Date: 16th August 2002
Game played: Nautilus ( Kosmos ) BGG Id: 3154

This week, I brought along a new Kosmos game from Brigitte & Wolfgang Ditt, names that are new to me. If this is their first game, then they have a lot to live up to with future releases as this is a very good first attempt. The game is about undersea exploration and players aim to balance research and exploration to gather the most valuable treasure. As the game progresses, the undersea station where the research takes place grows, and players compete to be the best in five different types of research. At the same time, they send submarines to uncover the treasures that are littered about the ocean floor. Some are more valuable than others and scanning the area before retrieving treasure will ensure you don't waste your time digging up worthless specimens too often. However, everything costs money and your finances are pretty tight so you need to make sure you spend money wisely. At the end of the game, your treasures are multiplied by your research capability to give victory points and, obviously, whoever has the most VPs is the winner.

The game board is very attractive once the research station is well developed, but it is sometimes difficult to identify researchers who are free to move around the station. Twice, I added research laboratories to the station, thinking I was setting myself up to move researchers in and claim the lead in a research type, only to find I hadn't seen an opponents free researcher who was able to move in before me. As both of these were very near the end of the game, the result might have been different if I had concentrated a bit more and spotted those pesky researchers. However, it didn't stop Mark K taking advantage of only him having submarines in the deepest waters, where some of the most valuable treasure was, for 4 or 5 turns. This proved to be critical and gave him a deserved win. Pesky researchers.....

 
Player
Rating
Score
Position
Winner
Mark K
8
140
1
Garry
7
112
2
Mark G
8
90
3

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