Matthew Bailey“Pacific Ocean” is a quick set-collection card game for up to three players, which is simple to play yet difficult to learn due to a terrible rule book. Played here with myself Jack(.8.) and Toby(5)
Normally, this is where I’d briefly explain how to play the game, but in this case, I’ll keep it shorter than usual because the rule book makes a massive meal out of it.
Essentially, you start with a sanctuary card and gather cards to build your sanctuary. Each sea creature card you collect has icons at the top representing size, danger, and grace, as well as scoring conditions at the bottom.
Each player draws three creatures from the sea creature deck and places two of them in front of them – one face up, one face down. They then pass this stack to either their opponent or the person on their left or right, depending on whether it’s a two or three-player game.
The player then selects which two cards they want to keep, either going with the visible one or gambling on the facedown card. Once chosen, they decide whether to place the card in their sanctuary to reveal the icons or in such a way that reveals the scoring conditions, aiming to create the highest-scoring sanctuary.
This process repeats six times, after which scoring is calculated, and a winner is declared.
It’s fairly simple and quick, but throughout my time playing it, it felt like a much worse version of Zuuli. The scoring conditions didn’t seem robust enough for it to be interesting and due to only really having 6 cards in your decks along with the natural element of luck not one of us found it that engaging or overly in control of the outcome.
The component quality is excellent – the game comes in a lovely tin, and the cards are made of sturdy card stock. The rule book itself is stitched together and of decent physical quality. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the writing in the rulebook.
I usually play the game with my three boys, and when I opened the rulebook and started reading, I quickly ran into issues. It wasn’t clear that the setup at the start of the manual was for a two-player game, and nowhere in the manual does it reference the fact that the setup, layout, and gameplay all pertain to two players. You have to go almost to the back of the book to find the slightly different setup and gameplay rules for three players.
Another issue arises during gameplay. It instructs you to take three cards from the deck and then place two of them, as mentioned above. However, it fails to mention what to do with the third card in your hand. Do you keep it for the next turn, discard it, or flick it across the room at a light switch Gambit style? Who knows.
There’s also a particularly confusing issue with certain scoring tokens. Once you figure out what the icons mean, there are two icons for cards with visible scoring conditions and cards with visible icons. The confusion arises when discussing some of the scoring conditions. For instance, the thrasher shark has an icon that shows the visible icons icon, indicating you should swap it with a visible icons icon but with a cross on it. I’ve searched through the rulebook, and as this is meant to be a scoring condition, I can’t find what this scoring condition means. Does it want me to destroy someone else’s scoring condition or swap it for another one? It’s unclear, and this issue persists with several other cards.
There’s potential here, and I generally enjoy set-collection games. However, the issues with the rulebook leave the whole experience feeling a bit lacklustre.
Unfortunately, on this occasion, I wouldn’t recommend the Pacific Ocean unless your little one is particularly a fan of aquatic life.” It’s not terrible but there are so many alternatives out there in such a crowded genre.
