Game: Escape from Atlantis

Thread: Re: Modifying the Atlanteans

NeonPeon — 2008-11-21T18:37:15+00:00

How I wound up modifying my Atlanteans (1996 Waddington's):

I got some nice magnets that fit the Atlanteans' bases perfectly (3/8") and attached them underneath. Unfortunately these magnets were too strong, so you couldn't even stand one figure next to another without both of them sticking together and falling out of their spaces.

I baked the magnets (along with some tater tots) to weaken them a bit. They were a nice medium-well, but still too strong. I realized it would be very difficult to get this right, so I decided to demagnetize them entirely and simply use them as weights. They're heavy and do a good job balancing the figures, which no longer fall over if you accidentally brush them.

I spent far too much time on this.

Then, I made up my own points distribution. I thought it would be neat to make the female Atlanteans more valuable, because women and children first (there are no children - Atlanteans know better than to reproduce). The top Atlantean of each color is a female worth 5. The lowest three are worth 1 a piece - two males and one female. So, you don't know if any random female is worth more than any random male, but that tends to be the case. I'll have to see how it goes, but I'm hoping for just a little bit extra bluffing potential.

I haven't played with these mods yet, but hopefully will next week.

Thread: Re: How many of each piece should be under the tiles?

illusionwalker — 2008-10-10T22:10:12+00:00

Yeah that makes sense when you add up how many pieces of each are in the game. (10 boats and 6 of everything else) Labels it is!

Thanks much!

Thread: Re: How many of each piece should be under the tiles?

Mr.Baggins — 2008-10-10T21:47:23+00:00

My copy (German Schmidt edition) has one of each (monster, shark, octopus, whirlpool, dolphin and boat) in the six mountain spaces; two of each in the woods and three of each in the beaches.

Bummer that yours is wrong; then again, it is easily solved with labels, I think.

Cheers.

Thread: Re: How many of each piece should be under the tiles?

carthaginian — 2008-10-10T21:45:51+00:00

illusionwalker wrote:
Question that i can't seem to find the answer to.

How many boats/sharks/ect. should be under the beach/land/citadel tiles?

What i mean is, how many sea monsters should have been revealed when all the beach tiles are gone, and how many ships and so on. I just got a copy of the game and there are only TWO tiles that show a ship and there are 8 whirlpools and only 3 octopi total. That can't be right. Could someone tell me the appropriate combination for each kind of tile?

Thanks!

6 of each in my '96 waddington's version

Thread: How many of each piece should be under the tiles?

illusionwalker — 2008-10-10T21:32:19+00:00

Question that i can't seem to find the answer to.

How many boats/sharks/ect. should be under the beach/land/citadel tiles?

What i mean is, how many sea monsters should have been revealed when all the beach tiles are gone, and how many ships and so on. I just got a copy of the game and there are only TWO tiles that show a ship and there are 8 whirlpools and only 3 octopi total. That can't be right. Could someone tell me the appropriate combination for each kind of tile?

Thanks!

Thread: Re: Some questions about the rules+ reply from designer!!

fmoros — 2008-10-02T00:57:30+00:00

thanks a lot

I knew i had read it somewhere, yet when i went like a typhoon to look at the rules to raise my point... I could not find it all! So I thought i had dream it

Now i understand it, i had 2 or 3 version of this game , so there is where i read it.

Now, in practice, this is how i play it (kind of mixed rules):
the dolphin protects swimmers
and the dolphin can carry them all the way to the safety of the island using all movement points.
Now, I ignore if those two things show simultaneously on any set rules, but that is how i play it.

thanks again and happy games!
longlife to the oldies!!

Thread: Re: Anyone have extra dice to sell?

big-chad — 2008-10-01T16:26:35+00:00

Hey better late then never. I just went to the site and placed my order for two sets (in case I loose some). i actually ordered a set of blank dice a year ago and was going to make my own by writting on the dive, but that would have been so lame compared to these awesome dice.

Thank you so much for the site.

