Family, advanced, and solo variants modify scoring opportunities and overall play style.
- habitat_and_reef_scoring — Habitats score when a hexagon of the same color is formed; reefs score for groups of four or more corals of the same color.
- tile placement — Players place coral tiles to grow their own coral formations and connect like-colored sides to form habitats and reefs.
- tile_placement — Players place coral tiles to grow their own coral formations and connect like-colored sides to form habitats and reefs.
- variant_scoring — Family, advanced, and solo variants modify scoring opportunities and overall play style.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- habitats are formed when you make a hexagon all of the same color
- large animals must rest completely on top of small animals
- you can score points for it for every native small animal you have matching it forming an ecosystem
- this is your main objective when placing down these tiles