Game: Oceania

Thread: Solitaire Scenarios

Reprint — 2008-08-08T02:54:46+00:00

I have found several enjoyable ways of placing the tiles which I will list as "scenarios".
This is a revamp of an earlier post.

Scenario 1

Play as normal, but see how many different sized islands you can create. Try to avoid gaps in sizes. So, in any order, build one or more 2-tile, 3-tile, 4-tile, 5-tile, etc sized islands. If you must keep score, score the longest chain of island sizes -- that is, if you build some 2-tile islands, 3-tile islands, a 4-tile island, and an 8-tile island, score 3 points (for 2, 3, 4).

Scenario 2

Play as Scenario 1, but make islands of increasingly larger sizes. You are permitted to make more than one island of each size, but once you've reached a "size step" you cannot make smaller ones again.

You may start building multiple islands at the same time, but you may only complete specific islands in order. You will find that you will have to discard more tiles playing this way. Tiles that could only be played to finish islands of sizes that skip over the step that you are on cannot be played.

For example, you've already built a 2-tile island, 2 3-tile islands, and now you need to complete a 4-tile island. The tile you've got can only complete a 6-tile island, so you must discard that tile instead.

Scenario 3

Identical to Scenario 2, except that you are not allowed to make multiple islands of the size you've already completed. You will find that you will have to discard more tiles playing this way. Tiles that can only be played to finish islands of sizes you’ve already completed cannot be played.

For example, if you need to complete a 3-tile island, but you can only play the tile you've got to complete a 2-tile island, you must discard that tile instead.

Scenario 4

This one is totally different than the ones above.
Place one each of the Reserve Tiles out in front of you. Play the solo game exactly as written in the game's rules. The goal of your play, however is to be able to place each of the Reserve Tile types once on the board. If you can fill up the board with the 6 Reserve Tiles and Sea Ties you win. If you wish to keep score, score 1 point for each inserted Reserve Tile.

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mbrugato — 2008-06-22T02:34:16+00:00

A finished game using custom scout tokens made from furniture screw-hole plugs. We also completed the map!

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mbrugato — 2008-06-22T02:32:32+00:00

Custom Scout Tokens made from furniture screw-hole plugs.

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Leonidas01994 — 2008-06-21T21:34:26+00:00

Pangaea - Full score 1225 points (solo game)

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-05-17T17:51:56+00:00

Dotted lines (the exploration lines) must connect

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-05-17T17:27:21+00:00

Place the proper Reserve Tile if a square is surrounded on all 4 sides, either by other tiles and/or the board edge

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-05-17T16:35:58+00:00

Left - the way the rules say you should put the reserve tiles (slower) Right - The fast and easy way

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-05-17T16:08:50+00:00

The top of the map is water - Example showing that clearly

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-04-18T20:17:43+00:00

Close up of the board

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-04-18T20:08:35+00:00

The scout tiles and explorer ship

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-04-18T14:24:02+00:00

Back and Front of Both Sea Tiles (top) and Reserve Tiles (bottom)

Thread: Re: Review of Solo Oceania

FezAZ — 2008-01-16T22:43:36+00:00

Great review.

FYI: You can play solo online at www.playcatan.com

Thread: Review of Solo Oceania

Driver 8 — 2008-01-16T21:32:56+00:00

Introduction

I recently picked up a copy of Oceania because I wanted a game to play solitaire. Actually, this review is just about the solitaire aspect of the game since I've not yet played it with 2 players. Solitaire games of this nature seem to be a rare breed. I had been looking for something that could be played in 30 minutes or less, and wouldn't take up much playing space. I'm also very picky about quality components. Oceania looked like it could be a nice fit to my collection.

Components

I was very pleased with the quality of the components here. The board is a good size and the artwork on it has a great Old World feel to it. The artwork on the tiles is also very nice and seems to fit the theme of the game. I was also pleased with the thickness of the tiles. This is normally something I'm concerned about. The tiles are not as thick as Carcassonne tiles, but thicker than those in Metro, Streetcar, and Arkadia. The game also comes with a little wooden ship which is a nice touch.

Gameplay

Before getting Oceania, I tried to figure out the rules from what I had read in other reviews and forum posts. I couldn't really get a firm grasp of exactly what was going on in the game though. Even when I read the rulebook directly, there were points that weren't exactly clear until I played a couple of times. I think this is because I was skipping past the 2 player rules and going right for the solitaire rules (many of which are different.) The rules themselves are actually very simple, but there was something that had an "Am I doing this right?" feel to the rules.

To play solitaire, the tiles are separated into 2 piles. The first pile of tiles are printed with a blank back and are randoming selected when exploring. The other tiles have a cloud printed on the back and are used to fill in surrounded areas when they occur.

The first step in playing is to select a starting point to explore from. At the beginning of the game, this will be from one of the starting points printed on three of the sides on the board. (The forth side, the upper side, has no starting points) The bottom side has 7 starting points, and each of the other two sides have 5. A tile is then randomly chosen, and if it can legally be placed in a square leading from that point, it is placed. The tile can be turned to any orientation as long as it is a legal fit. If the tile cannot be legally placed, it is discarded and out of the game. To be a legal fit, the features on all the edges of the tile must match. Land on land, and sea (dotted white lines) on sea. The upper side of the board is considered to be sea for purposes of matching tiles.

Next, a new starting point is chosen and another tile is drawn. Instead of choosing a staring point from the side of the board, you can choose a tile in play that has a dotted white line leading from it onto a blank space. Again, if the tile can fit, it is placed. If not, it is discarded.

Play continues this way until an area is surrounded. An area may be surrouned in two ways. The first way is if a SINGLE square has all four of it's adjoining sides occupied by either a tile or the board edge. The second way for an area to be surrounded is if an area (regardless of the number of squares) has all of it's adjoining sides occupied by land edged tiles, as seen in this picture:

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When an area is surrounded, it is filled in with appropriate tiles from those with the clouds printed on their backs. The game is played until there are no more starting points to play from or until all squares on the board are filled.