Chad

Thread: Re: the whirpools in the 90s edition

NeonPeon — 2008-10-01T14:00:22+00:00

carthaginian wrote:
I think you're referring to this thread? : http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/14486
My interpretation of Julian Courtland-Smith's answer is that originally the 6 whirlpools under the hex tiles weren't supposed to destroy the land tiles, only sucking down the swimmers and monsters.
Ah yes, now that I re-read his answer, I think you're right. I blame tiredness and beer.

I like the idea of the big whirlpool in the center. It would make the game end with more of a bang! I imagine there being more of a panic as you rush to move your Atlanteans to safety. Let us know how it goes.

Thread: Re: Some questions about the rules+ reply from designer!!

carthaginian — 2008-10-01T07:35:11+00:00

tommynomad wrote:
That explains it: big changes between 1986 (my edition) and 1996!

1986:
- dolphins don't protect
- dolphins move ALL THE WAY to safety in a single turn
- no dice
- no buildings

I just found those great geeklists :

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/34902
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/27517

useful geeklists are rare enough to be noted and rewarded.

edit: or so I thought. looks like I added some comments to it 3 months ago. doh

Thread: Re: Some questions about the rules+ reply from designer!!

tommynomad — 2008-10-01T07:10:38+00:00

That explains it: big changes between 1986 (my edition) and 1996!

1986:
- dolphins don't protect
- dolphins move ALL THE WAY to safety in a single turn
- no dice
- no buildings

Thread: Re: the whirpools in the 90s edition

carthaginian — 2008-10-01T06:16:43+00:00

NeonPeon wrote:
The designer of Escape from Atlantis said, in another thread: "The other 6 smaller whirlpools are intended to sink anything in the sea near them, not other land-pieces. This silly rule was, I believe, included in the game by Hasbro in 1997 when Escape from Atlantis was relaunched following the takeover of Waddingtons. It's inclusion was to speed the game up for a younger audience."

I'm a bit disheartened that the edition I recently purchased has a "silly rule" according to the game's designer. Well, I was thinking of applying stickers with the symbols printed on them to the tiles' undersides anyway, since it's a little difficult to see the symbols as they are. I might replace the whirlpools with two symbols: a whirlpool and the symbol that's "supposed" to be there, divided by a slash. So, you'd be able to play either way. The only problem is I don't know what the correct symbols should be.

Any insight would be appreciated. I guess if you know the distributions from another edition that would help. Thanks.

I think you're referring to this thread? : http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/14486
My interpretation of Julian Courtland-Smith's answer is that originally the 6 whirlpools under the hex tiles weren't supposed to destroy the land tiles, only sucking down the swimmers and monsters. The central piece was supposed to have a giant whirlpool under it that would destroy everything in the sea when removed, thus ending the game. I think that explains the big whirlpool in the center of the board... I have to try this.

Thread: Re: Some questions about the rules+ reply from designer!!

carthaginian — 2008-10-01T06:06:38+00:00

Waddington's edition of 1996 :

Dolphins =
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Board Setup =
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Thread: Re: Anyone have extra dice to sell?

carthaginian — 2008-10-01T05:43:43+00:00

you can find some here if you are still diceless : http://www.spielmaterial.de/english/index.html?d_ERSATZ3_Dic...

spielmaterial has some parts for escape from atlantis

(yes I know it's been almost a year)

Thread: the whirpools in the 90s edition

NeonPeon — 2008-10-01T01:26:15+00:00

The designer of Escape from Atlantis said, in another thread: "The other 6 smaller whirlpools are intended to sink anything in the sea near them, not other land-pieces. This silly rule was, I believe, included in the game by Hasbro in 1997 when Escape from Atlantis was relaunched following the takeover of Waddingtons. It's inclusion was to speed the game up for a younger audience."

I'm a bit disheartened that the edition I recently purchased has a "silly rule" according to the game's designer. Well, I was thinking of applying stickers with the symbols printed on them to the tiles' undersides anyway, since it's a little difficult to see the symbols as they are. I might replace the whirlpools with two symbols: a whirlpool and the symbol that's "supposed" to be there, divided by a slash. So, you'd be able to play either way. The only problem is I don't know what the correct symbols should be.

