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Trapped in a drowned world, you and your allies are doomed -- or are you? Using a mystical deck and a healthy dose of logic, you can predict each others' fates and escape unscathed.
The Shipwreck Arcana is a compact, co-operative game of deduction, evaluation, and logic. Each player's doom constantly changes as they draw numbered fate tiles from the bag. By choosing which fate to give up and which card to play it on, you can give your allies enough information to identify the fate you're holding...which is important, as the active player cannot communicate with their allies during their turn!
Each card has strict rules governing what fates can be played on it. As doom builds up, the cards themselves fade, becoming one-time powers to help the players while new cards cycle in from the deck.
Skilled play requires carefully rationing powers, hints, and cycling, while paying attention to not only where each fate was played -- but more importantly, where it wasn't.
The rotating active player creates a different group dynamic each turn, preventing any one player from dominating the game. Inexperienced players can still use the group deduction phase to ask questions (while they are not the active player).
- original, cooperative deduction with a unique feel
- ethereal, dance-like feel that works surprisingly well
- may appeal more to number-oriented players; nebulous for some
- not easily explained; requires a thoughtful setup
- cooperative deduction with an ethereal feel
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- cooperative deduction — Players collaboratively deduce a number in a teammate's hand using clue tokens and cards.
- deduction — Players collaboratively deduce a number in a teammate's hand using clue tokens and cards.
- layered clues / countdown — Clue cards provide directional hints; flipping clues adds timer-like pressure.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I hate trick taking. I don't like it at all.
- this is one of the only occasions where my pure disliking of the game brings it down rather than the actual quality of the design.
- I did not like this game at all, so I was quite shocked why his name was on the box because I thought it was a pretty bad design.
- It's extremely tactical. And not only that, it seems like the first half of the game, you're just kind of doing things for the sake of it because you do not know how these cues are going to work out.
References (from this video)
- Really like this one
- Surprised to see it on the list
- Thought it was somewhat newer
- Mystery
- Shipwreck
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Cooperative
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- We love trick taking games
- This game is so much freaking fun
- I adore GMT games, they are becoming one of my favorite game publishers
- If you remember Vast Crystal Caverns is in my top five games of all time
- We bloody love it
- We can't stop playing
- It's a blimp game not a train game
- That's just work
- I don't think I want to play it
- I'll get it eventually
References (from this video)
- visually striking artwork
- fully cooperative and novel
- availability limited; not in stock currently
- arcane color blocks and shipwreck clues
- deduction game played on the bus
- cooperative but highly thematic in feel
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deduction — players deduce the correct cards via cooperative clues
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- we were able to connect with a lot of people over there and thank you for sharing your beautiful country with us
- the weather was just perfect and i don't know if i could say enough good things about it
- there's a ton of tables and you just play games with your friends or with just people that you're going to meet there
- it's a play it comes to play bring the games that you want to play there are a ton of tables