At this point, scoring is resolved. Each complete island is worth the number of tiles used to complete it, squared. Any empty squares are worth -20 points. The object of solitaire play is to beat your high score.

Thoughts

Oceania is a nice little game, but it hasn't really impressed me much beyond that. For one thing, the strategy of the game seems rather simple. The top row of the board seems the most important because it's the hardest to fill up. In games I've played, if I can fill up the top row I can usually avoid any empty squares at the end of the game. The other basic strategy to the game seems to be surrounding areas. It's actually much easier to surround areas than it is to try to place tiles directly into them.

Variant

To make the game a little more challenging, I've tried playing with this variant. When choosing a starting point at the beginning of the game, you start from a board edge as normal. If the tile fits, you place it. If not, you discard it. Here's where the variant comes in. If you placed a tile and it is possible to explore from that tile (if there is at least one white dotted line leading into an empty square), you must explore from one of these points. You then draw a tile and it fits, place it (and explore from this new tile if possible.) If not, discard it and you may then choose any new starting point to explore from. Basically, you keep sailing your ship around in one continuous exploration until you 'fail' and you then start exploring from a new point. This doesn't change the game that much, but it does cut back on your ability to focus on surrounding individual squares by drawing a minimum number of tiles.

All in all, I enjoy Oceania as a solitaire experience. I'll be on the lookout for more solo-playable games like it.

Thread: Re: No legal start spaces left...

duckweed — 2007-03-25T07:47:21+00:00

I also have a problem with this answer. In 6 games I've played now, this happens almost every time. My opponent and I have yet to finish a game by the normal game end rules... our games always end when there are no spaces left to place tiles. What's going on here? My guess is something was not translated from the original version.

Thread: Kind of a solitaire session

loquitur — 2007-02-06T00:02:50+00:00

I set up the game for the solitaire variant. My kids were in the basement watching cartoons, so I thought I could get in one or two quick games. I had slowly staked out almost two islands, and was weaving my way in along the north edge of the map, when my four-year-old daughter came along and asked to play. She wants to play my games but I’ve been resistant because a lot of them are clearly over her head, and she still likes to change the rules as she goes. Which drives me crazy. But I’m trying to relax. Even Jenga eventually becomes a different kind of game where the goal isn’t the removal of blocks but rather the usurping of as many blocks as possible (from the top) to create multiple towers.

Anyway, she came along and I immediately realized I would have to abandon my game. She reached for the wooden boat and nudged the board just enough to displace all my pieces. Then I (with a stern look) said she could place my land pieces, but only where I told her they should go. She was happy with that, but in trying to place her first piece she pretty much shifted every other piece out of the way. I tried to straighten the game up a bit, but she kept taking my pieces off the board to comment on them. That’s when my two-year-old son came stumbling along. I had foolishly set the board up on a gliding ottoman (why? I have no idea.), and he just came along and leaned against the whole thing and it was all I could do to hold onto my game.

Thus ended my ‘solitaire’ game, score unknown.

Thread: Atlas Insula, Solus

loquitur — 2006-09-17T21:31:55+00:00

INTRODUCTORY RAMBLE

Land Ho! This is a game of sailing and of mapping shoreline, but there is no shore leave for the weary traveler. It's a nice little game that surprisingly packs a decent amount of strategic play in there, though nothing too complicated. I played several times against my wife, but I actually found as much (if not more) of an enjoyable diversion in its solitaire variant. There are a number of good reviews of this game out there already, so I’ll focus on the solitaire play mostly.

CONTENTS AND SETUP

The game comes in a nice sturdy little blue box, with two different sets of tiles (one set for exploration, one set with little cloud pictures for the ‘surround rule’), a wooden little boat, a mounted “unexplored” map, and a nice illustrated rulebook. The setup pretty much entails separating the regular tiles from the cloud tiles. Also included in the box are a number of small ‘scout’ tiles that are only used in the 2-player game.

GAMEPLAY

The rules are simple and straightforward. All contingencies are covered, though at first pass it may not seem like it. At the start of each turn you choose your push-off point, draw a random tile, and attempt to play it. The rule is that you have to match up the dotted white sailing lines from your push-off point. And you must do this while matching up land and water pieces correctly (no half islands on the board). If you have enclosed a water square or a land mass, you can take advantage of the 'surround rule' so that these areas are automatically filled in without you having to explore them: all islands are split over two squares, so a single remaining unexplored water square is a given in terms of what tile can be placed in there, and a surrounded land mass can’t be explored with your boat (no shore leave, remember).

In fact, in solitaire, I found strategically using the surround rule to be the only way to get a good (or even non-negative) score. It’s too easy otherwise to leave vast tracts of the board unexplored, which has a whopping impact on your final score.

Unlike the regular game, the solitaire game doesn’t allow you to hold onto tiles you couldn’t place in previous turns. Also unlike the regular game, the cloud tiles (automatic filler) ARE used in your score. This is important, because in late game you’ll be feeling the pressure to complete that one big island you were hoping to get and you’ll likely be drawing numerous tiles you can’t place. It’s important to make swift progress and explore with the ‘surround rule’ in mind. Several times I found myself with entire rows of the board uncompleted because I wasted too many turns trying to finish off one part of the board square by square.

Scoring is the sum of completed islands (number of tiles on each island, squared), less 20 times the number of unexplored squares on the board. You need to hustle a bit. And the whole point is to outdo your previous highest score.

DENOUEMENT

I’m not sure if the solitaire game is enough value for a purchase of Oceania, but the game is pretty inexpensive. About half my games have been with the 2-player version, and half solitaire. That a game can be had in a few minutes, and that setup is less than a minute, means that it all comes out as good value. This isn’t deep strategy, and quite a bit relies on luck of the draw – yet it has something of the mathematical nature of simple PC solitaire games, like Minesweeper, and all the addiction. And I kind of like the theme and prettiness of the board (but that’s just between you and me).

P.S. I have no idea if my Latin in the title is up to snuff, but I like it better than ‘solitaire island cartography.’

Thread: Re: What's the best starting circle?