Any insight would be appreciated. I guess if you know the distributions from another edition that would help. Thanks.

Thread: Household Boardgame league round 2

malletman — 2008-09-29T16:05:10+00:00

After round 1 Totopoly the standings were

Daughter (7) 2
Son (10 1
Dad (older than that) 0

Second game out of the hat is Escape from Atlantis. We have modified this to use the Survive system of variable valued Atlanteans.

Everyone gets a full boat out early, and I also manage to get my 6pt Atlantean stowed away on Daughter's boat (one less opponent trying to sink it I reckoned). Son's early boat reaches shore with no drama at all as does Daughter's. Mine is beset with sea monsters (this might possibly have something to do with the "let's gang up on Dad effect" which i've occasionally noticed). I foolishly make a dash for the island putting my boat within range of a monster.

Inevitably Son's next spin lands a sea monster 3 and I am fish food. During the rest of the game almost all boats are sunk by octopuses immediaetly so lots of swimmers. One or two are rescued but most are eaten.

At game end I have 4 survivors, son and duaghter 5 each. We turn over the pawns and son reveals that his initial boat had contained his 6,5 and 4 giving him an easy victory. Daughter beats me into 3rd by 1 point.

I try to point out the riskiness of his strategy which he acknowledges with a "hey! it worked didn't it?"

Standings

Son 3
Daughter 3
Dad 0

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

NeonPeon — 2008-09-25T16:20:20+00:00

I just paid $46.07 USD including shipping for the 1996 edition coming from UK. The condition is very good. The box looks like it had other games (or whatever) stacked on top of it, and someone wrote on the manual, but other than that it's in great condition. Judging by the recently completed items (eBay) I might have been able to hold out and save up to $10 or so, but not worth the effort IMO.

Thread: Re: Modifying the Atlanteans

NeonPeon — 2008-09-25T15:15:40+00:00

Barry Kendall wrote:
This is interesting, I hadn'e seen this particular figure for the women. Mine are in what could be described as a "terrified half-crouch." The men, on the other hand, simply seem determined to get Somewhere Else
Yes I thought this was kind of amusing...Not at all sexist. ("What's wrong with being sexy?")

Thread: Re: Modifying the Atlanteans

NeonPeon — 2008-09-25T15:13:18+00:00

revtim wrote:
Good to hear. I've been thinking about doing something like this with my Waddington version (the one with figures not pawns.) I'd written the Survive! numbers inside them, but had been considering using some kind of heavy paste or something to fill in the base. The tipsy problem has made this beautiful game into a dexterity exercise (which is a bad thing for me )

I'll try out your suggestion, thanks for writing it up!!
I just recently purchased the 1996 Waddington version myself and I too would like to correct the tipsy problem. I must try out this suggestion.

An idea I had: Affix the nuts to the bases, plus magnets to the spaces on the land hexes and ships. Imagine the people "sticking" neatly in the circular slots. Has anyone tried or thought about this? I haven't even played the game yet, but I imagine less fumbling, and I think it'd be neat.

Thread: Re: Some questions about the rules+ reply from designer!!

tommynomad — 2008-09-13T01:16:48+00:00

For clarity:
Waddington's wrote:
Dolphin
When a dolphin is moved onto a sea space occupied by a Swimmer (or vice versa) a player may use his move of three spaces to rescue his Atlantean with the Dolphin which carries him to the safety of any of the Coral Islands.

Sea Creatures may all share sea spaces with each other.

Sea Monsters
When a Sea Monster is moved onto a sea space occupied by any Swimmers and/or an Atlantean Boat (manned or unmanned) the Swimmers and/or boat are immediately devoured. Their remains are removed from the board.

Sharks
When a Shark is moved onto a sea space occupied by one or more Swimmers, all the Swimmers on that space are devoured.

Notwithstanding excellent contributions here, the original Waddington's rules are quite clear: a swimmer can be carried to safety (using a whole turn) by a dolphin, but the presence of a dolphin does nothing to protect swimmers from predators.

