Fish that group together are called Shoals and in this game you'll be helping the fish to gather in groups to meet a variety of criteria and score more points than your opponents.
Published by Molinarius Games who brought us Ocean Pods, it solidifies their stance on protecting the oceans by ensuring the game is as environmentally friendly as possible.
First Impressions
I love the brightness and artstyle of the box which despite it's small size will likely stand out on the shelf. When the box is opened, the basics concepts of how the game play are displayed on the sides of the base, making a fun quick reference guide. The artwork style continues onto the cards along with the bright pastel colours, keeping the styling consistent and polished. The ruleset is short and sweet but gives you all the information you need to play the game.
Game Play Overview
Shoal is a card laying game. You'll start with 2 cards each in hand and the deck split into 2 piles, one face up and one face down. On your turn, you'll choose one of your cards to play before drawing a new card from either pile. When playing a card, there are a few rules you'll need to follow: all the fish must swim to the left, empty spaces can only cover empty spaces (but fish can cover both empty spaces and other fish) and each card must overlap (not be tucked under) another card already out. Lastly, each card played must ensure that it is placed with one or more fish spaces orthagonally adjacent to a fish (or fishes) already in the shoal. Once all players have played 10 cards, the game ends and final scoring takes place. The player with the most points wins.
Pros and Cons
Shoal is a nice quick game, with an easy to pick up ruleset and compact size. With several variations to scoring, each game will play differently, however this does mean that unless you pick the same score card for each of your games, you will be aiming for different goals which can make it confusing to learn. The basic 4 rules are handily printed on the outside of each of the 4 sides of the bottom half of the box for quick rules referencing mid game and the goal cards are self explanatory but you will likely need to reference these throughout the game. The colours are nice and bright and whilst they won't always come into scoring, they create a good aesthetic to the game.
Final Verdict
Overall, I feel that this is a great easy entry into tile placement games with enough variety to keep the game interesting. It would make a great end to a night of gaming or be one to take out with you and enjoy whilst waiting for food or friends.
In conclusion, we would rate this game an 8.4/10
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