Salt-Man Z — 2006-07-16T21:47:43+00:00

filovirus wrote:
In solataire play, I fill in the bottom corners first. This is done by selecting one corner and playing the in the second spot over the second spot up. A reserve tile then fills in the corner spot. I do the same with the other corner and then middle of the map is (usually) accessible by multiple paths.
Yep, same here.

Thread: Re: What's the best starting circle?

filovirus — 2006-07-14T21:46:39+00:00

In solataire play, I fill in the bottom corners first. This is done by selecting one corner and playing the in the second spot over the second spot up. A reserve tile then fills in the corner spot. I do the same with the other corner and then middle of the map is (usually) accessible by multiple paths.

In the two-player version, I always start with the top spot on either side of the board. This is the best chance to get a free tile, for later play, early. Of course I will eventually need to sacrifice a scout in order to use it, but it comes in handy with difficult situations that emerge.

Thread: scouting terra incognita

ccarlet1 — 2006-06-26T19:37:39+00:00

My wife and I enjoy this game quite a bit, especially when in the mood for a quick, easy game. It certainly involves decision making, and some strategy, but its strongest points are that it is fast and fun.

Bits:

The board is of good quality and is a five by seven grid of terra incognita: an ancient looking map, complete with sea monster. There is a total of 60 sea tiles to place on the board to reveal sea and land. There are 16 scout tiles, eight white and eight grey, which are used to claim ownership of discovered islands. Finally, there is a wooden ship to indicate from which tile a player is exploring. The tiles and board are of very good quality and the artwork is good, all in a smallish box.

Setup:

Each player is given their scout tiles: five of them are valued at one scout, two at two scouts, and one at three scouts. The thirty-five sea tiles are placed face down in the box, and three are removed before play begins. The remaining thirty-two are mixed. The 25 reserve sea tiles are set to the side, and kept handy as they will be needed during play.

Play/Rules:

A player,s turn begins with choosing a starting place for exploring. The ship is placed on the starting point, so no one forgets or "forgets" where the drawn tile is supposed to be placed. Legal start points include circles, outlined in a white dotted line, around three sides of the board, or a sea tile on which there is a white dotted line connected to an unexplored area.

Then you draw a tile from the box and place it, if possible. The drawn tile must connect to a white dotted line, and to any other white dotted lines or land on adjacent tiles. That is, if you are exploring from a point around which there are no other tiles adjacent, you merely have to connect the drawn tile's dotted line to the dotted line on the tile from which you are exploring. If there are other tiles adjacent to the tile you are placing, dotted lines must join to dotted lines, and land to land.

If you cannot place the tile, then you place it in front of you. If you later choose to place it, you must give up one of your scouts to do so. If you do not place it, it counts two points against your final score.

If the tile you placed had land on it, you may place a scout on the land. If an island is completed, and you have more scouts than your opponent, then you get the points for the whole island. Hence it is important to decide not only where to best place your scouts, but also whether or not an island will get completed before the game ends. Also, you need to decide where to best place your more highly valued scouts.

The reserve tiles are used to fill in surrounded areas. These include: any single area surrounded on all four sides by tiles and the game board, or by just tiles. An area larger than a single space is considered surrounded only if it is completely surrounded by land. Careful placement of the right tile can cause areas to be filled in, or even cause an large island to be completed; hence, a player can play to surrond an area. A unused tile from early in the game can also be very handy for this.

Game End:

There are a couple of fuzzy points to take note of here. The game ends when all spaces on the board have been explored, or when there are no tiles left in the box. However, the game can end with spaces on the board not being covered with tiles. As a player cannot explore from the top of the board, if a space is surround by land and the top of the board, it will remain unexplored, and if there are no other explorable areas, the game is over.

Scoring:

An island is worth as many points as the tiles used to make it. If you have a higher total of scouts on the island, you get the points. You then subtract two points for any discarded tiles in front of you. In the event of a tie, neither player gets the points for that island. Whoever has the most points from all the islands wins.

Strategy:

I have found it useful to develop multiple exploration points on the board and let things come together. That way you have more options to help your own cause or hinder your opponent's. Trying to surround tiles is a good strategy, but you are still likely to have to explore in some crowded areas, especially near the end of the game, and the luck of the draw can really be against or for you here.

The top of the board is very important in your strategy. Larger islands near the top of the board do not always get finished, and sometimes, you can make sure they do not get finished if the island is likely to go to your opponent. Therefore, the odds are better on islands near the bottom of the board. My wife and I once played a game where two very large islands we were both competing for never got fully explored. The game then came down to a three-tile island owned by my wife, and a two-tile island owned by me, and our discarded tiles, of which I had more and lost.

Conclusion:

This is a very fun game, and very quick. Usually a game only takes ten minutes or so, so my wife and I always play the best out of three. Usually that is enough for the game to sit for a while, but it does come out every month, and I doubt that will ever change. It is definitely a game I would not want to be without. I give this game an 8.

Thread: Re: Scout Penalty

Salt-Man Z — 2006-05-29T17:15:51+00:00

The first few games, we incorrectly played that you can remove scouts from the board when paying to use an in-hand tile. You might want to give this a try; it's much less punishing than the written rules, which I haven't actually played yet, and am rather hesitant to, having enjoyed our version so much.

Thread: Re: Scout Penalty

Gamegrunt — 2006-05-29T13:56:09+00:00

Yes, in order to place a previously unplayable tile (which will count against your final score if it isn't placed) a player must discard one of their precious scouts. If you've happened to use all of your single denomination scouts, you'll have to discard a double or triple denomination, which is excessively punitive, IMO, and is one of the reasons I stopped enjoying the game.

Gg

Thread: Scout Penalty

bobm174 — 2006-05-29T12:59:36+00:00

Do I understand the rule about the scout correctly:

If you use one of your discarded tiles that you set aside
you have to give up a scout if you cannot use one.

Is that correct?