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

HamsterOfFury — 2008-09-09T13:37:41+00:00

I got the nice plasticy Escape From Atlantis a couple of years back from a charity shop for 1.50 of my good British pounds. You can also get it on English ebay for a fiver or less and then pay a few quid postage within the UK. It's a common "retro" game in the UK.

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

KrisVerbeeck — 2008-09-09T13:32:29+00:00

I paid 15 euro for a copy in shrink last year at essen. Schmidt version.
second hand versions went for 10 euro.

Thread: Re: Some questions about the rules+ reply from designer!!

fmoros — 2008-09-07T14:56:08+00:00

mmm.. I also have the wadd version and although i have not got the rules with me now, i am sure the dolphins protect swimmers from dangers.

Thread: Re: Some questions about the rules+ reply from designer!!

tommynomad — 2008-09-07T07:37:43+00:00

I have the Waddingtons version, which is explicit about:
- dolphins saving swimmers in a single turn
- dolphins offering swimmers no protection whatsoever from maneaters

But we have another question: when there are no land spaces left for Atlanteans, and they are to be cast into the waves, can I cast them into the waiting, hungry maws of sharks and sea monsters, or do I have to throw them into empty spaces? The rules say nothing about this either way.

Thread: Re: Overly random on the two player game

Furunkulus — 2008-07-30T06:16:27+00:00

A couple of thoughts that might make the two player game more interesting for you.

In the newest Waddingtons edition of escape from Atlantis the whirlpools also take out adjacent land pieces.

They also don't have the requirement of the monsters having to dive into an empty space. This makes the game a lot more brutal.

Their other little tweak was to have the dolphins protect a single swimmer but only be able to move one space with the swimmer.

All of these factors make for a fast and deadly game. I love the original Survive! rule set but this is my personal preference for a two player game. the newer edition's rule set with more players gets down right ugly (deadly and fun).

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

Furunkulus — 2008-07-30T06:09:46+00:00

The Waddingtons newest version of Escape from Atlantis is very nice; Schmidt Spiele's version called Atlantis also has top notch components. I paid $39.00 for my Waddingtons edition and $36.00 for the Schmidt Spiel edition. I recall getting my copy of Survive! for $30.00. These games get a lot of play at my house and are well worth it. On the auctions that I got these from I placed my max bid at $65.00 due to getting tired of losing to last minute snipers.

I would have been very happy even paying $50.00 to $60.00. The games are just plain fun and well worth it.

There is a great geeklist that covers the versions:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/27517

I found it very helpful.

Thread: Re: Do you think this would work well as a variant?

Furunkulus — 2008-07-29T07:18:47+00:00

So I take it you have the Waddington Sanders edition. I keep forgetting about the hollow pawns. Is yours the edition with the Atlantic Swirler or is it the Canadian version with the dice?

If you want to fill the pawns you could try to get some modeling puddy; you could try to get the regular Tester's kind or if your local game store sells Games Workshop stuff they have a brand of putty that is in a white and green strip which doesn't activate until you combine them together. After doing a fill you could add the stickers then. It would add some stability to the pawns too.

Your variant is rather interesting; it plays better in a four player game.

Thread: Re: Do you think this would work well as a variant?

boneroller — 2008-07-28T22:09:51+00:00

Furunkulus wrote:
I found the easiest way to add points to your people is to get the little color coding labels (they are 1/4") which fit under the figures well and then write the numbers in with a fine tipped sharpie. I did this with my Atlantis copy and it works great.

Unfortunately, my edition has the simple pawns which are hollow. I wound up purchasing some air dry clay, filling the holes, and then using the labels you described. They didn't hold too well so I added a light coat of white glue to secure them to the bottoms.

Thanks for the reply!

Thread: Re: Do you think this would work well as a variant?

Furunkulus — 2008-07-28T18:21:42+00:00

I found the easiest way to add points to your people is to get the little color coding labels (they are 1/4") which fit under the figures well and then write the numbers in with a fine tipped sharpie. I did this with my Atlantis copy and it works great.

