More than 2,000 years ago Plato told the myth of the splendid city of Atlantis, which was sunk in the sea.
In this family game the players, by skillful placing of cards and the building of bridges, try to leave the city of Atlantis in order to reach the solid ground with as much treasures as possible.
The city of Atlantis and the solid ground are interconnected by land tiles. The players receive cards with several drawings, land tiles with those drawings, all pawns of a color as well as a bridge. In your turn you can discard a card with any drawing and go with one of your pawns to the next tile with the same card drawing. At the end of your turn, you can take the tile left behind and put it in your hand as victory points. The player puts a water tile into the gap created and draws a card from the deck the pile. So every turn there are more water tiles and it's harder to overcome the gaps, players can go forward using their bridges or paying victory points with your collected tiles. When all players have saved his three pawns safe ground there are a recount. Who reaches safe ground with most victory points wins.
Expanded by:
Atlantis - Variante Schiffe
Atlantis - Ikarus Expansion
- Easy to teach with clear rulebook and good examples
- Strong balance of strategy and luck
- High replay value due to a changing road layout each game
- Accessible entry point for families and casual players
- Pace can feel a bit slow for some players due to the shifting road and planning required
- Luck element (tile draw and color-tile alignment) can influence outcomes more than some players expect
- Race to shore with treasure collection and tactical tile-placing
- Mythical underwater city and a quest to reach the mainland
- Abstract with light thematic flavor; player-driven road-building narrative
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- hand_management — Players manage a hand of color-coded cards to determine movement and tile placement opportunities
- path_decision_and_tolling — Crossing gaps requires paying the lower-numbered adjacent tile; tolls can be paid with cards or treasure, and bridges can bypass tolls
- set_collection_and_treasure — Treasures are collected along the path and contribute to scoring; treasures can be traded to draw cards
- tile_placement — Players place sea tiles to extend a road from Atlantis toward the mainland; some tiles contain two sections and can alter paths
- variable_road_and_replay_value — The road changes each game due to tile placement, contributing to high replay value and dynamic strategy
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's an interesting game full of strategy and luck
- The road is random every game and the replay value is good
- it's an easy game to teach
- The rule book is good with nice examples and images
- Atlantis an 8 on 10