Bob

Thread: Re: Oceania Review

volnon — 2006-04-16T11:31:07+00:00

Hi-
Upon reading your review I bought a used copy of the game here on the Geek, and was not sorry! My wife and I enjoyed it, although that wooden boat/ship was a huge ugly thing compared to the rest of the very nice pieces. I substituted a ship from my old "Lost Treasure " game and it looks perfect- small and with a round base.
The game was easy to learn, and played smoothly. Your review hit everything on the mark! The only slightly confusing thing was that when an empty area of the map was encircled with land (it could be any number) you filled it with reserve tiles. At least that is my understanding.
Well, thanks for writing the review- I got another fine 2 player game from it!

Thread: Oceania Review by Patrick Korner

PatK — 2006-04-05T16:28:22+00:00

Oceania Review

Klaus Teuber is, of course, best known for one game: the international phenomenon that is Settlers of Catan. Like it or not, Catan and Teuber will always be indelibly linked with each other – and that’s probably not something that he minds all that much, seeing as how his own publishing house is called Catan LLC (GmbH in Germany). Aside from Settlers, though, Klaus Teuber also released several other highly-regarded games, including two that complete the co-called Settlers Trilogy (legend has it the three games were originally part of an enormous proto-game that was split up during development so as to not be too unwieldy): Lowenherz and Entdecker.

Entdecker (Goldsieber, 1996) was a game about exploration and settlement. Die Neuen Entdecker (Kosmos / Mayfair, 2001) is a re-vamped version that changed a number of game elements and added some other bits to the game. And now, Oceania (Catan GmbH / Mayfair, 2004), the first in a new “Klaus Teuber’s Classics” line, has been added to the family. Oceania is a stripped-down two-player version of the game, meant to offer much of the Entdecker experience in a tidy little package. But does it succeed in its goal? Read on and find out!

Components

Oceania comes in a small box, about the same size as the Rio Grande version of Bohnanza or King of the Elves but slightly larger. Included with the game are the board, a number of exploration and bonus tiles, grey and white scout markers, a wooden ship marker, and of course the rules.

The game board looks much like the original Entdecker board – it’s a set of tan-coloured squares representing undiscovered regions surrounded by ocean – the known world, in other words. It’s smallish, but suits the scaled-down nature of the game very well.

The exploration and bonus tiles are nice and chunky – much as you’d expect from a German-produced game (although this is not indicated anywhere on the box, the quality of the punch-outs for the tiles is better than the typical product from China – fewer areas that can stay attached and tear). The colours are also nice – a pretty mix of deep blue ocean, sandy beaches and lush jungle. I suspect that more than one person will enjoy playing this game more just because of the tropical theme.

The grey and white scout markers are quite small, but then again they do need to fit onto the tiles. Were the price point of this game somewhat higher, these would probably have been wooden pawns, but the cardboard markers work well enough, although they’re a little hard to tell apart. In the games I’ve played, we’ve made sure that one player plays with the reverse side of this markers – these are blue and therefore much easier to tell apart.

The wooden ship marker is just that – a ship marker. In practice, something that experienced players could even do without, but that’s okay – what’s a German game without some wood somewhere, right? I do like the rules layout quite a bit – it’s clear and concise. If you do have problems, you can turn to the Web for help – as with many of Teuber’s games, there’s an online “Professor Easy” tutorial available to get you started.

Overall, the components are very nice, if a little small. But, when considered in light of the fact that this game has an MSRP of US$15.00, they’re high-quality and perfectly serviceable.

Gameplay

Playing the game is simple, and it’s the essence of Entdecker: First, mix up the exploration tiles – that’s essentially all the setup the game requires. Then, choose a spot to start from, try and explore, place a scout marker if you like, and that's it. Nothing to it, right? I’ll explain in a little more detail below:

At the start of the game, the only places you can choose to start (i.e. place the wooden ship) are the white circles that ring three sides of the game board (the top side of the board is not open to exploring, although potential exploration paths can eventually end up there). Once tiles start getting placed, you have more options: many of the tiles have dashed white lines on them indicating paths of exploration. You’re allowed to start exploring from the end of any of these lines as well, although you’re not obligated to choose which one you’re going to use, should multiple lines be available to you.

Next, you draw a tile. If it can be legally placed adjacent to the spot you started exploring from, great – it gets added to the board. If you can’t place it, it goes in front of you and will either get used later or count against you at the end of the game. The tiles are a combination of open ocean and island segments – naturally for a tile to fit all sides must match those around it. Over the course of the game, islands of varying sizes get explored and (hopefully) completed.

After you’ve placed a tile, you get to choose whether you want to put a scout marker down on it. Unlike Carcassonne, you’re still allowed to place a marker on a tile even if it means your marker will share the same island as your opponent’s. The scout markers have different numbers of scouts shown on them – between 1 and 3. As you may expect, the numbers have bearing on how the islands that you form while placing tiles get scored at the end of the game. You have more 1 markers than you do 3 markers, so you’ll want to use your 3 marker carefully!

There are two additional wrinkles to gameplay: Whenever a space on the board is completely surrounded by other tiles and/or the edge of the board, it gets filled in with one of the bonus tiles (these look much like the regular tiles, except that they have a small cloud on them to make them easy to distinguish). There are enough types of these to make sure one fill always fit.

The second tweak is that, on your turn, you can choose to forego drawing a face-down tile and place one of the ones you missed being able to place in a previous turn. The price of doing this is one of your scout markers, which is removed from the game. So, this is something that can be useful, but does reduce the influence you’ll end up having on the board at game’s end.

Once the board is full or all of the exploration tiles have been used, the game is over and the islands are scored. Scoring is straightforward: The player with the most scouts on an island scores 1 point for each tile that makes up part of the island. Afterwards, each player loses 2 points for each tile they have left in front of them (i.e. the ones they couldn’t legally place during the game). Highest score wins.

Comments

There is quite a bit to like about Oceania, but it’s also fair to say that perhaps the game’s a little too light. In practice, play is highly luck-driven and it’s hard to feel too bad about losing since it will often mean that the other guy simply drew better tiles. There is some strategy, but it takes savvy tile-drawing to pull it off, if you know what I mean.