As far as your variant go I will give it a whirl. It kind of reminds me of games like Quicksand which are interesting.

Thread: Do you think this would work well as a variant?

boneroller — 2008-07-23T03:07:54+00:00

Until I figure out an easy way to assign numbers to the game pieces, I was thinking about this variant:

At the beginning of the game each player draws a card secretly. The card will indicate the color of the pieces that will score for that player. The idea is that up to a point, the players will not know what pieces belongs to which players.

I'm not sure if this would turn out to be a dud variant. Please chime in with any thoughts you may have.

Image

carthaginian — 2008-07-15T11:51:43+00:00

boxfront of the waddingtons version, straight shot for collections

Thread: Re: Overly random on the two player game

kevwill — 2008-06-27T11:24:41+00:00

I really don't like this game, but my wife does. So although it has been consigned to the attic for many years, I have been forbidden to get rid of it.

Thread: Re: Overly random on the two player game

huffton — 2008-06-27T07:06:34+00:00

Yes, we set up the boats as per the rules, which said you start with two for the two player game, and four if you have three or four players.

Thread: Re: Overly random on the two player game

NateStraight — 2008-06-27T00:43:47+00:00

Did you make sure that when you setup the island there were already four boats around it as shown in the rules? This gives everyone a chance to get off to a quick start and makes the odd ship or two that pop up from the island tiles much less of a gamebreaking event if the other player can immediately benefit from it. We missed this setup rule the first few times we played, and it changed the game a lot when we finally got it right. That said, the game does work better with more players.

Thread: Overly random on the two player game

huffton — 2008-06-26T21:11:26+00:00

I saw it in a charity shop, and bought it as it is rated reasonably high here on BGG. I played it with my wife.

Game 1
The mechanics of the game is that on your go you get to do three things
1) move people or ships
2) Remove an island piece (Optionally tipping people into the water) and replacing it with a dolphin (Protects a person in the water), shark (Eats swimmers), Octopus (Eats boats), or sea monster (Eats people and boats). They can also cause a whirlpool which destroys everything in the six hexes around it, plus anyone that got tipped into the sea from that hex.
3) Throw dice to see which creature you move, and how far.
The object is to get your people off Atlantis to one of the harbours at the edge of the board.

On the first game we played according to the instructions, with whirlpools taking out land as well as sea. We started with our atlanteans at seperate ends of the island. It seemed that every time I removed a piece of land at her end of the island it uncovered a ship, a dolphin or a shark. I was not able to destroy many of her people. When she turned over pieces on my side they were frequently whirlpools or monsters. I lost most of my people, and a ship to whirlpools.

My wife quickly saved her people on two ships, and it was clear early in the game that she would win.

I lost heavily, saving only four, while my wife saved eight people.

Game 2
On the second game we played it with whirlpools taking out things in the sea only, as that is what the designer of the game said is what he intended in the forums here. I decided to mix my people among hers so that any disasters she caused for my people would also affect her. I fared better managing to wipe out one of her ships with a whirlpool, and managed to tip a few of her people into the sea where a shark was waiting. She tipped my people into the sea next to a ship. We both saw that allowing people to swim would take far too long, and if there was one ship, we would probably have fought over that rather than try to swim people around. I won this time, but it was a much closer game.

Verdict
I can see that adding more people would mean the island disappears quicker, with more of a role for the various sea monsters. However, I still think that the game is controlled far too much by what you turn over when taking a land piece away. If you get a ship near your people, you have a massive advantage. Sea monsters rarely come into play, as you can't move them very far (Unless they dive) and in any case you are far more likely to get to move a dolphin than a monster, which are all but useless if you are concentrating on ships as we were.

So why has everyone given this game such a high rating? I am getting rid of my copy. It would only be any use if I could play it with my daughter, but she would not be able to play it until she is 8 according to the box, and she would be able to play some decent games by then.

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

Solamar — 2008-06-12T20:30:15+00:00

cscottk wrote:
I bought Survive for $5 off of eBay not too long ago. I felt good.I rather like the Waddingtons editions with the nice 3D island over the Survive edition with the cardboard hexes.

