Reviewing a game such as Reef Encounter is a somewhat tricky proposition . First, it is obviously a loved game, so one must do it justice when considering its intricacies and nuances, of which there are many. Thus, the reviewer needs to display a certain level of…understanding. Second, because the game is deceptively involved and tactical, there’s always the feeling that “just one more play” will somehow enlighten you to something crucial. The first issue I can do little about save hope that I’ve built enough of a good reputation on BGG to be taken as credible and, also, that I’ve become knowledgeable enough in the art of gaming to be able to convey a meaningful assessment of the game. The second, as well, I can do little about. My wife and I could probably play the game 10 more times and still lack the most thorough understanding of this game. However, it is exactly this fact that prompts me to speak positively of this game, for it is a rare game that seems to open so many opportunities to you without miring you in tedious rules or a 3+ hour experience. Plainly put, Reef Encounter, is a uniquely themed game, comprised of sophisticated mechanics that engage the lover of games in a way few games do. Moreover, having also reviewed Mr.Breese’s Keythedral recently, I have developed a respect for his ability to design highly tactical games that provide players with a simultaneously tense and enjoyable experience.


theme and game design
In a much needed move away from dry colonials looking to maximize profits along sea routes between what will become Third World nations, Breese locates his game in the quite unlikely place of an underwater coral. This alone separates this game from the pack. The idea of having polyps eating other polyps, fish eating corals, shrimp fending off polyp ingestion, algae shifting the balance of power between groups of polyps – all these ideas add texture to an activity that fails to see truly creative and outside the box ideas with enough frequency. Additionally, Reef Encounter is not merely an interestingly themed game with suspiciously familiar mechanics. Breese has managed to create mechanics different enough to create true separation from other games, but that are familiar enough that gamers will, within a couple of plays, grasp what is happening in the play area. But I will get to what exactly is happening in the play area in a moment.

First, some appreciation for the game design. The game is a well produced affair, with all pieces done in high quality cardboard, with the game boards done in a textured finish. There are the requisite cubes, but packed in are shrimp cutouts which add some character and levity to the game. Moreover, the polyps tiles are vibrantly rendered and nicely detailed. A lazy effort could have been put forth to simply have them represented by tiles in varying solid colors, but the extra effort to treat each color polyp as its own species, hence literally designed uniquely from a graphical standpoint, helps to invite gamers into the theme a bit more. Last, the actual playing boards (the coral reef boards), of which there are four, are nicely done. Not only are they of good quality, but each has a look distinct enough to keep you interested. Moreover, the varying tile placement layouts do provide for tactical considerations going forward in the session. Last, the artwork on the board is very nicely done, capturing well the look of looking underwater. A game like this depends heavily on creating a game world that meshes nicely with its theme – Reef Encounter performs well in this regard.





playing the game
During each turn a player has nine action option open to him or her (I refuse to count doing nothing as an action option). I will avoid enumerating them in numerical order, for in one of the few weaknesses of the game, it can be extremely unclear how one gets to perform some actions and how the various actions connect to each other. Rather, I will describe the actions as falling into 2 categories and hopefully this will help gamers learning the game when sitting down to play it – it took me many, many reads of the rules to have a clue as to what any kind of viable strategy might look like. But before I get to the actions, might also be helpful to first describe what a win requires and the function of the open sea board.


Win conditions
Of course, as with any Euro game, the idea is to collect points. But how does one do that in Reef Encounter? What I’m about to say will be clearer very shortly: players score one point for every polyp that has been consumed by their parrot fish. That polyp is worth an additional point for each coral tile that shows that polyp as the dominant color. For example, let’s say you finish the game with 2 black polyps, 3 pink polyps and 1 white polyp. The coral tiles show white as dominant on 2 tiles, pink dominant on 3 and black as dominant on 1. Your score would be (2x2) + (3x4) + (1x2) for a total of 18. Now, all you have to do is get the polyps and manipulate how dominant any of them are (or aren’t).


the Open Sea Board



A lot of what’s important in Reef Encounter takes place right here. First, the board houses 10 coral tiles. These tiles depict the power relations between various pairs of polyps and this in turn dictates the point values of kinds of polyps. Since coral tiles can be manipulated, the action on the open-sea board gains in importance. Also, the board houses the larva cubes and the groups of polyps tiles that will come with the cubes. One of things that makes Reef Encounter such an interesting game is that the placement of polyp tiles with the larva cubes is itself a random and dynamic experience that keeps players on their toes. The one constant on the board is the placement of the larva cubes. However, when setting up the game, a player draws a polyp tile at random and this simply designates at which larva cube polyp placement begins. The player draws tiles and places them in clockwise fashion in the following pattern: 3,3,3,2,1. Since polyps are drawn at random, and since to play polyps you must simultaneously play a cube of the same color, players’ strategies must be flexible and open to being reactive. Why this is so will hopefully become clear, but it is worth mentioning that this is an instance where randomness ought to be welcomed as it adds a layer of texture and tactical facility while not overly burdening gamers with bad luck or blessing them with good luck. Chances are pretty even that you will sometimes get the group you want or need, and that you will need to make some changes to your plans.