That said, being a super-light game might not always be a bad thing. For the price, I can see this being a solid ‘non-gaming spouse’ game, since it has many features that are desirable in such a game: it’s light, it’s fast, it’s pretty and it’s lucky enough to make losing easy to take. Plus, it’s pretty non-confrontational (apart from trying to muscle in on an island, there’s little you can do to mess with your opponent) – another good thing when playing with casual gamers.

Oceania also features a solo variant whose object is to try and complete the board for the highest score possible (with the tiles you can’t place costing you negative points, of course). It’s an amusing exercise – certainly more fun than playing Take It Easy solo, but it’s not something I’d recommend buying the game for. Think of it as a bonus, not a reason to purchase.

It’s hard to criticize the game for having flaws, since its flaws (chiefly the luck factor and lack of control) really are more side effects from being such a light design. Mechanically, there’s nothing wrong with the game, and it’s a nice enough diversion. But my personal gaming preferences tend towards somewhat deeper designs, which means that I won’t be playing the game all that often with my regular gaming partners. If my wife shows an interest in the game, then I could certainly see myself playing it that much more.

Conclusions

Oceania is a pretty light game – that is, both pretty and light. While not something I’d recommend to dedicated gamers, it’s hard to go wrong with it as something to play with non-gamers and/or your significant other. Even if they hate it, it’s not like you dropped a king’s ransom on it, right? If you like the theme of exploration and don’t mind a lot of luck in the games that fill out the light end of your personal collection, you could do quite a bit worse.

Scores

(Out of Five)
Components: ****
Balance: ***1/2
Fun Factor: **1/2
Replayability: ***
Duration: ***
Overall Rating: ***

Thread: Re: four games

Lufbery — 2006-03-27T15:34:59+00:00

ccarlet1 wrote:
I always try to start with the spaces second from the bottom and second from the edge to surround tiles immediately and, hopefully get a decent sized island in the bottom corner started. Of course, luck plays a role here, but at worst it is a quickly surrounded tile, something it's always worth trying for. I tried to change things up in the early stages of the game by sometimes starting a tile or two on different sides and sometimes building on my opponents first tile. Building from different directions helps to lessen the chance of unappealing starting points, at least early in the game.

Amen! It's important to explore from a number of different places, and just as important to explore into the center of the board when possible. Doing so open up opportunities for the other player, but also for yourself. I've found with this game that trying to cut off the other player's opportunities to explore too soon just limits my own.

Regards,

-Drew

Thread: four games

ccarlet1 — 2006-03-16T18:31:36+00:00

My wife and I enjoy playing Oceania and have played it about 20 times. We played three times on March 14 and once on March 15. We are quite evenly matched, although our scores don't always reflect that.

In the first game, Penny secured some smaller islands, while I concentrated on what turned out to be two very large islands. Unfortunately one was near the top of the board, and was left incomplete (had it been completed it would have covered 15 tiles). Penny got the other large island. Hence Penny won 15 to my -8.

In the second game, there was a much larger incomplete space (6 tiles)on a very large island so no one got the points on that one. Thus the game came down to leftover smaller island, minus discarded tiles and I won 2 to -4.

The third game involved a complete island of 15 tiles, a full board and no tiles left over. I won: 10 to Penny's 5.

The fourth games was the most interesting. An island of 14 tiles ended in a tie when a surrounded tile unexpectedly finished it. Another large island, which could have been 11 tiles was left incomplete, so an ealier small island worth only 2, won the game for me, -4 to -8.

Large islands near the top of the board can be quite risky because you often end up with empty spaces surrounded by land and the top of the board. I always try to start with the spaces second from the bottom and second from the edge to surround tiles immediately and, hopefully get a decent sized island in the bottom corner started. Of course, luck plays a role here, but at worst it is a quickly surrounded tile, something it's always worth trying for. I tried to change things up in the early stages of the game by sometimes starting a tile or two on different sides and sometimes building on my opponents first tile. building from different directions helps to lessen the chance of unappealing starting points, at least early in the game.

All considered they were fun games.

Thread: Re: No legal start spaces left...

MurWiz — 2006-03-04T20:42:14+00:00

My only problem with this is that the rules give explicit conditions for the end of the game ... and they don't include any provision for a lack of legal moves. I think you should continue to draw tiles, and count them against your score at the end of the game. Practically, this has no effect on play most of the time (although some of the time, one player is going to get one more dead tile than his opponent). The only time this will make a difference is if you are playing a series of games, or comparing scores between games (e.g., a tournament).

Thread: Re: No legal start spaces left...

Jeff Paull — 2005-12-31T01:40:34+00:00

Peter,

At that point, the game is over. Count up your score. The islands that are not complete due to the missing tiles won't score.

The northern row of tiles cannot be reached from off board. There is no white path.

--JP

Thread: No legal start spaces left...

Palpatine — 2005-12-31T00:30:44+00:00

We had no problem with the sea tile debate in the last thread, as those spaces are treated like any other board edge space...you have to have a sea edge tile against that board edge area...no problem.

However, we had a situation last night in our game.
There were about 8 or 9 tiles left to fill in on the board. None of them could be filled in with the special tiles because they weren't surrounded in the appropriate way. The problem was that there were no starting off points left. All of the paths were closed, and there were no open paths available to start a journey into the unexplored region, unless we started the journey from one of the upper spaces where normally you are not allowed to start from. Seeing no other way around it, and as there were no legal spaces to start from, we chose to start from one of the upper spaces.

Anyone else encounter this situation?
How else could it have been played?

Thread: Re: User Review

TrekkerMJ — 2005-12-19T19:23:52+00:00

Nice review of the game. It is a light version for sure. Our copy actually gets more plays with the Solitaire version than two-players. Solitaire becomes more of a puzzle game with attempts to maximize points.

Thread: Re: Two (relatively) quick games of Oceania...

Lufbery — 2005-11-07T15:51:16+00:00

Steve,

We liked it enough that we've packed it in the bag we're taking to the hospital when my wife goes into labor sometime in the next week or so.

Regards,

-Drew

Thread: Re: Two (relatively) quick games of Oceania...

steveoliverc — 2005-11-02T16:35:28+00:00

Drew, this is a great session report! Sounds like you and your wife really enjoyed the game.