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

cscottk — 2008-06-12T16:19:25+00:00

I bought Survive for $5 off of eBay not too long ago. I felt good.

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

Rancemeister — 2008-06-12T15:42:36+00:00

£1 at a Boot sale a month ago. Complete '86 copy. Brilliant game, but I wanna retheme it with Zombies....

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

Solamar — 2008-06-12T15:29:04+00:00

malletman wrote:
I bought it 6 months ago for £5 (about $10). bargain!!!I can imagine that in Great Britain it is more commonly available in Thrift and Boot sales. Here in the US it is hard to find.

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

malletman — 2008-06-12T11:11:45+00:00

I bought it 6 months ago for £5 (about $10). bargain!!!

Image

carthaginian — 2008-06-08T11:30:34+00:00

French boxback

Image

carthaginian — 2008-06-08T08:35:54+00:00

Difference of french version : the monster figs are in their true color

Image

carthaginian — 2008-06-07T21:35:11+00:00

French boxfront

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

Solamar — 2008-06-06T00:09:43+00:00

I have a copy up for trade. I should put it in the marketplace. It was tied up in the last math trade but it did not trade.

It is the Waddingtons 1986 edition with the 3D plastic islands, etc. It has the pawns as players rather than the 3D people (from 1996), but other than that it is the finest edition, and the pawns can be marked with numbers on the bottom.

(This is my 2nd copy. I am keeping my 1996 edition with the 3D people.)

I actually have 3 copies, but I am missing some pieces and a board from the 3rd copy. If someone had these, I could have the 3rd copy available for trade as well. The 3rd copy is missing:
3 Yellow, 2 Blue, 2 Green, 1 Sea Monster, 1 Dolphin, a board, and a box.

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

mikeb13603 — 2008-06-03T05:59:53+00:00

yes, try ebay.co.uk (I live in the UK) - it's not a rare game).

The box is big - indeed, it's getting near the maximum allowable parcel size that one can send airmail (length + breadth + width

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

NateStraight — 2008-06-03T03:46:42+00:00

Try ebay.co.uk. I got mine (the newest edition with the plastic minis and island tiles) a few years ago for around $45-50 after shipping. Honestly, the size of the box (it's HUGE; or at least my version is) is going to kill you on international shipping regardless of how you slice it, so expect something ridiculous in that department. Ask for surface rather than airmail if you can stand the wait, and don't buy the first copy you see for sale... it's not that rare.

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

chuckimus — 2008-06-03T03:39:19+00:00

Back in '06 when the USD meant something I got my '86 copy for around $40 with shipping. It was for a very nice copy with the Atlantean Swirler.

In '08, that's roughly equivalent to a gabazillion USD.

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

wyldeoak — 2008-06-03T02:01:14+00:00

I checked price history and showed a range of $15 to $55 dollars (for some reason the very good condition games sold for less than the good condition). I bought mine in December '07 from gognatz for $18 not including shipping. A $100 seems pretty steep. But, you're right there are not a lot of copies on BGG. When I was shopping, there were copies available on the English and German Ebay's. Finally, there are examples of homemade versions. For $100 you could do a nice job of that.

Good Luck.

Thread: Re: How much woud you pay?

Aljovin — 2008-06-03T01:14:37+00:00

If you're willing to pay over 100$ for that game, let me know, I can sell it to you for 100$ with shipping!

You can probably get it for about 20-40$ plus shipping on ebay.

Thread: How much woud you pay?

Bosco312 — 2008-06-02T23:10:15+00:00

Let's say you have a chance to buy Escape from Atlantis. Let's also assume you WANT to buy Escape from Atlantis (or at least own it). How much would you pay in US$?

I don't see a lot of these for sale, but there are several for trade, so I'm having trouble telling the value. I have the chance to make an offer for a copy (unknown condition) that would require ~29 Euros for insured shipping. It has been suggested by the seller that 50 Euros would be a good amount. However, 79 Euros is equal (currently) to US$122.79.