Category 1 – tactical preparation moves
Let me first say that some of these actions will overlap, but I will call attention to the overlap when it does occur and why the classification will shifts. The first tactical preparatory move will simply be which polyps to put into play and where and also when (this is action #2 which can be repeated, hence is labeled again as action #3). The main way you score in Reef Encounter is by feeding your parrotfish groups of polyps, so you need to build your group effectively. However, since your polyps may be open to attack, you will need to pay heed as to where they go. Similarly, since you can place up to 4 polyps at once, it may behoove you to hold off until you can make a couple of big moves at once.

The next tactical preparatory move is placing or moving a shrimp (actions #4 and #5). The simple reason is that shrimps allow you to lay claim to a group of polyps. Additionally, a shrimp protects the polyp tile it is on and 4 adjacent tiles from being consumed. Last, to consume a group of polyps, one must have one’s shrimp on that group. In all, shrimp act as markers and protectors. It can be pretty surprising to how much attention you will play to your own shrimp placement and that of your opponent as you will surely try to take advantage of unprotected areas of your opponent’s polyp groupings.

The next tactical preparatory move is to exchange a consumed polyp for a larva cube of the same color (action #8). This is for the simple reason that it frees you from having to take a group of polyp tiles you don’t want in action #10 just to possess a larva cube you need. Action #10, taking a larva cube and its group of tiles from the open-sea board is a tactical preparatory move since this comprises your supply of tiles and cubes, hence your strategy will depend upon what’s on offer and how flexible you are in conforming to the chance placement of tiles when they are refilled.

The last tactical move is action #7, acquiring and playing an algae cylinder. I will also consider this move in category 2 as an aggressive/progressive move. But the aspect under consideration is more preparatory, and that is: as one function, playing an algae cube lays the groundwork for which polyps may consume others, hence radically shifting the balance of power. A player will choose a color algae that is primarily depicted in the foreground of a coral tile. What will happen is that every coral tile with that color algae in the foreground will be flipped where the power relation of the 2 depicted polyps is reversed, and this in turn dictates which polyps can consume which – if before yellow polyps could consume orange, now orange can consume yellow.

Category 2 – aggressive/progressive moves
The first of these moves is what allows you to have any points at the end. That is action #1 – feeding your parrotfish polyps. What will matter here is how large you decide to grow your group of polyps since what goes into your parrot fish for scoring is x-4. So if you grow your group to 6 polyps, 2 go into your fish and the other 4 go back into the bag.



Here, we have an overlap with actions #2 and #3. These actions can be aggressive/progressive if you play your polyps in a way that intends on consuming weaker polyps (see above). This will make a significant difference as this is the only way to obtain consumed polyps that can be traded in for either algae cylinders or larva cubes of the same color (see above for both).

The other overlapping move is action #7 – acquiring and playing an algae cylinder. Whereas it was tactical and preparatory before when it was played to shift the power relations between kinds of polyps, it can also be an progressive/aggressive move when you play these with the intent of maximizing the point value of some polyps or polyps. Remember that each polyp is worth an additional point for each instance that it is depicted as the dominant polyp.


Game assessment
If you’re still with me, you might have noticed that there’s a lot happening in the game. Though I have tried to lay the option out in a way that illustrates the nature of the considerations of the game, I am hesitant to claim that it has been entirely successful. This is mostly due to the fact that the above options simply seem dry and possibly tedious by way of description. Shifting power relations of polyps? Feeding your parrot fish? None of it seems very game-like. However, I can attest with confidence that a few gameplays will (likely) convince players that beyond being a highly tactical game, Reef Encounter is fun. Breese seems to have a skill in designing games that make players carefully consider every single move. Keythedral excels in this regard. Reef Encounter probably surpasses Keythedral, but Reef Encounter has the virtue of adding entertainment depth to the tactics in a way that Keythedral doesn’t. If I had to offer an opinion as to why that is it would be as follows: Reef Encounter captures development in a way that Keythedral doesn’t. If it were simply a matter of growing corals, there’d be little to recommend this game at all, but since factors like shrimp placement for protection matters so much, or when you have to think many steps ahead to acquire an algae cylinder only to finally realize that flipping some tiles will inevitably weaken the value of some polyps you likely hold, Reef Encounter becomes a brain teaser of the first order. But, the brain teaser aspect links nicely with the sense of growth and accomplishment that allows the game to transcend abstract strategic considerations.

We play this as a 2-player affair, and we are just now really getting a feel for how it plays for pairs. The game offers a seriously engaged challenge for 2, much like Keythedral. In similar fashion to that game, sessions can be war with players attacking your beautifully built-up polyp group just when you thought it was safe to move your shrimp; or with you flipping over a coral tile right before your opponent intended on munching on your polyps; or worse, you radically reduce the value of a kind of polyp they have a few of, hence significantly impacting how the scoring shakes out. This further indicates that this game is anything but 2-player solitaire. Reef Encounter pushes players into each others’ plans whether they want to be or not. I am pretty confident that this feeling of constant challenge only intensifies with more players making the experience more intense. But, for 2 players, it is a nice intimate engagement that is made lively by the offbeat theme.

Overall, we recommend this game highly. It’s mechanics and design allow players to have a uniquely fun experience that provides a fresh experience with the many tactical options involved as well as the appropriate implementation of randomness. For a game that plays in 90 minutes, Richard Breese has given players a game that rewards tenacity and creativity, an achievement to be appreciated at all times in our hobby.

-c-