Steve

Thread: Two (relatively) quick games of Oceania...

Lufbery — 2005-11-01T22:04:50+00:00

Last night, my wife asked to play a couple of games of Oceania before bed. We had just received the game the previous Friday and had played it a couple of times on Saturday. This was our first session since then. Just like many others have indicated in their reviews and session reports for this game, my wife and I had a little confusion at first with the rule for surrounded tiles. However, a close look at the rules illustrations and we figured it out. A quick search through the messages here at the Geek confirmed our understanding.

In our first game, we both focused on exploring two areas that looked like they would yield big islands. As a result, we amassed a number of unplayable sea tiles (which count as -2 points at the end of the game). We both burned through our scouts to play them when we could (a scout counter can be sacrificed to play a previously unplayed sea tile if the opportunity arises). At the end of the game, what we thought would be big islands resolved into a bunch of smaller islands and some unexplored areas. We hardly used any reserve tiles (which are used to fill in surrounded areas). I lost with a score of -4 to Robin's -2.

We played again. This time, we made an effort to explore more widely and to push into the center of the board. That's not to say we played cooperatively, we just both recognized that by having more options open, we could both make better plays. I also made a special effort to surround areas when possible and use more reserve tiles. The result was a much more interesting and agonizing game. At the end of the game, there were three unexplored spaces in the top row, and four sea tile left to pick. Surprisingly, none of the four fit, and we were both left holding two sea tiles (Robin had three total). Robin won that game with a score of 10 to 6. She trumped me on an island I had claimed by placing here scout counter with a value of three on the last tile that made the island where I had placed a 2-value scout counter. I also had been banking on the big island that ended up unexplored at the end of the game.

The reviews here generally state that the game is: (1) quick and fun, (2) does not have a lot of opportunity for strategy is too luck-based, and (3) does not quite measure up to its bigger brother, Entdecker. We have found that it is quick and very fun. It takes us about 20 minutes per game. There actually can be a lot of strategy in how one places scouts, how long one holds onto scouts, when one chooses to sacrifice a scout, and (of course) how tiles are placed. The last point was especially well-illustrated in our second game. Luck can be a huge factor, but it doesn't completely dominate the game. I actually like how unexpected tiles can change the composition of the areas explored. It makes for good game play.

Finally, we've not played Entdecker, but taken on its own merits, Oceania is a great, light, quick, and fun game. The graphics are delightful, and the rules are easy. That makes the game a hit in our house.

Thread: Re: Surrounded Tile Rule

Lufbery — 2005-10-31T19:03:52+00:00

Thanks, Steve.

Regards,

-Drew

Thread: Re: Surrounded Tile Rule

steveoliverc — 2005-10-31T15:40:10+00:00

Yes. If you run out of all-land reserve tiles (only seen that happen once) then you assume they are filled in and score them accordingly.

Thread: Re: Surrounded Tile Rule

Lufbery — 2005-10-31T15:35:26+00:00

Thanks for posting the rule clarification.

The next bit of the puzzle, then, is that if multiple spaces are all surrounded by land, do each of those spaces have to be filled with reserve tiles that have land on all four sides?

Regards,

-Drew

Thread: Re: question about surrounded areas

steveoliverc — 2005-10-28T15:31:21+00:00

cybeeb wrote:
In the rule booklet on page 3 it shows an example (A) of creating a surrounded area. Why wouldn't the area be surrounded before the tile is placed as those four spots are already surrounded?

The example of Island A is to show an example of scoring, it's not trying to show an example of surrounding tiles. By placing tile A, you are finishing an island, and the player with the scout gets 3 points (one for each tile).

Thread: Re: question about surrounded areas

jmilum — 2005-10-28T04:29:36+00:00

cybeeb wrote:
In the rule booklet on page 3 it shows an example (A) of creating a surrounded area. Why wouldn't the area be surrounded before the tile is placed as those four spots are already surrounded?

not sure of this example and I don't have the rule book handy

Plus when an area is surrounded and you fill in with reserve tiles can you place scouts on the reserve tiles?

no, you can only place a scout on the first tile you place, not on any filled areas that result

And if there are no reserve tiles left that will fill in a surrounded area, the rules say to treat it like it was filled in with a reserve tile. Therefore can you say that you filled it in with a reserve tile and it finished your island?

yes

Thread: question about surrounded areas

cybeeb — 2005-10-28T03:52:11+00:00

In the rule booklet on page 3 it shows an example (A) of creating a surrounded area. Why wouldn't the area be surrounded before the tile is placed as those four spots are already surrounded? Plus when an area is surrounded and you fill in with reserve tiles can you place scouts on the reserve tiles? And if there are no reserve tiles left that will fill in a surrounded area, the rules say to treat it like it was filled in with a reserve tile. Therefore can you say that you filled it in with a reserve tile and it finished your island?

Thread: Re: The Ship

steveoliverc — 2005-09-28T07:04:23+00:00

At the start of your turn, pick up the ship from wherever it's at, and place it on either a circle that doesn't yet have a tile next to it, or else on any tile that can trace a line back to any circle.

After placing the ship, then you decide if you are going to draw a tile, or play one of your face-up tiles (if you have any). Whichever tile you choose, you must play the tile so that it connects line-to-line with one of the lines on the tile where your ship is.

Thread: The Ship

danbuster35 — 2005-09-28T03:11:26+00:00

Whatis supposed to be done with the ship? The rules only mention that it is to be placed at the starting circle.

Thread: Prof. Easy's Tutorial

Sir Loin o Beef — 2005-07-09T00:34:48+00:00

The Prof. Easy Tutorial (http://www.profeasy.com/en/index.php?page=profeasy.html&time...) seems to answers most of the ambiguity here.

Thread: Re: Solitaire Play -- Discarded Tiles

steveoliverc — 2005-07-07T03:34:49+00:00

The solitaire rules state that you discard any sea tiles which you cannot place onto the map. It says to discard, not to set aside, so you're playing it right by not bringing them back into play. And I agree with you -- that would make the solitaire game too easy.