That is a lot of money for a game, even if it is in perfect condition. However, I don't know how rare this game is. Can any of you give me a sense of how rare/valuable this game is? If those of you who have this game for trade in the US could give me an idea of what a fair trade would be, that would help too. Perhaps we might even make a trade.

Thanks for the help!

Thread: Re: Stabilizing the Atlanteans; bits/hex limit

psymann — 2008-04-24T23:31:32+00:00

On the island pieces, there's only room for three people. You need to have a limit on the island pieces, or you end up with a dozen people all on the final land piece. I think it works fine with the limit of three people per island piece, as the physical limits of the island pieces suggest.

As for the sea, I don't see a need for a limit there - by the time people end up swimming in the sea, most of them are (hopefully) already on the islands - or dead - so I wouldn't think there are usually that many of them in one hexagon swimming anyway.

I didn't find the pieces fell over much - especially as I allowed no more than three on any one land piece. I'd think it'd be hard to make much of a change to them to make them any more study :-/

Thread: Re: Some questions about the rules+ reply from designer!!

psymann — 2008-04-24T23:24:15+00:00

ManFromAtlantis wrote:
No, a dolphin cannot carry a swimmer all the way to the safety of the coral reefs in one turn.

So what do they do then? Was it intended that if you have a dolphin, you can move three spaces instead of just one? Or is there some other rule? I have an 80s Waddingtons version, and it's quite clear that they do move straight to the island, and having tried this, it seems to work well.

I see your point concerning the rule 'when the first player has taken all survivors to safety' game ends. All games should be played in the spirit of the game. It is intended players attempt to rescue their men and take them to safety. If players choose to butcher Atlanteans in order to win the game that's their choice and speaks volumes about the player!

I tried the game recently, and forgot to read the rules for the end of the game, assuming it ended when all men were saved or dead. It seems strange to finish before you've discovered the fate of all your people! Playing three-player-against-myself to test out the rules, one of the most exciting parts of the game was this final part. All three colours had managed to get 7/12 people home, and there was just one last red man in the water. It was a desperate struggle, with him trying to swim towards an island or towards a dolphin, and the other players trying to eat him with a shark or a monster (the players who had got their people home just spun the spinner on their turn and nothing else). It was tense (as tense as it can be when you're playing against yourself!) as the little red man trod water, hoping to survive against the monsters, just needing to get to a dolphin for one turn before he could get it to take him straight to safety. In the end, he got one space away from a dolphin and was then eaten by a monster :-(

I find it odd that I'm disagreeinng with the game's designer about what the rules should be, but you did say:

Have fun!

And I did, using my rule interpretations:
- where they're not ambiguous, stick with the rules as published by Waddingtons in the 80s version that had a spinner and not dice.
- dolphins can (using a whole turn) move one person from the same hexagon all the way to safety.
- island is build up non-randomly, mountain in the middle, beach at the edge.
- whirlpools certainly don't destroy land.
- game ends when the fate of all people has been discovered.
- when a land piece with people on it is removed, the players replace their people in the order (1) person who removed the land piece, (2) continuing clockwise.

Thread: Re: Movement question

psymann — 2008-04-24T23:07:00+00:00

Homba wrote:
After the game has begun there is no limit to the number of pawns on each land space.

I find that a strange suggestion, since it's not physically possible to place a fourth person on the tiles. I think it's clear that only three people can be on any one tile. After all, it mentions (I think) that if there is not room on the island when a tile is removed, you end up in the sea. If there was no limit to the number of people on a tile, then this would never be an issue.

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As for the actual question, whether you can move through a place with three people, I don't think my set of the rules mentions it, so play whichever works better. I'd say it might be more interesting not to allow it, so that placement is more strategic. I also think it's clearer then as well.

Thread: Re: Creature movement

psymann — 2008-04-24T23:03:07+00:00

I think it plays best if you dive to an empty space. That way it's not just a case of "roll D, kill person". Instead, you have to plan where your opponent will move, and try to block him, while leaving the monster in the best place to launch a later attack. I think that's a lot more interesting play.

I play that you can only move one of them. The spinner move would be too important otherwise.

