Raise the Titanic (1987)

The object of the game is to earn fame and fortune by exploring (plundering?) the sunken Titanic, raising it and recovering the ship's log. You need to gather expeditions of crews, supplies and equipment and face many pitfalls.

The game plays in two phases, before and after the ship is raised (more on this later). In the first phase, you circle the outer board gathering your expeditions, and occasionally enter the two inner paths that actually lead to the ship. This is where you plun...er, "recover artifacts" from the Titanic. After the ship is raised, the game now becomes a race to the Home Port with the ship's log. All players get an advance from the publisher and the race proceeds. The player with the log rolls only one die to the others' two, and the log changes hands each time the player with the log is caught up with.

Winner is the player with the most money from artifacts recovered, fame points garnered and the ship's log bonus.

The board is centered on a plastic column with a spring inside; a large model of the Titanic rests on the spring, loaded down by the weighted artifacts. As the latter are recovered, the model naturally climbs up towards the top of the column. Simple, clever and visually quite effective.