Playing it this way also adds an element of "pushing your luck" because in certain positions, you might need a very specific type of tile yet if you draw too many tiles that won't fit, you run the risk of running out of tiles, and facing the huge penalty for unplayed squares left on the board.

Thread: Solitaire Play -- Discarded Tiles

btolloty — 2005-07-06T01:12:08+00:00

The rules do seem to be pretty ambiguous in some areas. The rules say that solitaire play is the same as 2-player play with the exception of the fact that you don't use Scout tiles. Therefore, I assume that if you draw a tile that you can't play, you might as well discard it out of play because you have no scout tiles to 'spend' in order to use a card from your discard pile. Or, since there are no scout tiles in play, can you just play tiles from the discard pile at any time for 'free'? Seems like that would make things too easy, so I have been playing the former.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Thread: Session Report - Oceania (Origins 2005)

matthew.marquand — 2005-07-01T00:19:01+00:00

I picked this game up today at Origins (2005) and played a couple
games of it with my friend Keith during a break.

Our first attempt quickly brought up questions the rules didn't seem
very clear on:

1) Is the top of the board open sea or can land terminate at the edge?
- It's open sea so only dotted route markers can touch the top edge
of the board)

- The image at the top of page 3 of the rules threw us off because
it seems to imply that land tiles can be placed at the edge of
the board. However, the image has been truncated on the right
and doesn't depict an entire board...

2) What does 'surrounded' really mean?
- By the second game we defined surrounded as follows:

a) A single tile 'hole' in the layout exists where all four
positions adjacent to the tile have been filled
(or the tile hole is on the edge of the board).

b) Or the hole(s) are completely surrounded by land tiles.
Basically, a hole exists when you cannot choose a starting
position on any tile such that you could play another tile
in the 'hole'.

- In all of these situations appropriate tile(s) from the reserve
are used to fill the holes.

That said, our first game was a little rough in that we weren't sure
quite what to expect. Keith quickly depleted his scout tiles and started
amassing a large number of unplayable tiles. I on the other hand, was
drawing mostly complete sea tiles which meant I couldn't play any scouts.
No large islands were formed and I won due to the negative impact
of Keith's unplayable tiles. From start to finish, including the rule reading,
the game lasted approximately 20 minutes.

Final score Keith 0 and me 2.

Keith wanted an immediate rematch. This time he attempted to explore
higher along the sides of the board in addition to the bottom of the board.
This game had us fighting over coming to grips with one very large
island in the center where we both had commited a large number of scouts.
Using a scout as payment to play an unplayable tile, I was able to
capitalize on an island of size 7 in the upper right but Keith had amassed
numerous small wins in the upper left and across the bottom of the board.
It came down to the large island in the middle which I was able to surround
the hole before we ran out of sea tiles.

We didn't tally up the final score given the magnitude of the final island...but it was a blowout.

Thread: Re: Placing reserved tiles along the top of the game board

Gamegrunt — 2005-06-06T20:23:50+00:00

Steve,

That sure is a mega-mass o' land, and make no mistake!

Samwise G.

Thread: Re: Placing reserved tiles along the top of the game board

steveoliverc — 2005-06-06T17:40:22+00:00

Gamegrunt wrote:
There is also the case that is explained in the rules of placing multiple reserve tiles when open areas would have to be land masses, thereby necessitating the insertion of reserve tiles that have land edges on all four of their sides. I have yet to see this occur in an actual game, however.

It can happen, not too often, and one time I got very lucky and managed to create this area which filled in with reserve tiles, for 529 points (solitaire scoring):

]]>

This example from my solitaire game also brings up a point in the rules, that if you run out of reserve tiles, the surrounded spaces are assumed to be filled in with reserve tiles. (There were not enough all-land reserve tiles to fill in this island.)

Thread: Re: Placing reserved tiles along the top of the game board

steveoliverc — 2005-06-06T17:33:28+00:00

MainiacJoe wrote:
I wonder still how there can ever be any empty spaces at the top of the board, if the top of the board can surround and if multiple spaces can be surrounded ina single unit.

It happens a lot in my solitaire and 2-player games, with about 25 or 30 plays so far. I'd say, as a guess, maybe 30% to %50 of the time. (Less often in solitaire games.) The reason is that you cannot fill in multiple spaces with reserve tiles, unless ALL of the multiple spaces are surrounded by land, which is not the case with the top row of spaces, since they border the top side of the board, which is all water.

Of course, if you manage to create a single empty square in the top row, which is now surrounded, you can fill that in with a reserve tile. But as pointed out already, the top edge of the reserve tile must be water.

Another difficulty in filling in the top row, is that as you are exploring along, you must draw tiles that will fit with water along the top edge of the board, which can be more difficult than filling in spaces in other rows of the board.

Thread: Re: Placing reserved tiles along the top of the game board

Gamegrunt — 2005-06-06T15:00:49+00:00

MainiacJoe wrote:

I wonder still how there can ever be any empty spaces at the top of the board, if the top of the board can surround and if multiple spaces can be surrounded ina single unit.

It is given that the top of the board, just like the other three sides of the board, are sea areas where land is never present. It is illegal to place a tile with a land edge along any side of the board. The top edge only differs in that a ship may not enter from the northern edge.

The good mate said, "Now must we pray? For lo, the very stars are gone. Brave admiral speak, what shall I say?"

He said, "Sail on."

Gg

Thread: Re: Placing reserved tiles along the top of the game board

MainiacJoe — 2005-06-06T14:12:12+00:00

Well that's intersting. I just got this game alst weekend and only have a few plays under my belt, but here are some situations we've encountered:

A corner of the board, sea tiles on two sides and two of the normal board sides on the other.

In every game we've nibbled around the area of a large island and ended up finding its whole coast and filling it with land-on-four-sides reserve tiles.

I wonder still how there can ever be any empty spaces at the top of the board, if the top of the board can surround and if multiple spaces can be surrounded ina single unit.

The only rule book I've seen more ambiguous is Too Many Cooks.