Our version has the spinner, and I found it gave a very balanced amount of movement. I thought it to have enough killing, but also enough chance to survive. In my last game, playing three-player-against-myself, so I could understand the rules, it ended up as a draw, with 7/12 people from each of the three colours reaching safety. I think that's a pretty good ratio of alive/dead.

For reference, the spinner has:

Dolphin Move 1 (x2)
Dolphin Move 2 (x2)
Dolphin Move 3 (x2)
Dolphin Dive (x3)
Seamonster Move 1
Seamonster Move 2
Seamonster Move 3
Seamonster Dive (x2)
Octopus Move 1
Octopus Move 2
Octopus Move 3
Octopus Dive (x2)
Shark Move 1
Shark Move 2
Shark Move 3
Shark Dive (x2)

And I found that to be a well-balanced game. 9/24 moves are dolphins, which means more often you're moving a nasty beast than a dolphin. And there is a good mix of diving (to position the beasties in good attacking positions) and moves (to make the attacks).

Thread: Re: Escape from Atlantis 1986 dolphin rules

psymann — 2008-04-24T22:54:00+00:00

We have an old Waddingtons version that must have come from the 80s some time.

The rules are as quoted by puckhead:

"When a Dolphin is moved onto a sea space occupied by a Swimmer (or vice versa) a player may use his move of three spaces to rescue his Atlantean with the Dolphin which carries him to the safety of any of the Coral Islands. The Dolphin is then placed on the sea space between the two pink coral reefs that protect the Coral Island."

and I agree it could dow with rewording. I'd reword it as:

"When a Dolphin is on the same sea space as a Swimmer, a player may use his move of three spaces to rescue his Atlantean with the Dolphin which carries him to the safety of any of the Coral Islands. The Dolphin is then placed on the sea space between the two pink coral reefs that protect the Coral Island."

My understanding of this was:

1) There is nothing to suggest that a dolphin can protect a swimmer from sharks. Additionally, it makes no logical sense that a dolphin can fend off a shark anyway. So I play that if you're sat in a hexagon with a dolphin, and a shark/monster comes along, then you get eaten, but the dolphin remains where he was.

Also, therefore, if you dive into a hexagon occupied by both a dolphin and a shark/monster, then you get eaten.

2) Any number of swimmers can occupy a dolphin space.

3) Your turns consists of three "moves". To move a swimmer one hexagon requires all three moves, hence if you move a swimmer on your turn, you can do nothing else. This works the same for dolphins (see (4))

4) Any player who has a swimmer on a dolphin can, instead of moving his man one hexagon with all three moves, move his man to safety using the dolphin. The man goes to an island of his choice, and the dolphin takes him there, ending up on the hexagon next to the coral island. Since this takes all three moves, it can not be done on the same turn as swimming or diving onto the dolphin.

5) Only one person can travel on a dolphin, so if there is a hexagon with one dolphin and three people, the first one to choose to move the dolphin can move his piece, and the dolphin, to the coral island, leaving the remaining two people swimming.

I have tried this a couple of times and it seems to make sense and play well. If you get a dolphin move on a spinner, you can try to move dolphins towards your own swimmers, or away from your opponents'. If you can get a dolphin onto your swimmer, and no-one moves it off before your next turn, you can shift your swimmer direct to safety. This works nicely to give the last few swimmers a chance to reach safety, otherwise, the last couple of swimmers have to try to swim all the way to the islands on their own, but other players just dive the seamonsters and sharks to block the final hexagon to each island, so they can never get home.

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wyldeoak — 2008-03-01T13:43:56+00:00

Modified Atlanteans -- weight and points

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josephc4 — 2008-02-23T19:17:06+00:00

Witch summons Octopus to assault man.

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josephc4 — 2008-02-23T19:11:22+00:00

Birds eye view of my position.

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josephc4 — 2008-02-23T19:06:13+00:00

She begged for mercy, but the wildlife demanded food.

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josephc4 — 2008-02-23T19:04:22+00:00

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josephc4 — 2008-02-23T19:04:00+00:00