Thread: Re: Placing reserved tiles along the top of the game board

Gamegrunt — 2005-06-06T13:16:26+00:00

After much reflection on this aspect of the game, we've determined that a reserve tile is only inserted into the board when an empty space is surrounded on four sides by sea tiles, or three tiles and the board's edge, and all four edges qualify. There is also the case that is explained in the rules of placing multiple reserve tiles when open areas would have to be land masses, thereby necessitating the insertion of reserve tiles that have land edges on all four of their sides. I have yet to see this occur in an actual game, however.

Sail on!

Gg

Thread: Re: Placing reserved tiles along the top of the game board

MainiacJoe — 2005-06-06T12:52:42+00:00

One thing about placing reserve tiles along the top of the board: if you can do that, then there will never be a situation when you have spaces at the end of the game with no sea tiles on them (solo game) nor will you have incomplete islands (2-player). The rules say that the edge of the game board can be used to call spaces "suurrounded" and place reserve tiles on them, but there are more than on instance in the rules where the top edge of the board is NOT being used to call spaces surrounded. So we only play that the three edges that you can sail from are used to surround tiles.

Hadn't caught the idea of not being able to have a land edge facing the top border, thanks!

Thread: Re: What's the best starting circle?

Gamegrunt — 2005-05-27T11:27:08+00:00

I don't believe there is an ideal circle to begin a game, but the four corners are disadvantageous. They are that way because after (hopefully!) placing a tile, there are only 2 possible placements off of it rather than the 3 you would have anywhere else. Perhaps the circles adjacent to each of the 4 corners are equally best due to the possibility of creating enclosed spaces against the board's edge whereupon a reserve tile would be placed.

Gg

Thread: Re: 'Spending Explorers

steveoliverc — 2005-05-27T10:19:39+00:00

There are a couple of instances in the rules where they assume a little more than they should. (The other instance is that reserved tiles must be placed by exactly the same rules as sea tiles, especially in regards to not placing land along the top edge of the board.) I don't recall that the rules specifically state you must choose an unused explorer, however it does give the advice about not using a 2 or 3 person explorer chip if you don't have to, and that you can't exchange them to "get change." So we play it that you have to use an explorer that is not yet on the board. I think the game would be very different if you could move your explorers once you had placed them, although that could be an interesting variant to try.

Thread: What's the best starting circle?

steveoliverc — 2005-05-27T10:07:58+00:00

Does anyone have a favorite circle in which to start the explorer ship (assuming you're the player going first)?

Probably in a 2-player game, any advantage to going first is quickly minimized, but in the solitaire game, I find myself starting in the second-to-top circle on either the left or right side -- with the strategy that if I get a good tile to place which will help keep the top of the board accessible. Then in later turns I will hopefully get the chance to use the reserve tiles to start filling in the top of the board.

Another starting circle that I pick a lot is the second-to-bottom circle on either the left or right sides. Usually this is the one I pick in a 2-player game, where I'm not as worried about developing the top row (or at least I'm going to let my opponent share the burden of developing the top row). I guess picking the second circle in from either the left or right sides on the bottom row would have the same effect.

Thread: Re: Placing reserved tiles along the top of the game board

steveoliverc — 2005-05-08T14:53:14+00:00

Thanks, Yehuda, it's nice to know for sure we're playing it right! I think the rules assume that placing a reserve tile follows the same requirements as placing a sea tile, but a sentence in the Surrounding rules section would have saved me a little time. But otherwise, the rules are very good with nice examples etc.

Steve

Thread: Re: Placing reserved tiles along the top of the game board

Shade_Jon — 2005-05-08T07:21:23+00:00

I had the same problem understanding the rules. Eventually I figured out, as you did, from the example pictures that only water edges could be placed at the top of the board.

Yehuda

Thread: Placing reserved tiles along the top of the game board

steveoliverc — 2005-05-08T02:49:53+00:00

I just got this game yesterday and have played several solo and 2-player games. So far, there is a lot to like about this game (plays quick, looks great, tiles, exploration, enough strategy relative to the game time to make it interesting). But after reading several other articles here and a few image comments, I'm wondering about placing reserved tiles along the top of the game board.

It seems clear from the rules that you must match land to land, and water to water, and so a player can never place a tile in the top row, if doing so would place a land edge long the top of the game board.

It also seems clear that when you place a tile, and therefore cause an unexplored space to be completely surrounded by tiles and/or game board edge, that you fill it in with the appropriate reserved tile.

At first, when we had to fill in a reserved tile along the top row, we were creating unfinished islands along the top edge, because we were connecting the reserved tiles to 3 tiles, not realizing that there is an imaginary dotted white line on the top of the game board, and so really what we should be placing is a reserved tile that has a white line that connects to the top of the board. This seems to make sense regarding the rules that water meets water, etc.

For example, this picture shows reserved tiles placed correctly along the top edge (2nd tile from left in the top row is a reserved tile):
]]>

This picture shows incorrect placement (2 reserved tiles in top row with land that touches the game board edge):
]]>

Just wondering if anyone else was confused on this, or is anyone placing reserved tiles differently than this?

Thread: Re:Tile-placement at top of board question

fofluff — 2005-03-19T13:27:19+00:00

Well, after I posted this question in the forum, several geeks kindly set me straight on this. When I first played the game, I put all the tiles in a cloth bag so didn't look at them all - and I should have as all of the tile edges that are "ocean-only" also have white lines!

Therefore, the only tile-edges that can connect with the four sides of the board are ocean-only (and all ocean-only tile edges have white lines).

So, spielguy, you are not able to play land on to the top edge, even if you are willing to make it an uncompleted island. This may be an interesting house rule, though?

Thread: Re:'Spending Explorers

tenhole — 2005-03-18T01:44:27+00:00

Fortunately, I'm not much of a rules lawyer, and neither is my fiance, so we just agreed to play it the way it read in my mind (spend them off the board if you want). We also agreed that the wording was a bit ambiguous. Further, we agreed that an alternate interpretation would change strategies, but not the flavor or fun of the game.

We agree quite often, it turns out. I like the game. Uncertain as to whether we agreed there.